Hello, I'm new here

[surgeonhands]

Hi guys, I've been checking this forum out for a few months now and I've decided to start posting a bit. My car is by all means a long work in process, I've only de-badged the trunk, tinted the passenger windows, painted my brake calipers and just last week got my entire passenger side sanded and painted because someone decided to brutally key my car about a year ago, and I've just recently had the time and money to take care of it. They were nice enough to polish the interior of my headlights and touch up the paint of the entire car to get rid of little imperfections. Here are two pictures, haven't been able to take any recent ones because it's been raining for the last two weeks non stop here in Miami.



this was taken before the headlights were polished. I hate how high my car is, definitely need to take care of the tire gap.


I'm not a big fan of these wheels, the only reason I put them on is because I hate the stock wheels that come with the car, at least the 09' version. I've seem newer models that have stock wheels that resemble the Infiniti's and those are much nicer. Some guy had these on an AC that he was selling for parts and told me he'd give me all 4 wheels + tires for $200. They were from the same car so I knew they'd fit. However, they 're 17'' so I had to get rid of my stock wheels and tires, which are 16''. Sold those for $450, so I essentially made money for different wheels. Only downside was that these tires were a bit more worn out than the stock ones, but not by much, and I don't drive a whole lot around. If I do decide to purchase better wheels it'll be way, way more ahead. Wish they'd been a little bigger but you can't have everything you want.


I'm going to purchase Megan Racing coils within the next two months to drop the ride and eliminate as much wheel gap as possible without gutting my car going over bumps, and after that I'm planning on purchasing a catback exhaust, haven't settled on any brand as of yet.


I have a question, and yes it is silly, but I have read around and could not find anything that answers it. Right now, the bottom of the front and back bumper of my car sits 7 inches from the ground. I did a bit of measuring and I'd have to drop the car 2-3 inches in the front and in the back in order to eliminate the wheel gap present. Hypothetically, that would leave around 4-5 inches on my front and back bumpers from the ground. My question is, is that enough space to drive comfortably? I know that I'll always have to be careful when going over bumps and watch out for potholes and such on the road, but is it still a fair margin of space?

[AED]

My 08 SE is a work in process also. It was stock when I bought it a year ago and since it had 65K on it at that time I have mostly had to concentrate on getting some maintenance things done, like brake pads and rotors replaced before modding. Lots of ideas, low on cash. Since I have the 3.5 V6 I am fairly happy with the performance for now but will probably add an SRI and catback somewhere down the road. Depending on your financial position there are a lots of exterior mods you can do from spoilers to full body kits.

I agree with you about the wheel gap, I guess Nissan went with ride comfort over appearance when designing the coupe. There are a lot of different choices when deciding on drop. Eibach, Tein and H & R springs seem to be popular. You can also go with a set of coilovers if you want the ability to change wheel gap and ride quality to suit your taste. Main drawback to coilovers is cost, a good set will run you over $1000, not including install and alignment.

If you have not already done so, take a look at the nissanclub.com forums for more photos and suggestions.