squarehat

Sorry it's taken me so long to post pics of my car...my digicam broke, so I ended up taking 35mm photos this fall, and I didn't use the roll up until last week . I had the film processed to a PhotoCD so that I could resize them and put them on CL. Most of the pics (those in which the car is clean and sitting on 17s) were taken in early October at the nearby Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The last one (which I took to finish the roll) was taken at a park near my house.

Mods:
Exterior: 17" Mille Miglia Action with 215/50-17 Sumitomo HTR+ (April through November

Interior: Coach Edition seat retrofit (hard to tell from the pics, but the seats have the perforated inserts.
Gentex Auto-Dim/Compass/HomeLink mirror (OEM mirror for the G35/350Z).

I value your feedback, especially regarding the rims. I bent two of them (some of you may have remembered the thread in the Wheels forum), so I have to decide whether to just replace the two bent ones or move in a new direction (hopefully a stronger wheel ).

squarehat

Some more:





An interior shot:

squarehat

Close-up of the mirror:



The exterior, this time in winter. Note the stock 15's and the salt bath Don't worry, it's only a good wash and a few coats of Zymol away from looking like some of the pics above. Can't wait to put the 17's back on, either.



Oh, I forgot to mention earlier, the car is a 1996. Just hit 99K miles today.

lexusk8

Nice pics squarehat, I finally got a chance to see what your ES looks like after so long in this forum Haha, looking at the rear autumn shot and the black interior of your ES definitely reminds me of mine (minus the rims and chrome emblems, I had the Coach stockies and black pearl respectively). Have you decided on wood trim yet? Take great car of your ride, only 2 more months of winter left!

juan01

Nice ride squarehat.. Those rims look like 18's on the car!

What kind of rear view mirror is that?

steviej

iTrader: (1)

very sweet, had those rims come in 18" and chrome, I would have been riding on them instead of Enkeis.

Take car of it and it will take care of you.

steviej

squarehat

Thanks for the compliments, guys

Lexusk8, I know it's taken forever for me to post pics (something like 1200 posts). As for the chrome emblems, when I bought the car in Feb '02, it had gold emblems (not my taste) that were showing some wear. I went back and forth between the sporty black pearl (which I initially wanted after seeing a bunch of '02 GS300 SportDesigns on the dealer's lot that summer) and the classic look of chrome. I decided I liked them equally, so I finally decided on chrome based on price ($88 vs $221). After reading some other posts on CL in later months, it seems that $221 wasn't a bad price for the complete black pearl set. And you remembered correctly, I'm still looking for the Coach Edition-style wood panels to go around the window controls

Juan01,
A lot of people who've seen my car have told me "man, those rims look bigger than 17s." My guess is that it's the way the split spokes go all the way to the edge of the rim. Conversely, rims with spokes that bow out to reveal a deep lip tend to make the wheels smaller than they actually are.

As for the mirror, it's OEM on several Nissan/Infiniti vehicles (350Z, Maxima, G35), as well as a "dealer installed option" on other Nissan vehicles (Altima). I picked it up in late '02 at the parts counter of my local Nissan dealer, after seeing the mirror in a 350Z. It's manufactured by Gentex (the company also supplies electrochromic mirrors to Lexus, albeit minus the HomeLink, since Lexus puts that in the sunvisor or overhead console). Otherwise the mirror is quite similar to those on the newer ES, GX, and RX models. Wiring was easy--a switched-to-ignition hot for the dimmer/compass, an always-hot for the HomeLink, and a ground screw. Toughest part was removing the stock mirror (with it's weird square mount), and replacing it with a universal mount for the new mirror. I had to call a dozen glass shops before I'd find one willing to remove my stock mirror mount, but finally I found one who did it for free (I made sure to give the tech a nice tip )

Stefwilli

Looks like you do alot of polishing on that thing man. I like to see clean cars that's also in the process of being modded, good luck and keep up the good work. What's next?

d3m0n1c

i think your car looks awesome, but may i be as bold as to suggest lowering springs and struts?
it looks good, but i dont like wheel gaps

nice rims, and thay do infact look like 18's

bluelex

dude very very clean.... thats the way 2 keep a car clean and beautiful........congrats.......

squarehat

Thanks for the compliments, guys Suspension is the next major upgrade, set for late spring/early summer, provided I don't have to spend my upgrade budget on any unexpected repairs (like the power steering pump going last spring, which blew my budget for the Philips 6000K kit I had planned on ordering later in that week). I'm following Juan01's quest to find springs for a '96 (97-01 people are lucky with all of the TRD Camry/Solara options), so I know what my options will be. And of course I have to do something about either replacing 2 or 4 of the summer rims (see my "Argh! Two Bent Rims" thread in the Wheels forum for background on that situation.

juan01

haha, yea man.. Sucks, not so many options.

I went ahead and ordered Intrax, I don't wanna be the guinea pig for the Camry H&R 1.3".

Push

Wow! Car looks nice, black on black! Nice!

Es469

hey just wondering is that rearview mirror stock...or is it aftermarket,cause it seem like the type that reflect glare off,when someone shine light on it...if it is,can you tell me where you got that?

TCwindom

Nice looking car, Great pics, nice looking wheels.