Ive been scoping around the internet looking for little mods for my maxima (which is currently a stock 1996 GLE). These are the parts ive been looking at.

http://www.2kracing.com/Product/8140.html

http://www.2kracing.com/Product/15544.html

http://www.2kracing.com/Product/15310.html

http://www.2kracing.com/Product/120.html

my car is pearl white and im looking to have all the mods and what not black. i have the 5% tint and what not but nothing major at all.

also, where do you guys prefer to buy rims? ive been doing my searching, dont worry but some of the rims that i think look cool are crazy cheap...and it seems kind of shady. for example:

http://www.customwheelsdirect.com/wh...l.php?id=58575

and

http://www.wheelfire.com/scontent/Wh...carbon&SKU=922

 

black and pearl white here too. i bought my lights on ebay.

 

you could get the first 3 items off ebay for cheaper, same exact items, the 96 also has a red/clear tail light on ebay, the apexi muffler im not sure, and im not sure if customwheelsdirect is legit, but they do ahve a number and are located in CA, wheelfire is pretty legit, i know people who've ordered from them.

 

your lights look pretty cool, ill search through ebay again. thanks

 

All of the first four links you posted i would say stay away from...

Injen Cold air hurts your performance

Headlights seem over priced

Those tail's =

And the muffler seems way over priced also.

 

yea i am having second thoughts on the tail lights and i found the head lights on ebay for 150 shipped. and literally the next thread i read was about injen cai being bad. what cold air intakes or even short ram intakes do you recommend?

 

All are over price. Tail lights and muffler are way ricer out. All that muffler is gonna do is make your car loud and lame. Fart cans do nothing and I would never put it on any car for anyone. If anything get a Y pipe made of SS for some added sound/power. A slight drop with struts goes along way on these cars. Headlight upgrades are nice. Learn to be able to repair problems.

 

Ah, an impressionable noob. Let me take this opportunity then to try to give you a better perspective on all of this.
First of all, there is nothing wrong with injen cai's.......it is tubing with a filter on it. In essence, that is all ANY of the intakes are. Something unrelated to the "engineering" of that CAI is wrong with that guy's car whom which you are referring to. Dont waste your money on this over priced garbage. Do a little research and you will see that intakes do little to nothing for our cars.
Tail lights, headlights...honestly...who cares? Do those things really matter? Is anyone going to notice that? And how will you feel a few years down the road when you're tired of them, or you can't turn around and sell them because they are worth nothing.
I remember when I first got my Maxima and I wanted to throw a bunch of parts at it too, thinking I was doing something good. But when it came down to it, barely any of it was in fact an "upgrade". Once you come around, and you most likely will, you're car will slowly return to stock, as mine and many others' did.
Be skeptical of ANYTHING you read on this forum (or any forum for that matter) people exaggerate, and people have different prerogatives/goals and I've noticed a lot of people have either unrealistically low or unrealistically high expectations. Being impractical is not nearly as "fun" as people make it seem (in my opinion).
Have a plan, decide you're goals, and then execute it... because right now you are the perfect candidate for parts salesman to rape you of you're money with hype and false claims. It happened to me...and I spent thousands of dollars on a bunch of crap that I've slowly been selling off for the past few years.

read the stickies

 

damn... k-sports left you that sour chris?

"f everything, don't buy anything"

 

hahahahaha yeah kinda. That was frickin 800 bucks, I would cherish that 800 bucks today like crazy. A lot of it is probably the other projects I have and now that the Maxima really is just a daily driver I look at all the money in it and where it stands and I'm just not impressed. I love it, and I'll never sell it but...to think that if I had left some of that alone I could have a built motor 500 horsepower v8 weekend monster in the garage right now...instills a little regret.

As someone else said "hindsight is 20/20", I've learned a lot on this car.

plus I really just dont care for "knick-knacky" stuff...altezzas and headlights dont make the car.

 

word. a lot of people are quick to drop $100+ here and there on little accessories without realizing it adds up fairly quick.

take care of the basics (maintenance, suspension, brakes, wheels, performance) then add the details.

i think we've all been guilty of doing the opposite at least one time. live and learn.

 

I respectfully disagree about the headlights and tail lights. Some people just want to improve the look of their car, make it stand out from the rest. As long as it's done in good taste who cares? You can't tell me you haven't seen some of the nice maxima's in the signatures with 1pc headlights and said to yourself "holy tapdancing christ those are hot"...or something along those lines

 

Yeah, I do know what your saying. There are some cars on the org that just flow really well and they have great pictures of them depicting them to be all flawless and such. I may just be a pessimist, but I think that initial "wow" is effective but once you obtain that it's not nearly as impressive. I just know that headlights/tail lights seem to be the first thing people mess with on their cars and they rarely do anything but look "different". Every construction worker on the road has a set of altezzas and chrome housing "projector" headlights on his truck where I live...anyway...those "skyline" headlights are useless without a retrofit (op). So if you really want an upgrade be prepared for a 600 dollar investment minimum. and then you'll have some really nice headlights on.....a stock Maxima.

 

Chillin014, I totally agree with what you are saying and its nothing, but the truth. Although spending money on accessories do make you feel more comfortable about your ride. After all it is your car and you drive the car all the time so why not feel good about it? Believe me I know. I have spend countless time and money working on my 240sx which hardly anyone noticed. If you must know how much I spent over the last 2-3 years I've owned it, it came out close to 13 grand on a 18 year old car. And no I didn't "rice" it out. 90% of the time and money went into motor actually; turbocharger, regular maintenance, custom downpipe, custom intake manifold, overhaul gasket set, etc. Too many to list.

What I am trying to say is if you feel good about doing stuff to your car you should by all means. If anyone notices, well... that's just a bonus and pride.

OP, do what your heart desires. But like other said, you could most of the items if not all on ebay for much much cheaper. Shop safely and carefully. Always do research first. Always.


Cheers.

 

its your car, mod it how you want to mod it.....EBAY is your friend on everything you listed.
the intake go with a bomz racing cold air
headlights-r34 style on w/ corners
taillights-red/clear
exhaust-dont get it off EBAY it will rust

 

Bingo. Its the "accessories" as you put it, that really seem worthless to me. Accessories might work on a car that is COMPLETELY overhauled and "done-up" but on a stock car, its just... accessories. The 240 sounds fun, like you spent the money on the right part. After-all, this is a car, the motor and drivetrain MAKE the car. Had I not a vq35 and etc in the Maxima there is a good chance I'd be having second thoughts about keeping it. Ironically, in my experience, its much easier to spend more on appearance and the like than it is on performance/mechanical.

as has been said, ultimately its up to the owner what they want to do. I might just be close minded but I feel like you really can't get bored with horsepower and performance.

 

Horsepower and performance is nice, but with that comes problems one way or another. That is why I sadly gave up on my 240sx and sold it. Now I just have the motor sitting around.

 

this is the key imo.

noobs look at cats like wizard's and flava's 4th gens and say:

... and rush out to buy it/do it without realizing those accessories are nothing without the overall theme.

i've read:

but all i ever see is a growing number of near stock cars with aftermarket lights.

moral of the story: start at the beginning.

 

nowwww you're talkin.

 

This tread is fun.... to the OP read read read that way you can make your own choice. The best thing to do has already been said..... pick a goal and then work at said goal. The stickies is your friend

 

agreed...but personally i myself prefer performance over looks cause why look like your about somethin when your really nothin i see alot of that were i live at people with honda/w bodykits and stock to the bone but i guess its a matter of what you like

 

Yeah, that's when you pull the rice card. But personally I think doing some of those things to a stock maxima is acceptable, because it has the stock engine to back it all up. To a certain extent, of course.

 

I know what you mean. And those were going to really be all of my visual mods other than painting all the emblems black and what not. but yea, after this its going to be all about performance and general up keep

 

1) keep the intake stock

2) ebay is cheaper

3) taillights might look good on the internet, but find a pic of it with a maxima before you "WANT IT!!!!!"

4) that is just the muffler i believe, does nothing but add sound. Has no gains what so ever. You can get a $15 can for the same thing on ebay.

Wheels, get them used on the org with tires. Tires and mounting and balancing are so much more expensive than the rims. Trust me on this one.

Mods i recommend doing, y-pipe, rims, lowering body.

P.S. getting rims without lowering the car = ugly. If you are not planning to lower the car at all for any reason, don't get rims. Its a waste of money and actually looks worse than stocks imo.

 

Im gonna have to agree with chillen,
however i do admit i think the reason you see more of the Accessories being done, is because they are all bolt ons, and most people aren't savvy to building cars/engines/hp or what have you.

I have r34's with retro headlights, i think its the best mod on my car. simply for the fact that they are great to drive with, and are wayyyy better then stock lights. I also feel lowering the car, brings its own problems, but is defiantly worth the performance that it brings. Point being, the mods i choose are to make my car perform better to a certain extant. I know my car well never be an EVO, STI, skyline, it is what it is....a 4door family sports sedan.

I used to be wayyy into modding my trucks, and such, but every one of them was a daily driver, and plain and simple performance mods and DD don't always go hand in hand. thus this maxima, though getting a few mods, here and there will stay pretty stock drive train wise. I have driven a total of 9000 miles in 2 1/2 months. thats pretty much an oil change every 3 weeks.
Like i said i used to be more into modding, but i care more about getting to point A and B and possibly point C, with out a modification i did breaking or needing to be adjusted. Yes i care what my car looks like, i want it to fit my personality/me, so i will do tasteful/maybe not so tasteful mods, because i like it.
For my max reliablity is key! how ever one day my max will go vq35!
CHILLEN i do agree though hp never gets old!