It's go time for the maxima
 

Hey everyone,

I've been stuck with my 2010 vw gti for the past year and a half that was extremely unreliable, so I ended up parking it and not getting a chance to give my maxima some needed TLC.

This past week, I changed that and traded it in on a 2013 accord coupe v6 6mt. Now it'll be project maxima time. I plan to get:

-New bumpers F/R (had a slight fender bender in the front and someone hit my rear bumper in a parking lot)
-New OEM headlights - will clear the amber lens again and paint the housing black
-Front stillen and rear Ionic dynamcis AE replica lips
-Re-painting my wheels hyper silver (ala titanium edition wheels)
-Replacing every single bolt on the suspension
-New struts (doesn't need them, but i've gone over 140k on my Illuminas and I think they've done their duty)
-All new suspension bushings - particularly the rear
-All 4 new motor mounts
-New clutch (Still on original clutch at 176k)
-Sending in my steering rack to be re-geared and re-built
-New MAF (Still the original one but i've heard people not exhibiting any signs of a bad MAF and once they replace them, they notice a large difference)
-Later down the road an engine swap - either the '07+ altima motor or the '09+ maxima motor with haltech... depending on funds at the time


Anyway for now, this is what i'll be driving:

When I first saw it - I ordered it from the factory and the salesman put the thing on quarantine for me. Let me take it on the PDI drive and fill it with gas, let me remove the plastic, etc.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...r06/photo1.jpg
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With the maxima:
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nice accord! and max :)

they really did a better job with the new styling as opposed to the generation before. the first car i ever drove was a 2002 accord 4cyl and it was always a nice dependable whip. nothing bad to say about accords at all really imo

Mmm love the smell of new car. Looks nice!

Thanks guys. The accord has been good so far but I'll be getting coilovers the second they come out. Suspension is pretty floaty for my taste and the car has a good deal of squat and dive during acceleration and braking. Wind and road noise is minimal but it let's a nice bit of engine noise into the cabin and it's very aggressive. Reminds me of a rwd vq35. Mid corner bumps are fantastically soaked up and body roll is minimal. Braking is sub par but acceleration is awesome - particularly in 3rd and 4th gears.

glad to see your working on the max and reviving it and keeping it on the road. and i knew there was a reason i disliked vws hahaha

i am in the same boat with all that suspension tlc crap, its not like the things are needed but you can tell its not what it used to be 10 years ago even 5. do you plan on doing the rear trailing arm bushings yourself? It seems like one of the hardest bushings to change on our cars.

I also am in the same boat with the illuminas since they are supposedly lifetime. it could be me but they definitely feel weaker/softer across the board 60k later.

and why are you changing all the bolts on the suspension?

I will be doing all the bushings myself - it's not necessarily a difficult job, you just need to have some time to work on it. And from this point on, I'm taking my time on everything I do with this car. If I take something apart and notice something else that needs replacing, im gonna wait to put it together until I replace it, etc.

My illuminas are still amazing. Car is still just nailed to the road over most any type of surface. Without doubt the best thing I've done to my car since I've had it.

As for the bolts - its an old car and I've removed several of them multiple times throughout the life of the car. Over time these bolts will stretch and weaken - i essentially want a new suspension when I'm finished and the fasteners are very important when trying to accomplish this.

Nice new ride :) May I ask what was going on with the GTI? Just curious what was unreliable about it.

Let's just say I couldn't drive it without it breaking and every time it broke, it took 4+ trips to the dealer (50 miles away from me) to fix it... It had been parked for the last year I owned it and spent 5 of the first 8 months of ownership in the shop.

That blows about the GTI...

Nice choice on the accord! My friend also has a manual one, really great car. Build quality is excellent

Man the new accords look so nice!!

Glad to see you still have your maxima and keeping up with it! I wish I still had my 5.5 gen.