So my car will be hitting 90k soon and there are many things I've been neglecting to do /want to do while i have a little money set aside (which is VERY rare for my poor ***)

I've got a huge list, but also a few questions on what I should worry about etc ..

I'll be getting my windows tinted soon as its something i've wanted to do ever since I got the car and i like the look of white maxima's with tinted windows.

so i'll start there .. all prices are approximate of course

Tint (quoted @) $220
new sidemarker bulbs - $10 for all 4
Both belts approx $40 (courtesy nissan)
Spark plugs (OEM, courtesy nissan) - $60
Tire Balance and Rotation (firestone place) - $40
Alignment (long overdue) - $70
Fuel Filter - $15
4300k or 6000k HID's (ebay) $30-$40
sound deadoning material (fatmat, ebay) $50
H&R Springs - $250 (ebay)
OEM Struts (not sure if i need these or not .. best way to tell?)
CV Joints (havent priced them out yet)
MT/90 tranny oil (already have this, just need to swap the fluid out)
Changed oil / filter less than 1k ago so by the time all this comes to fruition i may or may not need to change again ...

I may or may not need rotors on all corners (not sure yet), but I was planning on just replacing them all with some cheap ones from advance. I'm not sure that they differ from OEM that much. I dont want to spend a lot of money on drilled/slotted rotors as i'm not tracking or racing the car .. i just drive spirited from time to time ...

HP hawk pads all around (when i need them)

I have vibration going on while braking at interstate speeds so i figured i'd start with rotors and upgrade the brakes from there (possibly needing new hardware too?)

Is there anything else that i'm missing that could use a change @ this mileage milestone?

Tires are between 1 and 2 years old ...

Suspension is where i have the most questions ... in looking over shiftice's site i'm pretty sure i want to mimic his suspension setup, but i'm not sure of the costs of replacing old struts with new OEM struts .. i looked at courtesy nissans site and there are a few different pieces that labeled "strut" and i'm not sure what i should and shouldnt be worrying with.

Suspension is the ONE area of a car that i know little to nothing about ...




There are a few performance parts I really want to look into as well (exhaust/nwp plate/headers etc), but i'm going to wait until i pay the car off until i get too deep in performance mods .. plus i dont want a ricey sounding car so i'm still researching all that ...

at any rate .. in b4 long post etc .. just looking for some guidance as to what the best way to spend my loot would be in keeping the car in good running condition

 

Swap the fatmat for some edead (25 sq ft for $40) on ebay.

 

2 things:
1 dont buy e-bay HIDs, get them from hid extra
2 220 for tint is too much, in Chicago around here 150 for all but windshield

 

Ahh .. thanks for the edead .. thats a question i forgot to ask .. cheaper sound insulation .. i'm going to follow the guide on shiftice's website in hopes of stopping the back deck from rattling ..

as far as the tint goes ...
the reason its a bit more expensive is cause of the quality.
the "quote" was between 160 and 220 according to them. I've had a few friends get thier cars done at this place and they do quality work ...

the rear window is all one piece which alot of places DONT do and something that i WANT them to do.

 

When you are going to change front struts, pl. change the strut mounts ($35 each) and also the boots. You won't have to think about front struts for another 100K miles. DONOT forget the boots even if you are on a budget.

 

There's a place in Hendersonville that will tint windows for a lot cheaper. Depending on where you live, and how far you want to drive...I can double check, but I'm pretty sure they do one-piece tinting on the rear window, too.

For the same price, you can pick yourself up a set of NGK Iridiums. Way more worth the money than the OEM spark plugs.


Stay away from eBay HIDs for sure. I've got a set, and I've had all kinds of issues with them.

These coupled together will probably ride pretty rough. Be prepared for a somewhat unforgiving ride..

On a side note, the best way to check for bad struts is to get the corner of the car bouncing up and down. If it doesn't stop moving in three or four rebounds after that, it's probably best to get new struts. If your struts are puking oil, that's always a good indicator, too.


Do NOT buy Advance Auto rotors. I've got them on my car, and I've had problems with them warping. Badly. Are the rotors the OEMs that came with the car from the factory? You might be able to just have them turned if you haven't had it done before.

Another good rule of thumb is any time you replace rotors, replace the pads, too.

You'll probably pay as much as, if not more than you would to buy a set of Tokico HP Blues for your car if you go with OEM struts from the dealer. Go with the Blues if you're going to do an H&R drop.

If you need any help with this stuff, hit me up. I've got a bunch of videos of my exhaust as it's progressed. You're also local, so it wouldn't be a problem to let you actually see and hear everything. I have all those mods except NWP's plate.

By the way, FWIW, headers are the best thing you can do for a VQ35. They'll make the engine last way longer.

 

Man i'm in the same boat....i just hit 125000 and i need new struts and a tune up with new spark plugs. I also have horrible hail damage that I've been trying to get rid of forever. I"m a college student so I'm hoping i can get this all done for under a thousand (hahahaha). I'm really wondering about some good perfomance options I could throw in the engine because everything i've done so far is cosmetic and electronic. I'm new to the import performance game, ( i came from a Ford Taurus) so if anybody can give me some advice on some simple upgrades that would be great. I'm pretty mechanically inclined but I don't want to ruin my car.

 

1. Since you seem to want to do some sound deadening, make sure you buy some mass loaded vinyl. Fatmat etc will help your sound system but will do nothing to reduce road noise in the car. Use ensolite closed cell foam if you feel the mass loaded vinyl(MLV) is too expensive.

2. Make sure you check your passenger side motor mount. I just replaced mine at 190K miles and it was in 2 pieces. No wonder I had vibrations at certain rpms and just a feeling of looseness in the front end.

3. If you have an electronic mount in the engine bay disconnect it to save loosing your ECU.

4. I would also check your sway bar bushings and the sway bar end links.

5. Check your lower control arm bushings for free play.

All in all you are at a mileage to do some significant checks to make sure you are all set for the next 50K miles!

Good Luck.

 

sweet ... do you know the name? I'll give them a call and see what they can and cant do. Like i mentioned though the joint i'm referring to over the phone said between 160 and 220 depending on what i wanted to do so I just assumed the most expensive price

good to know. I did a little reading on which plugs to go with here on the forums and honestly got bored reading all the hear-say. If i'll get gains from going iridiums and they are of equal cost then i'll take that route.


So i would be better off getting some replacements from phillips website or something similar? I believe their prices were around 80 for a pair?

Like i said i'm not too versed on suspension and I'm basically going on what shiftice had on his site. I'm looking for as close to the stock feel as i can get while lowering the car just a tad. I think the car sits too high in stock form and slightly lowered maxima's look far more agressive.
I'm basically wanting to spend about the same amount of money i would if i replaced the stock suspension, but if i can get a tad lower for the same amount on aftermarket springs, thats the route i'd like to go.

I have a kid in the backseat often and i'm not trying to make his life hell ...just looking to lower the stance a wee bit

I'm not even sure if the rest of the suspension NEEDS to be replaced .. but after 90k i'm sure something in there does ...


yeah I assume they are the originals that i have now. I know i havent changed them and I bought the car with 44k on the odometer so i'm sure they are original. These might also not need to be replaced .. i need to measure them before buying anything, thats for sure.


see above. I'm wanting a slightly lower stance without an extremely still suspension .. as close to stock as i can get

I appreciate it man! your post has been informative!
exhaust is something that i'm really timid about. on my 13BT i had the racing beat exhaust which IMO was the best sounding exhaust available for FC's. You couldnt even really tell you had an aftermarket exhaust until you put the pedal down. it sounded SOOOO good. worth every penny i paid for it (almost 1K)



I'm not as worried about road noise as i am about the bose sub causing mucho rattle in the back. The sub is fine for what i need right now, but certain tracks just make my car sound like booty while others sound just fine. I assume by adding the material in various locations (again on the shiftice site) I should be able to achieve what i want ...

 

couple of things:

don't spend any money on a grocery getter.

instead save up and get something better.

maxima is really not worth it to mod, no matter how much money you put on it, it still handles like a boat and it's slow as hell.

 

dont muck up my thread, troll

 

I'll have to look up the name. It's right next to where I used to work.



Definitely. Headlights are one thing I have to say for sure go OEM. There aren't too many aftermarket HID companies worth dealing with. A set of Philips HIDs should last you close to 7 or 8 years.

Have your mechanic check out your tie rods, end links and strut bar bushings in the front end. Those would more than likely be the first things to go.

HP Blues are pretty much a direct OEM replacement. Another 5th gen member, Rochester, did a review on them on stock springs versus the OEM struts. If I remember, he said they felt almost exactly like stock, but were a bit less squishy in the corner.

If you decide to go the OEM route, make sure you get the SE struts and not the GLE or GXE. The GLE and GXE are quite a bit softer.

Hey, no problem.

Yeah, my exhaust sounds decent, but it's noisy in the cabin. But that's also because I have a piece of trash resonator in the b-pipe that could definitely be replaced.

I'm running a glasspack catback with OBX-V2 headers and I'm happy with it. I just need to find a way to quiet it down just a tad because I do a lot of highway driving.

1k is a lot to drop on an exhaust.

 

i'm just not trying to pay 130 for a single one again, lol

the stuff you'll do in a pinch is absurd ... still regret buying a bulb from advance


no doubt ... worth it though ... build quality was through the roof...
http://racingbeat.com/FRmazda2.htm

 

Why do you drive one?

 

have you thought about a trade in for a new gen max?? dealer trade in's can usually can go pretty high

 

Serious...?

Dealers will lowball the ish out of you.

On a 2003 Max with 90k, he'd be lucky if the dealer offered him 3500.

 

OEM plugs are NGK. However, you're right about buying Iridiums online for less than the dealerships would sell you. That pretty much goes without saying, on just about everything. Personally, I think people think they're getting something special with Iridiums when it just doesn't matter. I have them, and meh.

Here's is NGK direct for the 5.5 gen:

http://www.ngk.com/results_app.asp?AAIA=1431954

 

Almost universally, yes. But the 5th gen is in a sweet spot right now for used car sales. Today, a dealership might take an excellent condition 5th gen in on trade for a new 7th gen, and actually make more money off the used sale vs. the new.

None of which means the customer is going to significantly benefit from that situation. Dealerships always win. Always.

 

Oh, I know OEMs are NGKs. My car still had the original plugs in it when I changed them out at 160,000 miles. So I'm sure that was part of the reason the Iridiums felt so much better.

I was just saying you've got to figure for what the stealership is charging for a set of OEM plugs, you might as well go for what's considered the "better" product. At least, that's how I look at it when it comes to maintaining my car.

E.G.: Nissan wants $250 for a new front motor mount for my car. I don't think they sell just the inserts. ES wants $84 for an "upgraded," stiffer mount insert. Which sounds more appealing?

On a side note, I'd also like to see someone run a dyno test with OEMs versus Iridiums. Just out of curiosity. I'd like to see if there are actually any gains from switching plugs. At any rate, OEM or not, you're getting the same name brand for the same price.

 

My guess is that Iridiums actually do have a more efficient design over the OEM plugs, and one that is measurable somehow by something. But I would also guess that difference does not register as a change in WHP.

While it seems a reasonable assumption (to me), notice use of the word "guess" twice in that statement.

 

I did notice in increase in MPG after the Iridiums were in. But again, that's testing them against nasty, burnt out old plugs that I'm sure probably weren't up to par as far as ignition.

My assumption is that it comes down to the type of metal used in the tips (obviously). Basic chemistry will tell you that some types of metal conduct electricity better than others. Based off this, I'm assuming that the conductivity would hypothetically in turn mean a fuller spark, and/or a potentially more complete ignition.

How much better does iridium supposedly conduct electricity than copper or platinum? I don't know. I'd have to read through my chemistry notes and crunch some numbers to figure it out. I just don't feel up to it right at this very moment. Coffee break.

OP, didn't mean to thread jack. Rochester just sparked an interesting thought process for me. If I ever decide to pursue this, I'll post it in my own thread.

 

nah its relevant and exactly the kind of input i was looking for ..

i'm NOT trading the car in or selling it. It'll be paid off soon and i'm keeping it until i blow her up. Im a dude with a family and i'm the only one working, so more car payments is NOT something I want, lol

 

"I'm a dude" would be a fantastic member name. But I have to say, "Fitness Stain" is freakin hilarious. Cudos on creativity.

 

 

Your SE struts are made for Nissan by Tokico, and it's one of the things that sets the SE apart mechanically from the GLE and GXE. (That, and the thicker FSB, and the MT option.) Direct replacements would be the Tokico HP Blues, which are slightly better than OEM, and certainly less expensive. By "better", I mean less recoil, but with similar ride quality.

My point being, replacing your OEM struts with brand new OEM struts is neither a reasonable nor cost-effective objective. You could upgrade, albeit sideways, for less money.

 

good to know. like i said i REALLY want to lower the car, but just a little bit.

The slightly lower stance makes the car just look better ...

i have speedbumps and potholes abound here in antioch so i'm not trying to bottom out all the time ...

 

To some. Most of the people here, actually. Personally, I don't drink that Kool-aid, and I catch lots of flak for it. There's a far, far outside chance my opinion might change after I see other rides at Maxus2010. We'll see.

But Stain (can I call you Stain? ), I must have missed your lower-the-car objective. My research (here) into the Blues is that their lifespan is big-time reduced when on lowered springs. That being the case, you may want to step up to Tokico Illuminas. A little more pricey, but you can adjust the dampening.

 

I wouldn't recommend Iridiums due to the rougher idle they may cause. Stick to plats.

 

Since you're in the topic of damping, you may enjoy this..

http://farnorthracing.com/autocross_secrets6.html

 

as far as suspension goes as I've mentioned i know VERY little about specifics ...

i'm not looking to "tune" my ride and i wont be putting chalk on my tires at the track to tell how much i need to adjust air pressure and ride stiffness, lol

this is my daily driver and all i really want is to lower it a wee bit for the more agressive (IMO) look. The pictures i'm going by are the ones on shiftice's site. The progress drop he has pictures of that compare to stock LOOK great, but i'm worried about functionality. I have 3 BIG speed bumps i go over EVERY day in my apartments and there are also potholes galore around here, so i'm worried about bottoming out.
The H&R springs (again on shiftice's site) look like a good drop as well and he stated he installed them on the front only with the stock struts in the rear and hasnt bottomed out.

I guess i should read up more on suspension before worrying too much about it. Besides there are more important things to spend money on right now i guess .. such as brakes, new bulbs, and my belts ...

 

Oh, come on, Roy! Firefox does an awesome job of integrating spell-check with the textarea object, but they can't spell-check something misspelled as a real word. Or do you really think I've been using the word "damping" in this context?

You're killing me, man.


Good for you, Stain. Safety + Functionality > Mods

 

so i added 6 iridium's to my cart on NGK's website and it was 8 bucks less than what i could get the platinums (which are more expensive on the website than the iridiums), but when you factor in shipping (almost 10 bucks according to the website) i'd be better off just getting the NGK platinum's from advance (same part #)

So the iridiums are less expensive than the platinums on NGK's website, but I can get the platinums for cheaper at advanced due to shipping charges.

Might as well go with the platinums i guess?

 

ah crap wait .. after sorting through the site (advance) they DO have the iridiums and they are cheaper than the plat's ...

still cheaper to go through advance than to go through NGK's site due to shipping ...

guess i should read on plat vs iridium a tad bit real quick.

 

I put up the NGK link just to demonstrate what NGK plugs are available for our cars. Where you actually purchase them is your call. Try eBay.

 

I'm dropped on Progress and stock struts. A word of advice: Don't.

The ride is rough and unforgiving. The car feels like its about to fall apart over big bumps.

H&Rs are definitely the way to go for a moderate drop. I'm switching to coilovers before long. The car handles great, but I can't stand hitting little bumps in the road and feeling like the car is about to blow up. Although I don't ever bottom out unless there are more than two people in the car.

 

Yeah see thats what i'm worried about. I have people in my car alot ... dont want to bottom out ...

 

Unless? Wow. That's some compromise you're making there.

A car should never bottom out. That's just not acceptable outside of Hazard County.

 

Are you suggesting I paint my Maxima orange and put a giant "01" on the side of it?

In all seriousness, though. I rarely ever drive more than myself around. Occasionally one other person. So the suspension works for me. For now. I don't ever bottom out and actually drag the car on the ground, though. Bumpstops ftw.

Of course, the bottoming out usually occurs when there are three of my friends in the car with me, and all of them are close to my size. (~6'0, 160+ lbs). I've even seen the stock suspension on our cars (as well as on Altimas) squat pretty low in the back with four people in the car.

Like I said, I'm going to coilovers soon, though. The unmatched spring rates and strut rebound are killing me.

 

That is an awesome article though.

 

Oh my God, I feel like such an idiot. And I have serious egg on my face. Of course, I could so easily let this go, but I'm not a coward (usually). Roy, you were right the first time. I've been routinely mispronouncing that word, and subsequently misspelling it.

Thank you. Sorry, man. I feel so foolish.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/damping
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dampening