In the course of getting ready for last Sunday's
GT-R50 Japan invite, here are two more items of note - one which I cannot fix, the other which I managed to make look better until I'm able to replace with new.
First, I was horrified to find out that, without asking me, the IDIOT had drilled into the frame of my car! As well as drilling a hole into my trusty carbon fiber
Garage Defend GT Cooling Panel that I had
installed over 10 years ago!
I simply don't know why he couldn't have used an existing hole elsewhere to install the hood/bonnet switch for the alarm. Or used the location where the previous shop had installed the switch, hidden away towards the rear. Maybe I will have to relocate itself myself later, as the wiring for the switch is easily accessible. Easy for any competent thief to quickly find and cut. UNBELIEVABLE. COMPLETE INCOMPETENCE.
Well, this gives me an excuse to buy a new Cooling Panel...more money needlessly wasted...not sure what to do with the hole in the car though.
Second, after picking up my car I had noticed that the rear rotors seemed to have more rust on them than usual. After washing my car, sure some rust always quickly appears on the rotors, but they come off after a quick spin. This was different. The rust was on the rotor hat, not the rotors themselves. The fronts don't have this problem, as the hats appear to be alloy and not painted steel.
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| that looks... HORRIBLE... |
Yeah it looks bad and I suspect it's because WORX is located right near the Pacific Ocean, subjected to those ocean winds. So obviously despite Nakamura telling me my car would be well looked after, it's clear that it was left out in the open for the 6 months it was there. Perhaps a weekly wash or a cover would have prevented this, but obviously that wasn't happening...
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| I removed the wheel and found this. |
The good news is that when I pointed this out to the guys at Nissan Prince Tokyo Motorsports Factory, they reassured me that it's only surface rust. Ok, but it still looks HORRIBLE... I tried to live with it as the rotors are getting worn anyway and so I was thinking of replacing the whole set anyway, but until then... yeah I just couldn't bear to see it each time I drove or worked on my car. Also, having been told my car would be displayed at the Nissan section at the GTR50 event, I knew I had to do something quick (and I had no time to change out the rotors or hats).
So, a few weekends ago in September when it wasn't raining here in Japan I jacked up the back of the car and got to work.
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| About to attack the rust with a wire brush |
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| A few minutes later, the ugly rust was pretty much all gone |
Once I got rid of as much rust as I could, I had two choices. Leave as is or paint with some kind of anti-rust coating.
I tried some anti-rust gel, but that would wear off and then the rust might start up again. Plus, you could still see it. Luckily I still had some Rust-O-Leum paint left over from a project I did and featured
here as well as on
Speedhunters.
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| Looks so much better, even though not carefully done |
I admit, because I will need to replace it anyway I didn't bother taping newspaper and doing the spray painting properly. Hence the overspray.
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| With the wheel back on, no rust that draws your eye |
Anyway, I hope this is the last of the surprises from WORX, but I suspect it's not. Apologies to my readers, I don't mean to beat a dead horse but... my God this guy is bad.
So, I might as well ask - what rotors should I get? To keep costs low I think I want to stick with OEM rotor hats so whatever works with those. Can anyone introduce me to a place that can offer the rotors such as AP Racing or Alcon without a huge markup?
