Looking for a little "upgrade" advice

[teamacacia]

Well, I am a new guy here and wanted to ask for advice on items that I should upgrade. I originally purchased my '08 Altima Coupe 3.5 SE CVT (loaded with everything available on it) new off the lot and it now has ~36k trouble free miles since purchase. My wife has been the primary driver but I am about to start driving it full time and want to do some enhancements to the car. I have been looking at intake and exhaust upgrades but don't really know who makes the best or what would be best to my application. I have considered the idea of a turbo but am worried that it would somehow void the extended transmission warranty, which I do not want to do. I am also not that interested in lowering the car as I have a fairly steep driveway, semi-steep inlet and outlet at work and speed bumps at every entrance at work. Bigger tires, maybe. Anyhow, please help me with ideas so I can get started ASAP. Thanks!
Doc Todd

[BRicci]

For intake, K&N Cold Air Intake is probably your best option.
Exhaust, Greddy Exhausts are pretty popular or you could go with custom exhaust. But it all depends on what you want.
And Turbo with CVT is a big no I'm pretty sure.

[Innovazn]

your cvt wont like your turbo very much.

[LongBeachCoupe]

Im the value shopper... fujita intake, cheapest catback you can find, hpipe.....
First things first.. tint and eibachs

[BamaCoupe]

I'm with LBC; when it comes to bolt-ons go with what's cheapest, because intakes and exhaust the cost doesn't outweigh the gains other then RL down pipe. My opinion is that the best bang for your buck is cosmetics; I understand your concern about a drop because I have similar conditions. My driveway begins with a very steep up hill slope (from the street my driveway looks like it's up to my hood in a 4' span) before a steep downhill slope to the garage. Take it at an angle and you won't scrape, heck at one point coming into my driveway I'm on three wheels. I'm not going to say where I work, but lets just say they've placed plenty of obstacles to insure no one can run the gates. I was very hesitant to drop my car too, but I don't regret it. To be honest after the drop I noticed the cornering was 10x better, and it still rode like a family car. It wasn't until I replaced my factory 17" to 18" that the ride got rough. I say loss that 4x4 stance and get 10mm or 15mm wheel spacers to bring your wheels flush; your OEM 17's are heavy but don't look bad, and actually I'm looking at hub adapters and putting my OEM 17's on my wife's 328i which does have some horrible looking wheels. and I promise you will not loose ride quality, and you will not scrape near as much as you think you will.

[T00Ezy]

k&N CAI for intake! go with the greddy's thats def the best sounding exhaust out there imo but i have stillens. if you want a deeper sound go for stillens, softer and throbbier sound go for greedys definitely!

[teamacacia]

I'm with LBC; when it comes to bolt-ons go with what's cheapest, because intakes and exhaust the cost doesn't outweigh the gains other then RL down pipe. My opinion is that the best bang for your buck is cosmetics; I understand your concern about a drop because I have similar conditions. My driveway begins with a very steep up hill slope (from the street my driveway looks like it's up to my hood in a 4' span) before a steep downhill slope to the garage. Take it at an angle and you won't scrape, heck at one point coming into my driveway I'm on three wheels. I'm not going to say where I work, but lets just say they've placed plenty of obstacles to insure no one can run the gates. I was very hesitant to drop my car too, but I don't regret it. To be honest after the drop I noticed the cornering was 10x better, and it still rode like a family car. It wasn't until I replaced my factory 17" to 18" that the ride got rough. I say loss that 4x4 stance and get 10mm or 15mm wheel spacers to bring your wheels flush; your OEM 17's are heavy but don't look bad, and actually I'm looking at hub adapters and putting my OEM 17's on my wife's 328i which does have some horrible looking wheels. and I promise you will not loose ride quality, and you will not scrape near as much as you think you will.

Thanks for all of the responses so far. So it sounds like intake and cat back to start. Windows are nicely tinted already, not too dark and not too lite.

LBC: Where to start with Eibachs?

Bama: How far did you drop and what did you use? Also, what is RL down pipe? I am new to car modding and don't know all of the abbreviations.

[SanoSuKe]

I kinda disagree with what they said. Do it right the first time and get the best parts so you don't have to change later. If you start with a cheap axle-back/cat-back you're gonna end up getting bored of how quiet/raspy it sounds.. and end up buying a Greddy/Nismo system later like most guys on here.

For intakes I'd go with K&N like they said. It's warranty friendly and sounds awesome. Not sure if you meant bigger Wheels instead of tires, but 19s fill our wheel well very nicely and I'm sure you won't lose ride quality if you go with the right tire sizes.

Get Tein springs if you have a 3.5 It gives you a 2" drop all around I think and you'll still be able to make your driveway.

[BamaCoupe]

I'm just saying that if I spend $900 to $1,000 for an exhaust I want to fill a major performance gain vs. $350 ebay exhaust, and you don't. Personally I don't spend that kind of money just to make my car sound different; I'm mostly saying if a person is looking to do all this for performance gains there wasting there money. Performance wise as expensive as it is a turbo is your best horsepower/$, but for us CVT guys that's not an option. Teamacacia RL is Racingline y-pipe and people do claim a performance/sound gain from it and it's only $300. I'm on Eibachs that lowers me about 1.5" front and 1.25" back (someone correct me if I'm wrong; it's been a while since I looked) 18"wheels and 18-235/45 tires. Teins give the lower drop then Eibach's, but since I don't have Teins I can't tell you how bad or good it is dealing with the terrains and if your going to scrape. I'd guess the lower you are the better chance you have to scraping. I begin to fill every crack in the asphalt after switching from 17" to 18" wheels, so that's why I suggested keeping your factory wheels and getting wheel spacers. Pictures below show you the wheel gap after eibach drop; the wheels are 350Z track wheels that have an offset of 30 and 33 (I think), and I think a 12mm (I know above I said 10 or 15) will set your wheels/tire flush with the fenders.

[Ranga14]

Welcome, start with aesthetics first then move to performance, that's what I did.

And I'd stay away from the turboz. :P

[beeristasty]

One of my best suspension/handling mods was racingline's strut tower bar. It really tightens up the steering after installation.

If you're considering a cat back, you may as well install the y-pipe along with it, since you'll be down there anyways.

[downedzephyr]

Welcome to NICO!

Also, I'm selling a tanabe axelback for $200 lol. jussayin

[zmayhew3]

I just put on the K&N Typhoon a few weeks ago. I would start there. Gives you a good sound and noticeable horsepower. I would also suggest the RacingLine Y pipe. Best performance bang for your buck. I have a sedan so I was having trouble finding anything "cost effective" for exhaust, so I just found some tips that I liked the sound of and had the muffler shop custom bend 2.5 pipes from the cat to the tips. Sounds great, looks great, and MOVES.

I have to disagree with some of these guys though. If you're going to do visual mods, you need to have some performance mods to back it up. For $1,000 you can be running 40-50 more horsepower in a 3.5, then throw some rims and a body kit on it.