Looking forward to that for you, Alfredo. Very curious about your response after things get situated. Since you seem predisposed to ambivalence with each mod, if you actually get excited about the wheels, that would be really interesting.

 

I am excited about the wheels, but I still haven't ordered the tires. Plus, I ordered the wheels more than 2 weeks ago and they are still on the way.

 

Wow, that is a big turnaround!

Looking at these pics again, I'll reiterate my comment from the chat thread--your car looks great. The pics are a great reference for me since we are both running Swifts and duckfeet (although I run them all year).

I think spacers are in my future

 

I know. Don't get me wrong, I love most everything about these Vossen CVT wheels, and I'm very very pleased with the wider stance. But if you recall, the only reason I purchased wheels was that money fell from the sky. The rationale was to do something memorable with a little piece of it6, as a constant visual to thank my parents while their loss was still new to me. The other 98% went straight into college savings for the kids. Well, after a big family vacation in the Caribbean.

Anyway, if it weren't for that, and if I had the hands-on perspective of seeing duckfeet dropped and spaced like this on my car... I'm sure I would have put the money elsewhere.

Actually, I wouldn't have done anything. This past Spring was when I bought the RHFC's, and that was supposed to be the big ticket mod for 2014.


Thanks, Lego. I'd say it's $200 well spent, give or take.

And now that I've got a few days of driving into the car, I'm feeling pretty comfortable with the spacer configuration. The car rides perfectly fine, at all speeds. Granted, the TC light flashes at me whenever I go full throttle, and the car is definitely wiggly to control in quick maneuvers... but that's the difference between Blizzak LM-60 in freezing temps vs. much wider PSS on summer pavement.

Oh, and my TPMS light finally started blinking, like 40 miles later. That was weird, because I expected it immediately. Oh well. Time to get the corners wanded at the tire store.

 

Mine took around the same miles before the TPMS light started blinking. However I made the biggest blunder by buying Michelin Xice-3 rather than the Blizzak LM's. I've had LM's on my past coupes and they were pretty decent since they had more of a performance rating to them. The Michelin's however are just awful in the dry. My slip light is always coming on and the tire compound is so soft that Im able to wiggle the car even if its standing still. I never had this issue with the Blizzak LM's. I don't know why I didn't cough up the extra $75 for blizzaks. Lets hope they perform better in the snow.

 

It's been a week since putting the staggered duckfeet and HP snows back on the car, this time with 15mm spacers. At first I was very tenative with the car. The whole idea of spacers still makes me wary. So it took a while to get comfortable driving the car, increasingly more normal each day. Today I realized that I'm good with everything, and not afraid to push the car again... snow tires notwithstanding. Understand, for the last two winters, I really, really hated the handling with snow tires. They suck, they're all wriggly and crappy off the line, regardless of their "high performance" marketing. I hate them.

But here's the thing that makes me SMH... the handling this year is vastly better than the last two. Body sway is less, and the TC light hardly goes on at all. WTF?

So what is it? I had sways last winter, with the same wheels and tires. The only thing that's changed is the drop (with neg camber), and the spacers. One or the both of those things has significantly transformed the way this car handles on snow tires.

No complaints. Curious... but loving it.

 

The ride is looking super straight RC. I have read most of this thread before but it's clear that I missed a few key details. I originally thought that the lug but quandary was the only mod that you had struggled for perfection with....its totally transparent to me now that you strive for the perfect look, fit, and balance of a mod with respect to the other aspects of your baby. That is a stressful and rewarding way of dong it....makes me want to admire you and pity you all at the same time lol. That's a compliment btw but I'm sure you caught my true meaning.

The "poke, poke , poke" face me a good laugh. Normally I'm right there with you stressing, searching and waiting for the perfect mod at the best price. Then immediately reassessing the newest purchase once it get close to my baby. But I have to say that Poke wouldn't have bothered me at all (at least that's my story and I'm stickin to it for now bahaha). Anyway buddy you have a sweet ride and great taste in mods.

Here's to hoping you stepup the intended future mod list timetable or at least throw some unmentioned suprises at us during the next couple years. I'd like to know your opinion on painting your calipers? If you would paint them which color in your scheme would you go with? The amber fog lights....the gold/yellow engine bay color? Maybe something else?
One last suggestion Id like to get your thoughts on. Would you consider getting some rotors that have a bit of flair to them? You seem like a two piece rotors kinda guy. I've always enjoyed looking at the rides who have the rotor hats painted to match their calioers. So sexy IMO

 

haha. It's just a hobby.

I'm no gear head, just an enthusiast, and actually a relatively boring person... wife, two kids, two cats, lots of gray hair, work at home, showers optional.


Having just dropped $3300 on wheels and tires, I was admittedly freaking out at the poor fitment. It had to get addressed, and Swift Springs seemed the most cost-effective way to go. Still not perfect, because springs not coilovers, but good enough.

Perfection is the enemy of Progress, so modding a car is all about compromise. There's always a tipping point where you're either all in, or you're miserable. The better you plan things out, and take your time, the more likely you are to be happy with the mod. That applies to everything, whether it's thousands of dollars, or $20. Also, the planning process is just as much part of the hobby as the mod itself.


Thanks.


I play with The List often, re-prioritizing and changing things up, but am pretty good when it comes to sticking with cost planning. Living in the Northeast is a good way to spread things out, because Winter. Here... assuming I don't crack the car up, or something doesn't fck up my finances over the next few years, today's re-arranged plan is as follows:

2015 - 2.5" FI Catback w/18" resonators; TWM Short Shifter
2016 - 4.083 Rear Gears; RJM Clutch Pedal Assembly
2017 - Coil-overs, Rotors, Pads, Caliper Painting
2018 - Takeda Long-tube intake; Tune
2019 - ?
2020 - ?
2021 - Next Car... (used 3-4 year old) Jaguar F-Type S Coupe 6MT

All things steady, "next car" will probably take me into Retirement.


I explored that very seriously this summer. Even found a local shop that has a pretty good reputation on this topic. For on-the-car painting, it would run approximately $500. Off the car, add to that a couple hundred but for only marginally better coverage. Off the car and *powdercoated*... brakes would have to be disassembled and rebuilt.

I really,really like what TonyHTX did with his Akebono BBK, painted in Acura Pearl Rio Yellow; (it's an Acura NSX color). However, I decided not to paint the calipers until time comes to replace the rotors, so that both are occurring at the same time, to maximize the look. Otherwise, slowly corroding rotors would take away from the nicely painted calipers.

Here's a post with two good pics of Tony's calipers, in Acura Rio Yellow: https://www.myg37.com/forums/build-t...ml#post3820583


Nah. One-piece iron, slotted or dimpled, but not drilled, and likely not two-piece.

 

Just curious, why not drilled?

 

Although low mileage, the car does get driven in the Winter, when we have 3 months of back-2-back salty, filthy roads. Seems to me drilled rotors wouldn't take too well to those conditions.

So... intuition, I guess. Just not feeling it. However that doesn't mean my mind couldn't change the more I research rotors when the time comes. In the past, I've always just bought blanks. And for this car, still OEM.

 

Drilled = downgrade

 

HappyBuyItNow sent me a prototype Extreme3 roof-wing to test fit on the G-Sedan. I had the opportunity to do so yesterday, before the snow storm hit the area today. It's going into the attic for storage until Spring 2015.

But in the meantime, here are the pics, and here's the thread:

https://www.myg37.com/forums/g37-sed...-extreme3.html

 

That looks surprisingly good. Best roof wing by far imo.
I think it's the black finish that makes it look that good.

 

The Fast Intentions cats don't allow for re-using the OEM support bar between the two converters, so you have to do without. Problem with that is the welds on the cats can break (Alfredo), and there's a pervasive vibration at idle. With the OEM catback, you can mitigate the vibration by actually *removing* the dampers on the mid-pipes. Funny how that worked so well. But it never completely got rid of it, and you get used to little things like a vibration at idle.

So in prep for next Spring's new cat-back, today my mechanic did some custom fabrication, and some pretty clever welding. The bar is back on. I've got peace of mind. And best of all, that vibration at idle is completely, entirely gone.

 

^^that came out really nice! Your mechanic did some good work....