Dave-ROR's BRZ thread

[Draco-REX]

The stock windows come with a bit of tint already; certainly more than any other car I've owned. I was thinking of being daring and going 35% on the BRZ (legal limit for front sides is 50% in OH), but considering the tint the windows naturally have, I'm thinking 50% might be dark enough.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

The stock windows come with a bit of tint already; certainly more than any other car I've owned. I was thinking of being daring and going 35% on the BRZ (legal limit for front sides is 50% in OH), but considering the tint the windows naturally have, I'm thinking 50% might be dark enough.

Yeah I noticed the slight tint as well, it was pretty minor looking though The 35% isn't too dark from inside the car and I'm not a tint person at all (this is the first car I've ever tinted). But is it worth dealing with the potential ticket... it wasn't for me

[Zgrinch]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

I believe those numbers are correct but not all tint does those numbers. The Color Stable 3M stuff goes from 5% to 20% to 35%, so to stay legal the max 3M CS tint is 20% from the back side windows/rear window and 35% for the front side windows.

Correct on the AS-1 line, it's worthless IMO to do front tint on this car because that's literally like 3"-4' from the top of the windshield. I thought about tinting the entire front window (illegal) in clear or 90% tint just for the heat rejection though.

Makes sense now....and I have no plans to tint the front as I think it would look dumb if not done all the way.

[Jayde]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

~490 or so.

Tint is 3M Color Stable 35% on the front side windows (and the little triangle windows next to the mirrors) and 20% on the qtr windows and rear window.

Cost of tinting was $240 plus tax. Went with a color stable tint so it would be warrantied against the color changing to purple like cheaper dyed tints will do and to get a non-metallic tint so the keyless, etc wouldn't be impacted (in theory, who knows if that's just marketing bs or not).

Nice! My BRZ is around 450 miles at the moment. I love driving it!

I know of a local place that does window tint that everyone recommends that I go to. I'll have to look into what type of film they use. My guess is only the best.

I like the tint you use, but my concern would be that it's too dark for me.

[Lytheum]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

The stock windows come with a bit of tint already; certainly more than any other car I've owned. I was thinking of being daring and going 35% on the BRZ (legal limit for front sides is 50% in OH), but considering the tint the windows naturally have, I'm thinking 50% might be dark enough.

if you get it done soon post up pics! also in ohio here and getting my brz in 2-3 weeks. debating on going legal or not.

the 35% looks good! tint makes any car look better to me

[Draco-REX]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

Yeah I noticed the slight tint as well, it was pretty minor looking though The 35% isn't too dark from inside the car and I'm not a tint person at all (this is the first car I've ever tinted). But is it worth dealing with the potential ticket... it wasn't for me

Oh, that reminds me. Did they cut around the third brake light, or did they pull it out? If they removed it, did you see how?

I haven't tried it yet, but I think the package shelf needs to come out by removing the pop fasteners behind the seat.

[merlin2111]

From the BMW forums I go to the metallic tint will affect the keyless entry so its a good idea to avoid it. I am thinking of going with a ceramic tint which is supposed to work very well in our obnoxious florida heat.

[vividracing]

Originally Posted by merlin2111

From the BMW forums I go to the metallic tint will affect the keyless entry so its a good idea to avoid it. I am thinking of going with a ceramic tint which is supposed to work very well in our obnoxious florida heat.

I have never noticed this. And we have to add a second layer of tint around here. Its going to be 108-115* for the next 3 weeks, with 2am lows of 85*

I'll have to test this out. I would figure a weak remote battery would cause a problem.

[iLuveKetchup]

Thanks for posting photos next to the ITR. It really gives me a good reference in scale. I really like the size of this car!

[MarkRacerX]

Great pics! Congrats, wow very close to ITR in size !!

Enjoy

[Starscream15]

I'm very interested to hear your thoughts on the stock brake pads after your AutoX. I remember reviews on pre-prod cars fading badly.

[Dave-ROR]

Will post some updates and new pics tomorrow.. covering..

car has ~1,200 miles on it. Fuel economy isn't too bad. Heated seats are the crappiest of all heated seats. found a interesting feature which is probably documented in the manual, but who reads that? Why the nav sucks IMO. New wheels/tires install once I install them tomorrow, etc. Oh.. and the car needs top end power.. I didn't think I'd say that, but it does.. or it just is missing the more visceral experience of good VTEC hondas up top anyways.

[Jayde]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

Will post some updates and new pics tomorrow.. covering..

car has ~1,200 miles on it. Fuel economy isn't too bad. Heated seats are the crappiest of all heated seats. found a interesting feature which is probably documented in the manual, but who reads that? Why the nav sucks IMO. New wheels/tires install once I install them tomorrow, etc. Oh.. and the car needs top end power.. I didn't think I'd say that, but it does.. or it just is missing the more visceral experience of good VTEC hondas up top anyways.

You're probably going through vtec withdrawal. That or the teggys are getting jealous.

Congrats on the 1200 miles so far! I'll have to agree with you on the heated seats. They aren't the greatest, but they do work.

[Dave-ROR]

Updates..

So after spending more time in the car, the following things need to be fixed/changed IMO.

Storage: There needs to be a better place (aka any place that makes sense) to storage sunglasses, wallet (I don't like keeping my wallet in my back pocket on long drives), etc keys, etc. Center console "works" but annoying since there isn't a lot of space if you want to keep the cup holder piece in there. Maybe the center console will fix this.

Heated Seats: They suck. Worst heated seats I've ever used. I wish I were kidding as this is a feature I really wanted but after they've been on forawhile they seem to turn off, or maybe just turn down so far that they barely create any heat. Either way, they are the coldest heated seats I've ever used.

HVAC: When stopped at a light in florida heat, the AC seems to get warm after 30-45 seconds unless temp is all the way down, recirc is on and fan speed is max.. even then the second you start driving again it gets colder. I understand how AC systems work, but it actually seems like it's turning off after a bit at a light.. at least in Florida heat Maybe post tint this will be better it's been raining the past few days so I haven't noticed any problems.

NAV/Audio System: Where to start.. It's hard to get it tuned well and I still haven't gotten it sounding good. To me it sounds like it's missing midrange, both on the low end of the mids (120-250hz or so) and the upper end (2.5-4.5khz or so). I'm guessing those little 3.5 or 4" drivers in the dash are partly to blame. Also no crossover settings for the door subs so who knows what freqs they are getting. The NAV system is *HORRIBLE*. I was driving to Miami so I wanted to set a route to an address in the Miami area so I tried to do so after moving through voice rec and that was a failure.. I'd give it the street address and it would search nearby only.. as if that is useful to me. You have to stop to enter it manually. Once entered you can find alternate routes and so on and the system works fine then. My last problem is that the display can't be turned off as far as I know. That's not awesome at night, I'd love for the night time mode to just turn off the screen as an option after 30 seconds, or via a soft button. Easy enough to have it reactivate at the touch of the screen or when a phone call comes in, a hard button is touched, Nav directions come up, etc.. I don't need the screen lit all the time if I'm driving down the interstate for 300 miles though.

Power: I find the low end performance to be perfectly acceptable for daily driving. Once in the high end of the powerband it's a bit.. lacking. I was probably expecting too much as I wanted to feel more urgency at the top end of the powerband.... and it just doesn't happen. I'm not saying the car is slow, it just doesn't feel as entertaining and visceral as my ITR.

Ended up not getting an exhaust done due to work issues causing a delay in getting to the shop and there just wasn't time.. if they don't have a local person bring a car by soon I'll make another trip down south in a few weeks.

Also, went ahead and threw on the RPF1s I bought. Specs are 17x8 +45 RPF1 with 235/40/17 Yokohama AD08s. Since I had the car up on the lift anyways I took some random pics, nothing specific really just taking pics for friends who haven't been following the car so much so they are new to them, not to you folks here.

Some pics since the last set.

500 Miles


1,000 Miles


Lots of dead bugs all over the car



Old wheels/tires vs new wheels/tires:




Installing the wheels and misc shots with the wheels including some hard parking shots for you cali guys:



















Misc engine and under carraige/suspension/etc shots:
















Enjoy