chrisaust

Haven't looked at Maxima stuff on Ebay for awhile, but I haven't noticed they now have performance ECU chips available... anyone have any experience with these? Are they worthless for this cheap?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...473979946&rd=1

And these exhaust pipes, are they any good? (By the way, anyone know how many are included in these auctions? 1? 2? or 4?)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...473492468&rd=1

Also, for those of you who had the black section of your lower grille painted, down near the cornering lights, how much did you pay, and did you have to contact the body shop ahead of time so they could order the paint? How long did they have your car, or were they able to remove that piece and let you keep the car, and then put it back in after they had painted it?

CanadianMoFo

I'm wondering the same thing. I took a quick look at the piece but I don't think it comes out of the bumper. Basically if you remove the fog lights the shop should be able to mask and spray the section without any troubles.

Max Cat

For $6, I wouldn't risk damage to your ECU (which would cost WAY more to replace if this mod goofed it up).

My .02 on "chips" in general, especially on newer vehicles, is that you are wasting your money. The ECU's on modern vehicles are set up to "learn" for optimum economy and minimum emissions. When you install a chip on most modern vehicles, you will feel instant gratification. This is due to a combination of the effect of the chip, and the fact that you reset your ECU when you powered it down to install the chip! Over time though, the ECU will force the program to relearn for economy and emissions, and do so right around your chip.

Now, a custom programmed ECU that hasn't been told to "learn", THAT's a whole different story, and definite gains will be had and will stay as long as the custom ECU is in place.

VTmaximaVT

woo...i wouldn't do it...unless they test it on 04 maximas and gives u
warranty...well...even if they did, i wouldn't do it...

and for those mufflers, i don't think they go with maximas.

don't make your $30k maxima "powered by Ebay"

Max Cat

I particularly like the quote on the muffler description. "Made by T-304 Stainless Steel". Not made OF or made WITH T-304. My guess is the vendor is playing a word game here and telling us that the muffler is made BY tooling made from T-304.

Redsand187

That "performance chip" is no more then a resistor from radioshack.

It alters the voltage returning to the Intake Air Temperature input on the ECU, fooling the computer into thinking the ambient temperature is cooler then it really is. Thus it will advance the timing and deliever more fuel... or that's the plan. Is it really effective? Maybe. Is there proof? Hell no! Will it damage your ECU? It is very possible.

chrisaust

Sounds good to me. i figured a $6 performance chip wasn't going to be good, but I hadn't seen ANY performance chips out there yet so I was just wondering.

As far as the exhaust goes, I'll go with something designed specifically for the Max.

04EliteSE

I would avoid ebay.

CHASE_BXMW

would it be easy for someone to remove a factory chip? and would you notice if someone removed it?