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So I ordered the maximum 5 swatches, but they were out of the red I was most optimistic about, and I didn't really like the other two. I ultimately decided to go with silver, which I know is a little boring of me, but I want understated anyway. There were a bunch of coated metal samples at the shop, but none of the reds there spoke to me either. (it's not really a performance shop - they do a lot of tractor parts and stuff)
I was a little bummed I couldn't see a book of a thousand swatches or something, but that's life in a small town. Either way, the sways will be freshly coated and protected, which was the primary goal, and should basically match the wheels and sport brakes, which is the sort of understated "could-be-oem-but-isn't" style I prefer. I realize now I should have snapped a picture of the swatch and the bars for some before/after love later when I get them back, but I'll try to make up for it on the next thing.
Speaking of before/after love, I have a tale of mild woe to share. My car suffered extensive rock chip damage due to getting boxed in behind a semi that was leaking gravel last spring. (you can't really see it in the pictures above, but up close it was clearly there, and when clean and in the sun, the chips on the hood were pretty egregious) I called my insurance and they quickly agreed to cover it as a comprehensive claim, so no worries. It took me a while to choose a body shop and schedule it because life is busy, but I finally settled on a place in Columbus that was Infiniti certified and had a deal with the nearby Hertz that would help bridge the gap between what Liberty Mutual would pay and what the cheapest rental car would cost. (yep, I'm rocking a race-red Toyota Yaris)
I dropped off the car and all went well. They disassembled, sent the customary request for more money to the insurance company after breaking a few pieces of molding in the process and finding some gaps in the initial estimate, and offered to fix a couple of dings in the car that weren't covered for the difference while the insurance company was already paying for removal and refinishing. I agreed to those items because it was a decent deal. Then after the car was painted, they decided the bumper cover needed replaced because there were indentations on it that hadn't disappeared fully with a refinish, so they supplemented the insurance company again.
This all amounted to refinishing and/or repainting of every body panel except the rear bumper cover and the trunk lid, plus a new front bumper, headlights, foglights, upper and lower grills, windshield, and sunroof. I showed up on Friday to pick the car up and it all looks great - except that the left rear now has a huge, nasty scrape on it. Yep, the only part of the car they didn't fix, they managed to damage. The guy immediately started telling me how it looks like it was previously touched up and all they do with that piece is set it off to the side and not touch it, etc., but I wasn't having it. I called the company that did the initial insurance estimate and had a picture sent to me that showed a pristine left rear corner. They agreed to fix it for me, and it better be fixed as good as new and not a shoddy touch-up. I'm paying out of pocket for the rental car now, too, which I'm going to pitch a fit about if they won't compensate me.
Just needed to vent about it as I'm feeling frustrated...
Sorry to hear about all that damage, the paint on these cars pretty much chips and swirls on its' own so having a truck leaking rocks for miles has to be brutal.
G/L getting that repaired to a point where you're happy again.
You're not kidding. The rumors about Infiniti paint are true, I'm afraid. I was only behind the truck for 30 seconds or so. I've taken minor rock damage before but I was stunned at how bad it was. Every rock must have left a mark.
On the plus side, I took the opportunity to substitute the midnight black grill for the standard chrome one, so that's nice. I paid the difference but it still ended up being a pretty good deal since half the cost and all the labor was covered.
Oh man that sucks. Sorry about the rocks n subsequent damage. Nice way to turn a negative into a positive with the midnight grill tho. I did the same thing with my car accident. Gotta roll with the punches ya know.
I'm finally getting a chance to update this. The good news is that the body shop made good on the fender damage. They fixed the paint as good as new and even popped out a small pre-existing dent that had been lurking down along the bottom of the diffuser while they were at it. Happy feelings all around. (except that I had to drive that Yaris for 6 weeks. ugh.) I think I've figured out when it likely got damaged as well. After installing the new sunroof they had an issue with it and sent it to the nearby Infiniti dealer to have the sunroof "calibrated. (I guess that's a thing?) I'm guessing the damaged happened either when somebody drove it back and forth, or more likely when it was sitting in the dealer's parking lot. That dealer is great, but it's a cramped area and I could see another customer bumping it while maneuvering out of the lot. Since it was the one panel that wasn't repaired, it didn't occur to the body shop when doing their final QA inspection that it wasn't preexisting.
Here's the unfortunate damage I found when I first went to pick up the car:
And after they fixed it:
So here's the car all repainted and shiny with the new midnight black grill added:
I like the midnight black grill more than I really expected. I'd seen pictures online, but it's not quite the same as seeing it in real life. So, if you like mine in the pictures, know that you would like it more if you saw it in person. Of course it also has a new lower grill, foglight assemblies, headlights, windshield, and sunroof as well. Honestly I don't feel like any of that stuff was in really terrible shape, but the windshield did have 60K miles of tiny nicks and chips and general driving wear, so I'm very happy to have had that replaced. Nice and clear now!
I also made progress on the swaybars. I finally had some time to get them dropped off and done, and I'm generally pleased with how they came out. I'm feeling a touch of buyer's remorse on the conservative color choice, but I was facing some serious trial & error on the reds, and I want simple and understated anyway.
Here's a picture (in poor lighting that makes them look more dull than they are)
And a couple of close-ups to show the metalic sparkle in the powder coat:
Now if I can just figure out when to have them put on...
*sigh* Yeah, missed opportunity. Amber would've been cool.....
I got them put on though, and am enjoying the upgrade very much. I had them set the front to the stiffer of the two settings and the rear to the middle setting. I still feel like the car rolls a bit more in the corners than it should, but it's much more refined now. Interestingly, the biggest difference I notice is when I accelerate into a turn from a stop. Previously I'd get pretty heinous inside-rear tire spin and it was tough to put power to the ground. (the AWD system doesn't prevent this like the RWD Sport's VLSD does apparently) Now the car resists plowing toward the outside-front corner and the rear wheels stay planted. I don't test the limits of absolute grip on dry pavement all that often, so I can't really comment on that yet, but in hard cornering I get far less audible protest from the tires than before, so clearly the geometry is holding up better. Overall it feels pretty neutral. I was prepared for extra head-toss on rough roads, but most of the time that's not the case. Other than the exception where there are alternating lumps on either side of the car the overall affect has been more calming than anything else. I'll attribute that to the fact that there's less bouncing of the springs when the car can't twist and sway as much.
I'm pleased, but honestly I feel like the original setup was kind of bad. The car should have come from the factory like this, even in AWD.
It's been a while and I've done precious little to the car, but I did replace the ugly halogen fog lamps with some DD XML2's at 5000k. The picture I took didn't really come out at all, but I just got a new phone and will try for a better picture soon:
The 5000k fogs are just a touch whiter than the headlights, (they look pure white in real life, but in the picture above there's a slight golden hue) but I'm not massively hurried to replace them on that account because it's hard to tell in real life. However, an odd thing happened when the car came back from the body shop. The headlights don't match perfectly in color. I'm not sure if that's just manufacturing variance or if one of the new (almost certainly remanufactured) light assemblies had a different color bulb in it. One matches the fogs more closely than the other, but it's the difference between the two that makes me nuts. That I can see when I pull up in the driveway or see the reflection of my own headlights in front of me. I'm going to replace the HID bulbs with matching 5000k bulbs from diode dynamics sometime soon to make sure they all match.
Little details like that make me nuts. There are a ton of manufacturers that have halfway switched to either HID or LED and left the fog lamps as like 3000k halogen bulbs and it looks stupid. (in some cases LED accents, HID headlights, and halogen fogs - ack!) I hear the argument that yellower light is good for fog, but hardly anybody actually uses them for fog regularly anyway, and if you want to go yellow for practical reasons then go yellow enough that it at least looks intentional.
As a side note, I also replaced the ugly accordion-style intake tubes with some nice black silicon ones from Z1 and dropped in some AFE dry filters. I could definitely hear a difference from removing that resonator on the drivers' side intake tube, and I'm not entirely certain it's a change for the better. It's a touch louder, which is nice, but it's maybe a touch thrashier and less refined. Not enough to make me regret it, though, since I did it in the name of a better looking engine bay. I'd post a pic, but I'm embarrassed by the current dirtiness of my bay, so I'll do it after I've found time to clean it. I have some bolts in somewhat appalling condition anyway, so I'm probably going to cough up the money for an order from dress-up bolts before the summer is out.
Separate post because it's a different topic, but I snagged some lightly used FI RHFC's and got them installed a couple of weeks ago. Butt dyno approved! Also, the sound - it's primarily a very similar note but just a hair louder. my only concern is that at times on harder acceleration there's a bit of a metallic sound that sounds less like engine rasp and more like something physically making some noise. It's subtle enough that it may actually be the engine's character, but I can't shake the paranoia that something is a tiny bit loose somewhere.
I'd like to do the rest of the exhaust, but I'm not sure when I'll be ready to spend that kind of money.
First, though, I'm going to drop it on Swift Springs. The AWD sedans look great on them, and it's affordable. However, because of the car's mileage I feel I should probably replace the struts at the same time, which does increase the cost by several hundred dollars. Here's my question though: Should I replace the bump rubbers while I'm at it? It seems that after 5.5 years of life a rubber part on the bottom of the car might be a bit deteriorated, and on Swift's website they even mention the fact that bump stops are sometimes an integral part of a car's suspension. It doesn't seem like many third party resellers have them, but I can get them for $20 each from Infiniti.
07-10-2015, 09:19 AM
OP, go with metallic yellow sways for something unique. Great idea.
Of course it also has a new lower grill, foglight assemblies, headlights, windshield, and sunroof as well. Honestly I don't feel like any of that stuff was in really terrible shape, but the windshield did have 60K miles of tiny nicks and chips and general driving wear, so I'm very happy to have had that replaced. Nice and clear now!
