Establishing a baseline for my car... Advice ?

[Deschodt]

Hey Guys,

First non-introductory post.... A few comments, and mostly questions about bringing my car up to "spec". It is an 04, stick, if it matters... I bought it last sunday and proceeded to discover a few things "off" with it despite the generally great condition.

- It had the 2800 rpm dip, so today I got a dealer to reflash it completely. ECU and whatever else, apparently they said it's more than just the ECU, it took them 2 full hours - I watched. $280, my independent was gonna try it for free, but "try" being the operative word, I bit the bullet this time ;-) Great results.. the 2800 rpm hesitation is gone ! As a bonus, seems like the thing revs smoothly throughout the range now (even 4000), which is a subtle but great improvement. It's *almost* too smooth now, I kinda wish it had a kick in the butt at some point, but it's very linear... That's like complaining your supermodel girlfriend is too pretty because her face is too symmetrical, so I'll shut up ;-)

- Tires: greasy road today, so I wanted to explore how far the DSC will let you go... Pretty damn crossed up is the answer...Damn !! I thought that was not right, and probably found the reason why: I have different brand tires at different levels of wear F/R !!! How observant of me, I hadn't noticed when i bought it!!
Any big disagreement on Michelin Super sports for FL weather ? I love them on another car of mine, but they are so sticky I don't want to create undue stress... Leading me to the following Q:

- subframe : Is it a smart thing to install the subframe reinforcements on a street car that is not showing any cracks? Or can I leave it alone given that it's a later car (04) and "if it hasnt done it at 77K miles, it probably never will" ? It won't see the track, mostly freeway, smooth roads overall, and fun on/offramps. Also not too many twisty roads in FL, sadly...

- Lastly, cooling. I bought a level 1 kit, expansion tank, water pump, Thermostat, couple of hoses.... Good enough or should I also have gotten a radiator ?

I really like this car, more than its performance would normally warrant, something about its balance and the kick ass suede interior just hits my sweet spot... I want to keep it a long time and start this right....

Greg.

[danewilson77]

No need to do re-enforcement kit.... As longs as roads are at least ok.

No need to do radiator just yet.

Imho.

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

[Hermes]

Greg,

Great to hear the update fixed your power issue. As for radiator it could be done in this mileage range but not necessary yet. You can prob wait another 20,000 miles.

Subframe, just keep an eye out. No need to spend the money on that if not needed and you have a later build car.

Tires, I have the Pilots (non-SS) on mine an love them but am planning on some Hankook Ventus RS-3's when it's time to replace. A lot of people on here have the Ventus V12's and love them too, I just want the RS-3's due to added grip (but less life). Since you live in a fairly wet area (compared to me) I will leave the issue of tires to somebody else.

I think you're starting out fine, save your money for now for the mods you will eventually do (ECU tune, Coby wheel, etc.).

Since you're thinking of the cooling system I'm currently trying to put together a buy for a set of Samco silicon hoses. Not exactly cheap but great quality. We need a few more people so Samco builds the first set for us. http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?5692-Samco-E46-Non-M-Cooling-Hose-Kit-possible-group-buy

Keep up the great work,

JP

PS, to turn the DSC completely off you need to hold the button for a few seconds until the BRAKE light turns yellow

EDIT: this is the version of the Pilot I have, decent grip in the wet from my experience (not much rain in SoCal but there has been recently). Also my rears are almost ready for replacement so I was fairly surprised how much grip I had in the wet

http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/michelin/mi_pilot_sport_ci1_l.jpg

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Pilot+Sport
^ if you decide to buy from TR they are one of our affiliates, just click the link at the top of the page to see the full list

[brettbimmer]

Congrats on the zhp! Always great to hear from a new owner. Sounds like your questions have already been answered, but I do happen to know of a few good roads if you are anywhere near Bradenton/Pinellas county on the west coast. Let me know if you need them!

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

[zhp43867]

I would get the new Pilot Super Sport or Bridgestone S-04 if you can spring for them. The Super Sport is the newest revision of the Pilot Sport (the OE tires)->Pilot Sport 2 family, and is supposed to be amazing in all conditions with higher treadwear than the older versions.

The zhp I just bought has Pilot Sports (the first gen), and they are quite good in the dry. They are louder and a bit rougher than the PS2, and not quite as good in the wet. I had the PS2s on the zhp in my signature. I recently drove the Super Sport and they are very compliant, very quiet, excellent wet grip and a lot more dry grip than the original Pilot Sport.

If you want some piece of mind on the subframe look up the BMW reinforcement procedure, where they use 3M structural foam. It won't save the subframe if you launch the car and track it all the time, but if you are concerned at all about the subframe that's the way I would go. It isn't all that involved of a procedure, you basically spray the foam (which is a bit pricey) into some trunk floor holes.

[spencers]

My pilot super sport tires are phenomenal in the wet. Awesome in dry. Can't comment on wear yet, but Michelin warranty is 30k miles.

Well worth the price, in my opinion.

[postitpad]

For what it's worth, I think most venders won't honor the tread wear warranty on our cars because the staggered setup doesn't allow for rotation.

[Hermes]

For what it's worth, I think most venders won't honor the tread wear warranty on our cars because the staggered setup doesn't allow for rotation.

+1 - I'm at 15k on these and the rears need replacing soon. The fronts still have significant tread. I might just sell them to somebody as a set of autoX tires when I replace mine

[iZHP]

Just had to purchase fronts for my car, as the rears obviously wear faster. I'm happy with the Hankook Ventus V12's. They have good grip in the rain, and I rarely break free. They're also affordable.

[johnrando]

Glad to hear about the success. And yes, what everyone else said. lol

[Deschodt]

Pilot super sports are on.... $1200 mounted, balanced, and with the road hazard warranty which I usually don't purchase, but I've been attracting nails these last few years.... They are still green, but they already stick more than the mismatched worn out stuff that they replaced... So far, they are quieter too...

[spencers]

Pilot super sports are on.... $1200 mounted, balanced, and with the road hazard warranty which I usually don't purchase, but I've been attracting nails these last few years.... They are still green, but they already stick more than the mismatched worn out stuff that they replaced... So far, they are quieter too...

I'm still surprised at my Super Sports... They're still so sticky that they pick up gravel and throw it into the wheel wells. :biggrin

[nike001]

I envy you guys with the SS's.. I wanted them so badly. Instead, I settled on some V12's :(

[otisdog]

Can you tell me what they wrote on your service order in regards to the reflash?
Service order #?

[Deschodt]

I will when I get home... From memory it was not super informative. Something like "customer requests ECU flash, understands it may not fix the problem he's experiencing (2800 rpm hesitation) as it has not been diagnosed by our technician", or something to that effect. But there may be a tech code for the ECU somewhere that I did not see... I'll look ! All i know is - it worked !! the car is too smooth now.