milage on aged cars

[STTICH]

just curious. i see alot of aged cars, perhaps late 80s to early 90s that have clocked some reasonably low kms (just over ~100 000kms?), especially imports. just in general, no specific models.

is there any chance, or is it likely that importers would attempt to wind back the milage?

can a good mechanic tell or estimate how much the engine block has actually traveled by looking at wear & tear or other symptoms? wat if the engine was well maintained, will it still show its age?

[Zilli]

I would say definitely yes that importer would try if not would definitely wind back in every instance.

If you have been around cars a long time then signs such as the state of the interior will be a fair indicator of whether the car is truly the mileage that the odo indicates. I would look also for tampering around the instrument binnacle. I remember when i was looking to buy a car before i decided on mine, and i was looking at an r33 at edward lees, and the car was immaculate, but the screws that hold the cluster in were scratched up and obviously had been removed. When i asked him about it he said he didnt know anyhting about it, then you look at other things, ie this car was on a ramp, and the back half of the car had fresh black sound deadening behind the rear axle. I mean these are stupid little things, but they are usually indicative of an issue.

[zco]

my friend used to have a importing business. they didnt really import cars. more like halfcuts and so forth. ie: wrecking yard with jdm parts lol. EG6 halfcuts usually come in at roughly 120k kms and the dc2r halfcuts. were roughly 75-80k kms.. seems liek its just how japanese cars dont travel taht many kms -hope that helps.

[STTICH]

keep em coming.

good to hear some mix opinions.

[Mr_will]

the rego system in japan is such that the older your car gets the more it costs to register. someone who knows more will provide better details, but thats the basic idea

as a result cars sit around there for a while, then get imported here, so there ARE some with legit low ks


this being said, i'd agree 100% with zilli - ive been through trying to buy an import before, i test drove an r32 gtr that had 60 000ks showing - yet it had a worn gearknob, steering wheel, and significant interior wear that i would associate with a car with more than twice the k's

when i queried this with the owner of the business he just said "yeah mate, sometimes they treat em rough". obviously he took me for an idiot.

personally, as soon as i read "aftermarket dash", "new nismo 320km/h speedo" etc i look no further.

same goes for one thats been resprayed, or has the obvious signs mentioned earlier, damage around cluster area, worn steering wheel/gear knob/seats

[SiReal]

its called "sha-ken" in japanese. they get slugged with a heavy tax every year after 5 years from purchase. every year after the first 5 years (i think its 5) u have to get it inspected and all that. costs over $1000AUD to do this alone.

[b18c_crx]

i say yes the importer would try to wind it back, i heard from many people is that when there on the bout gettin ship over thats when they wind the K's back.

[sitta]

maybe it had been going so long that the odo went around to 0 again

[aydo14]

due to the tax there are some imports that actually have the low ks, but im guna have to agree with zilli here, one of my mates was into buying an r32 and it stated to have about 70gs on the clock, looked immaculate enough but like we noticed a small bit of body paint sprayed on the inside of the grill (looked way out of place), and noticed some wear on steering wheel , nuthin major (but a car with '70,000' isnt guna have much wear at all if any). so yeah

unless your an importer yourself or if you are mates with one, then its probably best to stay on the safe side... no point blowing 15gs on a car that your only 50% sure of.

[Mr_will]

if i was going to buy an import i'd buy one that had been privately owned for at least 10 000kms, and i wouldnt purchase it unless i had at least enough for a rebuild

[STTICH]

so far from the replies, most experinces are generally appearance wise ie body, clusters, wear + tear.

how bout engine block itself? for wat seems to b a generally clean, well maintained engine bay & block to normal eyes, will it b a completely different story to a good mechanic? or its just too hard to tell?

like to hear some thoughts :)

[040501912]

You can really See if the car is being WIND UP !! not only a Mechanical ODO's but Digital Odo's too can be rewind.

think how many spare parts in japan for 2nd hand ODO meter's? easily changed to a lower millage or the car being used for track and the odo's were taken out.

i saw 1 50.000 kms GTR
DRIVER Seats worn bad
passenger has a hole on it
Steering wheel WORN
Pedals SET not much rubber left ie. bold rubber

BUT IMMACULATE LY ENGINE BAY CLEAN!! but guess they can clean that very easy with degrease. but the under Carriage abit dirty n oily LOL

Mechanicaly.. check the oil, Black oil give you smoother engine sound :wave:
Light oil Rougher... if they had thick oil when you checking it better watch out. coz they try to cover some mechnical noises!