dirt/pollen

The car is not clean at this point. It is going back to the body shop for some final touches, then once I get it back from then I will give it a good wash (once I am cleared to do that...I forget how long you are supposed to wait to wash fresh paint)

 

it used to be like 3 months, but i think its less nowadays

 

Looks like a great daily driver.

 

Looks good man glad to see it almost on the road... you can wash a freshly painted car the same day it gets painted.... just when we do it we usually only scrub the unpainted panels and windows and just spray water on the fresh paint to get the dust off... only thing to worry about is debris in your washing cloth... i would honestly wait a good week to wash it that way the paint is good and hard.... Now when polishing you will need to wait atleast a month, the polish seals up the clearcoated surface and doesnt allow the clearcoat to cure properly...

 

Jealous of freshly painted bumper cover...looking good man. Glad you went with the 5.5 HIDs on the AE. Love the way it looks on mine too!

 

LOL...that last sentence makes for a great visual!

Your AE is coming together great! As a wannabe in the world of modded Max's (my '03 GLE is bone stock but for the K&N filter) I have to live vicariously through the rest of you! Wife, mortgage, teenage daughter with an appetite for shopping...yep, I'm screwed!

I'll take one step closer to getting the Max the way I want it soon: my Megan 2.5" OE-RS from jpmracing.com is sitting in the garage waiting for me to install it. I'm tired of listening to the rattle and moan from the cracked joint on the front of the OEM resonator and just sick of looking at the rusted outlet pipes!

The org rocks!

 

I just washed the car yesterday and remembered that I had not really updated this thread. I got the car back from the body shop a few weeks ago and I have been driving it regularly. Here are a few pics.







yes I have 3 maximas


hopefully in a few weeks I can start a thread in members rides, just need some tires.

 

the pictures with the 3 maximas is beautiful good job on bringing the AE back to life looks great!

 

It's beautiful , the AE and 4th... the turd gen.. not so much .

Just from eyeballing, how difficult do you think it would be to put AE sideskirts on a 4th gen? Seems like the overall contours are about the same.

 

wow, all 3 are in great condition. good job fixing the AE. It looks brand new.

 

WOW! Win, Win, Win - Congrats!

That was a pretty penny, but sure beats a car payment, huh?

Man, I wish I would have shopped for an AE before I bought mine - didn't know jack about the Maximas when I bought mine, but I still love her though. I see a second Max in the family down the road... And that Majestic Blue owns.

Hope she keeps you safe & happy for a long, long time.

 

cant get over this color......... wanna trade?

oh wait you're auto

 

Cant wait to see it with the new wheels. But most likely it will need a drop to pull them off.

 

Thanks

Easy on the third gen! That's a good running VE5 that will be for sale soon. I have no clue if the AE skirts will fit a 4th gen.

Thanks, I try to keep my stuff in good shape.

Thanks man. Yeah, I have 7 vehicles (3 maximas), I had 8 week ago, and I have no car payments...yes it's nice but a lot of maintenance.

I'm loving the color too. Auto was not my first choice, but I decided to go with it since it will be a family car, and I do not plan to modify this one much for speed past a fed spec conversion and y pipe.

Don't worry man....I already have BC coilovers, I'm not going to put wheels on the car and not lower it

 

Looking great! I was hoping you'd post some finished shots. Nice work!

 

Looks great man...I hope she serves you good for a LONG time!
I still owe you the dead pedal and the manuals for the CD changer...

I have first dibbs when you decide to let it go!

-Chris

 

I see that you picked up 370z Ray's, they look great. Was it from one of my leads?

 

Any updates?

 

Sorry for the long wait for a reply I did not realize you posted here. I did follow your leads but that's not where I got them. I did end up finding them on the370, and I got them from a semi local guy. They will go on in the spring. I don't think they would make a very good winter set up if we do ever get any snow this year.

Ummmm....nothing really worth mentioning. I have put about 5k miles on the car and I am really enjoying it. This is my first car with heated seats and it sure is a nice feature to have. I have added SIRIUS radio, and I fixed the remote start that was not working when I bought the car. The only thing I have not been super happy with is the gas mileage. I do mostly highway driving and I have been getting anywhere from 25-19 mpg, I was hoping for high 20's but I don't think that's in the cards for this car. I do plan on adding an aftermarket y pipe but I doubt that will make much difference in mpg. I am really looking forward to lowering the car (BC coilovers) and adding my 370z sport wheels in the spring.

 

This is not much of any update, more of a tease. But I have been waiting to lower the car and put the wheels on it until we found another car for my wife (this has been the car she has been driving from the time we sold her car until we got something else), we got her a car earlier this week. My fender roller is itching to be used, I'm hoping to put some work in on the AE this weekend. It sure would be nice if it would cool off though, I don't have a/c in my garage and it's been a little warm recently to say the least.

 

Pictures of it with the new wheels?

 

this thread brings the blue *****

 

Got the coilovers and wheels on this weekend.............

 

shall be in for the pics

 

pics now

 

^ if i was in VA i'd go to his house and install that it for him

 

sorry guys....got home late last night. Did not feel like getting online to put them up. The car is at the shop being aligned now.

 

oh sweet..got the coilovers on

 

yeah, I don't do stuff half a$$. If it's getting wheels it's getting lowered.

 

i know you said you got the coilovers w/ the wheels. i thought you were waiting for this wkend to put the coilovers on, that's what i meant

 

 

Take your time...now we have 5th gen's with matching colors...I don't want to be reminded how much ****tier mine is looking now a days.

S

 

dont tell him to take his time, we wont get pics for another 5 months

 

Okay, here is what everyone wants to see First of all this past weekend was over 100* everyday, so before you get started please make sure your mountains are blue


I did not take pics of every step but if you have any questions please ask. I did the front first. Front stock stuff removed.





I went with BC coilovers. I got them from the guy here that does the group deal on them.

 

only thing i saw in the pics taht made sense was the beer

i lovedddddddd my BC coilovers...fukin loved them...make sure the camber plates are like = = and not like this \\ //

 

I thought BC Racing had figured out the problem that they were putting the wrong top hats on the strut assemblies. i.e. left top had was mounted on right strut/coil assembly....anyway, my set came backwards so I had to swap them around before I put the coilovers on in the front.



installed



Then I started working on the rear. From talking to other people here (mainly Prince Drew) I knew I would have to roll/modify the rear fenders to make these wheels fit. So I got my fender roller out and went to work.

Tool being set up



There was also some work that I did with the hand grinder but I did not take any pictures of that. I still need to grind some more because I am still rubbing in the rear over big bumps.

Here is the fender rolled.

 

Here are a few pictures of how it sits now. At the center of the front fender arches its about 25.5" off the ground, in the rear it's about 26" off the ground. I did not measure before. This is my "family" car so it will not go any lower, I already have to set the rear on full stiff and I still rub over big bumps. Any of you 5th gen guys have advice on how to smooth/cut the edge where the rear fender and bumper screw together?

 

man those wheels look AMAZING on the 5th gen and it being an AE makes it that much better, very nice setup!

 

wish you would go lower, but i understand family thing

 

In the rear I am running larger tires than other people with these wheels, so even if I wanted to go lower there is not much more room with out pulling my fenders out some. Like I said this is my family car so I am happy with the height.