Around May of last year and after a catastrophic series of events that led to the downfall of my first car, an '08 Nissan Altima, I needed a new car fast, and as I am a college student, cheapish. Luckily, I found this gem of a G37 at CarMax (I know I overpaid but so far so worth it).
Enough of the background, here are some of the pictures of Linda before any serious changes have been made to her:


First time bringing her back home

After the first "mod" - plasti-dipping the rims

My Plans for the Car
As I stated above, I am a college student so funds and the right deals on the parts I want are not always easy to come by. Nevertheless, these are some of the parts I want to put on my car to really make her my own:

• Tanabe Lowering Springs (Installed 6/25/20)
• Tanabe Axleback Exhast
• Fast Intentions Resonated HFCs
• Hotchkis Sway Bars (front and rear)
• Paddle Shifters (waiting for the day a G37S pops up at my local junkyard)
• Cusco or Tanabe Strut Bar
• HPS Silicone Air Intake Hose
• Diode Dynamics Kit
• eventually potentially a long tube cold air intake

 

Progress as of 6/6/2020
Before any upgrades can be made, the right maintenance needs to happen! I'm sitting at around 66k miles so I'm kinda combining both the 60k and 67k maintenance together as well as doing some preventative maintenance.

After a long day, I completed:

1. Replaced Power Steering Fluid with Nissan OEM PSF
2. Drain and Filled Transmission Fluid with Nissan OEM Matic-S ATF
3. Replaced Brake Fluid with Motul RBF-600
4. Replaced Differential Fluid with Royal Purple 75W-90
5. Replaced Drive Belt with a Continental Serpentine Belt
6. Cleaned Throttle Bodies and MAF
7. Since I had to take the wheels off to bleed the brakes anyways, I got the chance to clean the inside of my wheels too

*Pictures to come soon!*

Next Upgrade (as of 6/11/20):
To complete my whole maintenance kick, I have ordered all 4 slotted and drilled BrakePerformance rotors and I have a full set of Akebono brake pads already. Going to Tail of the Dragon this Sunday, so hopefully, the rotors will come in so I can put them on Saturday.


6/14/20
My friends and I drove up to TN and drove the Tail of the Dragon. It was amazing... a lot of great views and fun driving the turns. This was the first time that I have really pushed the car hard and I noticed a few things.

1. The seats make it pretty hard to focus on the turn when you are trying to keep yourself straightened .. hopefully, I can find a seat with a bit more bolstering but I am not too concerned about it now.
2. The body roll makes it pretty hard to go into the turns hard. I have Hotchkis sways on my list of upgrades so that will definitely help this out. I think part of it could be how high the center of gravity of the car is on OEM springs, but I have Tanabe lowering springs coming in that should help out also.
3. I could feel that I was losing grip in the tires during some of the turns. That could have been just because I was trying to take the turns too hard (although traction control never engaged) or that my tires don't have enough grip for those turns since they are all-season tires.
4. The rear brakes were really struggling especially on the way back up the Tail. I do need to change the rear pads and rotors for sure so I'm sure that is why. I have the new pads and rotors for the entirety of the car now so I will put them on soon.

These are a couple of pictures that I took myself... I will put some more up when I decide which ones I want to buy from the people who take the pictures on the Tail.





Next Upgrade (6/19/20)
Unfortunately, my BrakePerformance drilled and slotted rotors did not come in in time for the Tail, but they are here now. I also received my set of Tanabe TN130 Lowering Springs thanks to grannydriver. I will put them on later today and will put some pictures up when I get that done.

Update as of 6/25/20
I was able toinstall the BrakePerformance drilled and slotted rotors (all 4), Akebono Pro-Act Rear Brake Pads, and the Tanabe TN130 springs. When my roommates and I were doing the rear brakes, we found out that the rears have never been touched in the ~67k that is on the car...which freaks me out a bit. We could tell because the rears still had factory pads and rotors, while the fronts had a new aftermarket set of rotors and pads (which is why I didn't need to change the front pads). All of the caliper bolts were a pain to get off with how long they've been on there without moving and the fact that we didn't have power tools and the sliding bolt in the back left caliper didn't have lube on it and was actually starting to rust.

Regardless, we got it done over the weekend and here are some of the before pics (I realized looking at the pictures later that the pictures trying to show the drop of the car were not taken at a great angle):

Before lowering (not the best angle to show the eventual drop)

Tanabe TN130 Springs to put in

BrakePerformance Drilled and Slotted Rotors

The drop on the springs is pretty minimal, but that all I was looking for. It takes away a lot of the wheel gap that is in the original suspension and has seemed to tighten up the handling a bit.
Here are some of the pictures after putting them in the car and doing the break-in process on the brakes (which removed some of zinc coating and only left it black in the holes of the rotor:


This is the initial drop on the springs...it has gotten a bit lower but it is exactly the drop I was looking for.

 

Reserved for Future!

 

Reserved for Future pt 2!

 

Reserved for Future pt 3!

 

Welcome. Last minute car issues that force the buying of a newer one are never usually fun, but you made a great choice and upgrade. Also, props to you for the whole list of fresh maintenance you completed right after getting the car.