So far I have done a handful of mods. The X looks silly so high off the ground, so I dropped it on Eibach pro kit springs with full SPC camber kits which is nice for handling and appearance. Ive done JWT intake and Stillen Gen2 exhaust mostly for sound (don't expect much power). Generally some light aesthetic mods, not trying to make out the G as a race car.

I recently picked up the NRG strut tower brace since it was pretty cheap and supposedly fit well and let me keep the stock engine cover. It did install very easily. I thought *maybe* it would actually work, thought it was worth a try. With it being lowered and having progressive rate springs.. things are firm and any added support might be nice.

My questions are:

1. is this strut tower brace actually functional? It seems like it is in there well, very tight, but its such a light weight piece of hollow aluminum.. i wonder how much it actually does. any opinions?

2. it does touch the padding under the hood. I put a mounting square sticky side up on the bar in a couple places and gently closed the hood, when i open the hood, its stuck to the padding. Is it bad that it touches that? Is there any risk that the bar will come loose from its mounts and pop up, causing a dent in the hood?

It looks really good. I removed the NRG emblem/sticker from it to make it clean (and it was not centered anyway.. who applies these things?)

Thanks for any info.

 

You'd think new cars would be tight and not flex as much. The front strut areas of the G35 seem very well supported to the point where I honestly doubt one would notice a difference in the addition of a strut bar in an average street driven car.

Even if the struts towers were to shift, it would only be millimeters which might translate into a degree or so here or there of camber, caster and toe. The butt-o-meter would be hard pressed to pick that up.

Perhaps it does help cushion bumps though. I don't know. It looks good though.


PS: Any pics of your car with the optional chrome rims?? it's the only option my car didn't come with....and i kinda wish it did.

 

special order 5 spoke factory chromes: (I understand why people don't have these, they were expensive as heck)

 

I say take off your engine cover and clean up your plenum. You might get a couple of millimeters more clearance, plus it will look better. The only time I like the cover to be on is the rest of the engine is stock. Once you add pop charger, spacer etc. I like the look of the open motor.

Car looks great. Love the drop!!

 

I was always under the impression the chrome wheel option was a chrome version of the 7-spoke 17" rim. I've seen both. Now i'm confused.

 

I have those infiniti rims on my 04 X...how expensive are they? does this mean i'll actually get something for them when i upgrade to 19's? nice, i was thinking of turning those into my winter wheels since i don't wanna get separate winter wheels on top of getting new 19's

On the subject of wheels, anyone know where i can find steel rims? i need some CHEAP steel wheels to become my winter wheels but don't even know where to begin to look

 

I would take the engine cover off if it helped, but the NRG strut brace is actually pushed all the way down as far as it will go, and it is not touching the plastic cover. I don't have a spacer installed.

When I installed it, it put the bar in with the bolts on each side in loose, then i pushed the bar down hard on one side and tightened it, then the same on the other side. I think i got the bar down all the way on both sides.

I have seen some amazing engine bays here on driver. The polished plenums, wire tucks, painted parts.. all amazing detailed work. I am not sure I am ready to go full out on this.. need to work towards it over time.

 

A lot of people will disagree with this...but...I think the VQ engine is ugly with the cover off. The upper plenum looks bland. Even polished out I don't think it looks appealing at all. Cover on for me.

 

I think you have to go all out to make the plenum look good. polished, wire tuck, harness cover... the whole deal. I admire people who take the time to do a nice detailed clean setup in the engine bays. I just try to keep mine really clean (from dirt).

I kinda like the cover on our cars, but I can see how people would not like it though.

If you haven't done so, check out the engine bays thread in media share:
https://g35driver.com/forums/picture...post-here.html

 

I dunno. I respect the people that polish and mod their engine up as they do a good job, but i still think the basic structure of the engine is very unappealing. I still prefer the engine cover.

But that's just an opinion.



BTW i love your car. You did it up very nicely. No loud "look at me" visual mods, but the entire package works together that it would catch your eye and make you say "Hey, that's kinda nice!"

I'd take a car like yours anyday over one with say chrome 20's, tacky body kit, purple HID's and blue LED's everywhere.

 

^i agree lol

Konsole, i really like the look of your car! Awesome!

 

Thanks guys! I appreciate the compliments.