Greetings, thanks and my 2 cents from a new(ish) V8VS Owner
Discussion
Have owned my Tungsten Silver 2011 V8VS Sportshift for about 6 months now and the posts on here have been invaluable when purchasing my car as well as remediating a few annoying niggles since buying it so wanted to start with a huge thank you to all members past and present for their posts on here that helped with my first AM.
I bought my car with 51k already on the clock which i know is high for a 2011 V8VS but a twin plate clutch had already fitted by BR at approx 40k and the car had full AMSH and a new set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4S fitted and it has been (almost) a dream since i purchased it. I went for SS II over Manual as the reverse gear on 7 speed box has the same ratio as first where as the reverse on the 6 speed manual/SS I is closer to 2nd so the SS II cars can actually be reversed uphill which comes in handy when visiting my parents with their very steep driveway. I was hesitant when I originally test drove an SS I with OEM clutch but after driving the the SS II with twin plate i was sold and find it a very rewarding drive.
1) TPMS - My car has the Beru system fitted and i bought it with the TPMS light constantly on (low batteries in sensors), i replaced them with programmable sensors from TPMS24-de which constantly caused intermittent tyre system warnings. I’ve since purchased a set of brand new Huf RDE011 sensors from the US on eBay for literally the same price as TPMS24-DE ones and they have been flawless since. My advice is just get the Huf sensors if you have the Beru system and save yourself any issues
2) Thermostat - bought my car just before winter and wasnt sure if the winter ambient temp was causing my temp gauge to always hang below the half way point but decided to do the thermostat replacement just incase. When i remove sure enough the rubber seal was wrapped around the spring. The jag part fit perfectly and the guide on the wiki was great.
3) Tail light condensation - sadly only started to appear after winter, both lights were functioning correctly just had the common issue of water ingress. Tried the re-seal + goretex patch fix which fixed passenger side but sadly not the drivers. Accepted defeat and bought a new full set from HWM as price made sense to buy both together and didn’t want to risk replacing one and finding the other one failing again.
4) Glass switches - bought the four for gear selections for the ski slope, look a million times better than black plastic and very easy job to swap. Be careful with part numbers as some people at AM parts seem to think they're interchangeable when they're not. Older style ski slope switches with larger silver bezels start with either AD or BG, newer vanquish style ski slope switches with smaller bezels are GG.
5) Wing mirror stalk paint - car had already been repaired but I wasn't happy with the finish. Got them removed + powder coated by Fisher Performance and look brand new now.
Got a few more minor cosmetic blemishes to sort (paint bubbling on doors and a bit of leather trim shrinkage) but other than that *fingers crossed* the car has been mechanically fantastic. Thoroughly enjoying my AM ownership experience thus far and looking forward to piling more miles onto the car with further road trips.
Thanks and hope the above is useful to someone.
Photo of my car below on the road to Skye, as you can see my wife decided the parcel shelf is a great place to keep her hat.
I bought my car with 51k already on the clock which i know is high for a 2011 V8VS but a twin plate clutch had already fitted by BR at approx 40k and the car had full AMSH and a new set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4S fitted and it has been (almost) a dream since i purchased it. I went for SS II over Manual as the reverse gear on 7 speed box has the same ratio as first where as the reverse on the 6 speed manual/SS I is closer to 2nd so the SS II cars can actually be reversed uphill which comes in handy when visiting my parents with their very steep driveway. I was hesitant when I originally test drove an SS I with OEM clutch but after driving the the SS II with twin plate i was sold and find it a very rewarding drive.
1) TPMS - My car has the Beru system fitted and i bought it with the TPMS light constantly on (low batteries in sensors), i replaced them with programmable sensors from TPMS24-de which constantly caused intermittent tyre system warnings. I’ve since purchased a set of brand new Huf RDE011 sensors from the US on eBay for literally the same price as TPMS24-DE ones and they have been flawless since. My advice is just get the Huf sensors if you have the Beru system and save yourself any issues
2) Thermostat - bought my car just before winter and wasnt sure if the winter ambient temp was causing my temp gauge to always hang below the half way point but decided to do the thermostat replacement just incase. When i remove sure enough the rubber seal was wrapped around the spring. The jag part fit perfectly and the guide on the wiki was great.
3) Tail light condensation - sadly only started to appear after winter, both lights were functioning correctly just had the common issue of water ingress. Tried the re-seal + goretex patch fix which fixed passenger side but sadly not the drivers. Accepted defeat and bought a new full set from HWM as price made sense to buy both together and didn’t want to risk replacing one and finding the other one failing again.
4) Glass switches - bought the four for gear selections for the ski slope, look a million times better than black plastic and very easy job to swap. Be careful with part numbers as some people at AM parts seem to think they're interchangeable when they're not. Older style ski slope switches with larger silver bezels start with either AD or BG, newer vanquish style ski slope switches with smaller bezels are GG.
5) Wing mirror stalk paint - car had already been repaired but I wasn't happy with the finish. Got them removed + powder coated by Fisher Performance and look brand new now.
Got a few more minor cosmetic blemishes to sort (paint bubbling on doors and a bit of leather trim shrinkage) but other than that *fingers crossed* the car has been mechanically fantastic. Thoroughly enjoying my AM ownership experience thus far and looking forward to piling more miles onto the car with further road trips.
Thanks and hope the above is useful to someone.
Photo of my car below on the road to Skye, as you can see my wife decided the parcel shelf is a great place to keep her hat.
Edited by Bazziz on Monday 5th July 23:10
ganz67 said:
Fantastic looking car, always wondered what mine would look like with red callipers (mine are blue). Poor quality pic of my dust covered dash below, will post another pic after a thorough clean at the weekend
Rappa said:
Great write up Bazziz,
Do you have a link to Fischer Performance?
Wing mirror stalks are something I need to do.
Sean
Hi Sean, apologies for the typo in my post, its actually spelt Fisher, their details can be found on the FAQ page, Mike is the main guy there and very friendlyDo you have a link to Fischer Performance?
Wing mirror stalks are something I need to do.
Sean
Quick update, 1 day after posting this my car broke down on the way back from Scotland. Whilst braking onto a roundabout the gearbox put itself into Neutral and the dreaded Fault No Gear Change Available message came up on the dash. After a few key cycles i managed to get it into first and then second and then it went completely dead and wouldn't start and was stuck in second so couldn't be pushed off the road. Accepted defeat and called RAC out, whilst waiting for them to arrive had a quick google and sure enough another pistonheads thread came up.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=17...
Checked the fuse and sure enough it had blown, didnt have a spare 30A in the boot so pinched the one from the sub (F18) and voila…car and gearbox started up as normal. Cancelled RAC and even made the restaurant reservation on time.
Called BR this morning and spoke to Mike to ask his opinion incase my ASM pump was on the way out or something and he said it could just be a one off assuming i could hear the pump priming as normal when the drivers door was opened. Have done a further 300 miles today and even stopped by BR briefly who kindly had a quick look and they said all looked ok so fingers crossed it was just a fabled Aston glitch! I also now have spare 30A fuses in the car but hopefully they wont ever be needed.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=17...
Checked the fuse and sure enough it had blown, didnt have a spare 30A in the boot so pinched the one from the sub (F18) and voila…car and gearbox started up as normal. Cancelled RAC and even made the restaurant reservation on time.
Called BR this morning and spoke to Mike to ask his opinion incase my ASM pump was on the way out or something and he said it could just be a one off assuming i could hear the pump priming as normal when the drivers door was opened. Have done a further 300 miles today and even stopped by BR briefly who kindly had a quick look and they said all looked ok so fingers crossed it was just a fabled Aston glitch! I also now have spare 30A fuses in the car but hopefully they wont ever be needed.
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