my new coupe (pics, first light mods)

[bmh383]

Hi all!

I used to drive an 06 mustang gt .. in January I traded it in for an 09 altima coupe, 2.5 cvt. I wanted better mileage, a lower payment, better insurance and still have a sporty look/feel to it. I'd see these coupes from time to time on the highway and they'd always catch my attention ("what kind of car is that?!"). So when I saw one on the lot when I was in the market, I knew I was gonna get it.

Anyway here it is.



The first light mods I did were shaving/debadging (everything, I like the clean look .. of course I need to get rid of the ugly Vanderstyne plate frame at some point! ):



Then I decided to paint the grill inserts. I'm not quite sure why I did this, but I wanted to try my hand at sanding/painting, and I figured I couldn't do too much damage on these little things. Gotta start somewhere eh? Anyway I'm not sure I like it as it is now. I think I need to paint the side pieces and the top part black too. It looks a little too "moustachy" right now. Also, that little white spot on the lower right is SALT The paint is actually holding up pretty good for my first time. I just wet sanded it, sprayed 3 coats black and cleared 3 coats. Easy as pie.



Next up is LEDS! Two in the map:



.. and the license plate:



3/11 - This weekend I smoked the taillights with VHT niteshade. The first time I did it (3 coats vht, 3 clear), it came out WAY too dark. You could barely see the brake light coming through. Begging for an accident on that one, so I thinned some of it off and redid it (2 coats vht - no clear). Now it came out pretty good (and now you can definitely see the brake light, so all good on that). I'm happy with it, but I do need to polish it a little bit ..



That's it for now. I'm going to get two more LED's for the courtesy lights, a blue LED for the dome light, and two red 3157's for the tails.

Future plans include:

- Window tint.

- At some point I'd like to bake and paint the headlights.

- 16 or 17" wheels: http://www.tirerack.com/images/wheels/s ... _ci3_l.jpg ?????

- Stillen front lip

[enomis]

Nice work so far. I am looking to buy one too! Just haven't pushed myself to do it yet.
Was modding the LED map lights pretty easy?

[bmh383]

Thanks! Very easy, just pop the covers off with a butterknife, pull the halogens out and pop the LEDs in.

http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/diy-ge ... ement.html

[enomis]

Thanks! Where did you buy your LED's? How durable are they? I hope they don't blow out in less then a year.

[bmh383]

Np. I got those from superbrightleds.com, but my next ones I'm going to try vleds.com as they're a bit cheaper. I've heard good reviews about both places so, either seems good.

As for the bulbs they seem about as durable as normal halogens. And I also hope they last as long as possible.

[enomis]

Sorry, could you give me a direct link on vleds.com as to which ones you would buy? I don't do mods to my car and I am looking to start. Are they the Dome map LED's?

[SanoSuKe]

Since you're going with the Stillen lip, get the C-Mod grille. A lot of people are running this combo, it looks very clean and sporty.

[bmh383]

Sure, any 194 LED bulb will work for the map lights: http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED-Bulb ... 8-1-2.html

The dome light is different, I think it's 3022. http://www.v-leds.com/3022-29MM-LED/c506123-1-2/

[bmh383]

Since you're going with the Stillen lip, get the C-Mod grille. A lot of people are running this combo, it looks very clean and sporty.

Yeah I've heard that's a good combo and seen it on a couple rides here, I'll probably do that.

[SanoSuKe]

Since you're going with the Stillen lip, get the C-Mod grille. A lot of people are running this combo, it looks very clean and sporty.

Yeah I've heard that's a good combo and seen it on a couple rides here, I'll probably do that.

This will def change your mind, one of the OGs on here

[bmh383]

Gorgeous! I just paid a bunch of bills today .. but i'm really tempted to put that combo on credit now!

[enomis]

Don't you guys ever worry your lip will scratch the ground? That's why I never thought of lowering or adding a lip. I would cringe everytime I hear it scratch the pavement.

[HuyyNguyen]

Don't you guys ever worry your lip will scratch the ground? That's why I never thought of lowering or adding a lip. I would cringe everytime I hear it scratch the pavement.

The bottom of your car will get scratched up eventually, just by driving on a pretty bad road from time to time. Also, when you're dropped, you're more careful, even if it's only dropping it a little Plus, the bottom is unnoticeable. Watch, walk up to a car that is probably 4-5 years old but looks as if it's only a year old washed and taken care of, look on the bottom and you'll see some scratch marks =P

[bmh383]

VHT niteshade tails added. I used to have smoked tails on my mustang ... but those were plastic covers. Paint is much more ... eh .. time consuming. But I like how it came out.

[bmh383]

So i've backed off on doing anything with my coupe over the past year or so (to work on other stuff, my house, job .. wife )

I got bored and since I haven't gotten the Stillen lip or cmod grille, trying to save some money up, I decided to play around with plasti dip. I blacked out the center of the lower bumper. What do you think?



I want to try dipping the outer part of the grille all the way down (like around the middle of the grill, and on the sides from the edges of the black bezel pieces down). Figured I'd start small with just the lower bumper first.

The left side of the plasti dip didn't turn out so well... letting it dry before removing the tape proved to be a mistake! I'll probably redo it at some point.

I also repainted the grill bezel pieces black because they were flaking like crazy. I have to do something about the taillights at some point too because there's tiny hairline fractures in them, AND the VHT paint is starting to fade.

[Bangin_Coupe]

Looks good. Great work so far. We have the same color. I hope to see u around so we can exchange stories and ideas. I hope to hear from u soon.