Cal Club Autocross Forums

I'm not looking for one, my little brother wants to get one. He's making ok money now in the game industry, and wants a nice car.

What is the expected market price for a clean, low mileage 350Z/G35? Any issues we should pay attention for?

Thanks,
Tin

I have a G35 sedan (I assume you're looking at a coupe), but the internals are almost identical. I haven't had any significant problems with mine. The one thing you might want to avoid is the G35 couple Sport model with the Brembo brakes. Apparently a brake job (just pads and grinding the rotors) on those brakes is somewhere in the neighborhood of $2500, according to a mechanic friend of mine.

Other than that, I think it's hard to go wrong. The G and the Z share a lot of parts as well. The biggest difference is that they added 7" or so of wheelbase to the G, and pretty much all that space went to legroom in the backseat. The G has more headroom as well. So I guess it just depends how large your brother is, and how much he drives more than one passenger around (and/or how much he likes said passengers).

Used 350Zs go from $1,500 (for a totaled car just picked up out of someone's driveway in Rialto) to $32,000+. Your friend needs to be more specific about what he wants and his budget. http://www.my350z.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Kurt Rahn wrote: The one thing you might want to avoid is the G35 couple Sport model with the Brembo brakes. Apparently a brake job (just pads and grinding the rotors) on those brakes is somewhere in the neighborhood of $2500, according to a mechanic friend of mine.

I call BS on that one. The G35 uses the same brembo's that the Evo, STI, and 350z use. you're looking at about 500 for a set of new factory pads and somewhere around 500+ for 4 new rotors.

now it might cost you 2500 in labor to get them to quit squealing if you put hawk pads on it but tha'ts a different story.

Kurt Rahn wrote:Apparently a brake job (just pads and grinding the rotors) on those brakes is somewhere in the neighborhood of $2500, according to a mechanic friend of mine.

haha, woh I hope he's putting new calipers on the car for that. Sport has the same brembos that are on the evo and the sti right? Seems like everyone uses those same brakes, just paints them a different color.

From a quick search online, you should be able to replace all the rotors and pads for.. hmm.. less than 800 bucks. Considering how easy that job is I certainly wouldn't pay someone else to do the labor.

If he is looking to autox it, the top finishing Z at natls the last few years has been a 2005 Track pkg. If autox is not his main interest, it does not seem to matter, just which ever trim/year he likes.

I'll do his brakes for $2450. And Robert will share his Cheetos and Apple Juice while he waits in the "Customer Lounge"... ToonDisney on the 42" Flat Screen.

Marshall Grice wrote:

Kurt Rahn wrote: The one thing you might want to avoid is the G35 couple Sport model with the Brembo brakes. Apparently a brake job (just pads and grinding the rotors) on those brakes is somewhere in the neighborhood of $2500, according to a mechanic friend of mine.

I call BS on that one. The G35 uses the same brembo's that the Evo, STI, and 350z use. you're looking at about 500 for a set of new factory pads and somewhere around 500+ for 4 new rotors.

now it might cost you 2500 in labor to get them to quit squealing if you put hawk pads on it but tha'ts a different story.

+1 that's absurd for a production car; sounds like overpriced Infiniti dealer service. I'd bet $500 would buy pads from Porterfield in any compound you want. Turning the rotors is hardly expensive, and not all that necessary. $2,500 should buy a rebuild of the calipers along with a pad swap and bleed.

Just tellin' y'all what I heard from someone who's worked on a couple. I don't have the Brembos on my lowly sedan, and I'm still rockin' the original pads, so I wouldn't know.

Bob Beamesderfer wrote:$2,500 should buy a rebuild of the calipers along with a pad swap and bleed.

And come with a happy ending courtesy of the Infiniti Umbrella girl????

Steve Ekstrand wrote:

Bob Beamesderfer wrote:$2,500 should buy a rebuild of the calipers along with a pad swap and bleed.

And come with a happy ending courtesy of the Infiniti Umbrella girl????

One would hope so.

$2,500 will buy the complete caliper, rotor, pads, brackets, and lines needed to install the Brembos on a non-Brembo 350Z plus at least 5 hours of installation labor. This would be a set of takeoffs in brand new condition. For 2006 Nissan upgraded the non-Brembo brake system to the previous generation Q45 setup (replacing the original Altima setup) so the advantage the Brembos provide is much less on later 350Zs.

The 350Zs to look at are the 2006 and later models. They got the spring rate upgrade, the 010 transmission revision, the RevUp engine, and the upgraded Q45 brakes. Some 2005.5s got these same upgrades but identifying which cars got them seems to be a bit spotty. The OEM VLSD sucks for anything other then street use and the cars need a square wheel and tire setup as a first step in reducing the built in understeer. You can fit 285/30-18s on 10" wheels all around without having to flare the car. OS Giken, Kaaz, Cusco, Quiafe, Nismo, and Torvec all make LSDs for the R200 in the car. There's great aftermarket support for the car but finding out what real racers are using is tough. This car seems to attract a large share of the JDM bling market.

Thanks guys for the input.

My brother mentioned he did want to take it to autox or track sometimes. I think its really unlikely he'll do it often, also nothing serious. So a non-brembo 350Z or G35 coupe will do.