Cosmetic Mods

-EXTERIOR-

This is what the car started out as, stock Altima 2.5 SL.  It came with the the leather package, Bose system, auto dimming mirror, and heated seats.  The original owner of the car had opted to put in the Altima floor and trunk mats. 

The first official mod to the car came before I drove it off the lot...I negotiated the install of the power sunroof as a condition of the purchase.  The dealership had it done 2 1/2 weeks later.

One week later, I was in the parts department and ordered up the OEM side sills, rear splash guards, fog light kit, stainless Altima plate frames, and Altima rubber floor mats.  I also put on the first set of wheels, MKW 17x7, wrapped in Toyos.  The Weathertech window deflectors were also installed.

 Next was window tinting...Fronts 35% and the rest 20%.

Around August, I decided to have the struts replaced with KYB GR2's, and that was the perfect time to lower the car as well.  H&R springs were used.

I then went off on the pursuit of performance and audio mods and left the exterior alone for awhile.  The only additions that were added to the exterior were a Trenz Billet grille and Stillen muffler.

In the winter of 2006, I started to play around with the lighting on the car.  All of the front bulbs were replaced with PIAA Xtreme white bulbs, and the taillights were swapped to the IPCW LED ones.  I also debadged the car around this time.

In the spring of 2007, I found out that the chrome on my wheels was flaking and rusting.  Luckily they were still under warranty, and I swapped them for the current TSW Sakatas, 17x8.

This is how the car remained until November of 2007.  A nice old lady decided that her Volvo SUV looked good glued to my rear bumper.  Not a big deal, and the only damage was to the bumper cover.

I had the body shop order in the rear bumper for an '06 SE-R instead of the OEM 2.5 bumper.  I also bought a new front bumper and ordered a Stillen front lip.  The body shop fused the lip to the front bumper for me and painted both at the same time.  I had the OEM grille painted as well to see how it would look...Turned out good IMO

From the body shop, the car went over to have the custom dual exhaust installed.

In December of 2007 we bought my wife this 02 Altima SL...It has inherited many items from my car that have been replaced by newer mods.  I also locked myself out one day and had to snap a vent guard to get in...Replaced with the thinner profile AVS ventshades.

This is how she looked at the beginning of summer, 2008.  Stock rear springs re-installed to even out fender gaps.  Stock taillights also reinstalled (the IPCW ones went to my wife's 02 Altima).  Kinda messes with people that know the Gen3 car...SE-R bumper with 02-04 tails. 

The car was looking really good by this time, and I decided to take it to the next level and start on the 'little things'...All of the details that are easily overlooked but add to the whole.  The decision was also made to attend some local tuner shows with the car as well.

I have to thank the guy that got this shot...It is a great one.  It was taken by a CarDomain photographer at HIN Seattle 2008.  My car was one of 2 Altimas there, and the only one on display.  In preparation for this event, the calipers were painted, entire car polished & waxed, engine compartment cleaned up, and a lot of other detailing done.  By this time, I also had all of the stock bulbs on the car replaced with LEDs and the low beams and fog lights with 5k HID from V-LEDS.

Emblems from stock center caps removed and installed over the TSW logos...They fit perfectly, with the edge of the Nissan emblem just touching the trim ring of the TSW caps.  A few people have asked if the wheels are OE.

This is covered in detail on the lighting page (2), but is also considered an exterior mod...The puddle lighting on the vehicle, done with 6' LED strip lights. 

 Front end lighting upgrade...New housings with clear turn signals and side reflectors bought off of Ebay.  Unfortunately, the HID bulbs didn't fit, and I had to modify the openings of the low beams.  I ended up getting dust inside the fixtures which lead to me disassembling the housings.  I then decided that while they were apart, might as well do some painting.  DupliColor wheel paint was used.  Some metallic content, and more of a satin finish.  They turned out better than I was expecting them to, and look great.  I had a cracked foglight too, and replaced those housings as well.  The HID bulbs for the low beams and fogs were swapped to 6k from the original 5k.  Also added was the dual colored bulb (white/amber) from V-LEDS for the front combo light.  The whole front end is white now, and looks really clean.

Taillight upgrade...New Depo taillight housings with clear turn signal lenses to match the front end.  I modified a 3157 socket to fit into the turn signal (normally 3156), and now have a dual colored 3157 LED bulb from V-LEDS bulb in there.  Amber for the turn signals...and white hooked into the reverse circuit.  The car now has 4 reverse lights, and I can see better with the tinted windows at night.

Redline Tuning Quick Lift Plus hood struts.  These were quite easy to install, and I had them on the car in about 45 minutes.  Looks, fit, and finish are all top notch, and I am glad that I finally got this done.  Open hood app 1/3 and the struts take over, and then they ease up for app the last 2 inches of travel, coming to full open very softly.  Next step, remove the damn prop rod!!!

May 2009, New wheels.  I have been looking at these wheels for awhile now, and found a set in mint condition.  They are off an '08 G35 sedan, and are 17x7.5.  Center caps from a 350Z finished them off.  Finish is a hyper silver color that matches the car's Sheer Silver paint quite well.

 -INTERIOR-

The center dash piece has been redone twice now.  I had originally mounted tweeters into the factory one, and later moved them...Oops, 2 really big holes.  I picked up a center piece that was just painted silver without the texture on the upper portion like my stock one.  With the scratches that were in the lower trim piece (around HVAC controls), I decided to try and polish both pieces out.  They turned out really good as just polished black plastic.  The bottom pic is the same style of panel as my original, with the silver paint removed and polished out.  I found this one at a wrecking yard recently,  and it had some scratches in the paint.  This was not an issue with my plans for it.

IDK what Nissan was thinking, but my car came equipped with 5 trim pieces that were faux woodgrain...YUCK!!!  All 4 door switch bezels, and the large trim piece around the shifter.  I replaced all of the door bezels with panels that could be polished out to black, and the one around the shifter is the same color as the door handles.  MUCH better.

One of my favorite mods...I remade the diffuser for the auto shifter out of opaque, white plastic, and polished out the housing around it to black.  The lettering for the gears is done with 1/4" black vinyl lettering that I found at Office Depot.  The bulb that illuminates from underneath was switched to a high powered LED from V-LEDS. 

Another IDK about the car...The dead pedal pad.  The mounting point is in all of the Gen3 Altimas, but I have yet to see an 02-04 that actually CAME with one.  I grabbed one out of the wrecking yard, trimmed carpet, and snapped it in.

Covered on the lighting page too, but custom foot well lighting and window strips on the front and rear windows.  These are done with strip light LEDs.  You can see the light from the rear window one too in the pic on the right.  Nice thing is that the ones on the windows are tucked up tight to the headliner...You have to make an effort to see them.

In addition to these, all of the stock interior bulbs have been converted to LED, covered on page 2.

A couple pics of the wiring done under the dash to hook up the puddle, foot well, and window lights.  Fuse tap in an unused slot, relay, and fuse block.  The relay switches between 2 hot leads, one activated by the dome light circuit when the relay is closed, and one hooked to a lighted rocker switch that operates when the relay is open.  This allows the lights to be on for shows, etc without the doors being open.  In addition, there are 3 rocker switches mounted in the bottom of the panel on the driver's side that allow each of the three lighting circuits to be on or off.  Really easy to find my car in a parking lot at night when these are all on...LOL

-FUTURE COSMETIC CHANGES-

SE-R spoiler???