I have a stock 05 G35 sedan with 95,000 miles for my son's first car planning to give it to him for Christmas. Been out of the car game for a minute and I'm trying to get information on what modifications to do first without breaking the bank.

 

Since your son will probably wreck it, I'd leave it stock for now.

Before you call me an jerk and say your son is better than that, I like to think I'm a pretty decent person, but I disrespected the sh*t out my parents cars when I was a stupid teenager, and after buying my own car and eventually graduating to a G, I totaled it within a year because I was driving like an assh*le.

Sell your low mile G and get him a Civic until he learns he isn't invincible.

 

I'm not to worried about that my son has been driving since he was 8 and he's driving my 911 many times and he's not really a go fast type of kid, I'm more after the overall look and style of the G the performance mods can come later on his dime...

 

The car is 14 years old so I think one of the best "mods" you could do at this point is take it to a professional detailer. Have them do paint correction, deep clean the engine bay and interior, basically restore the car and make it look brand new.

Then I would start with some clear corners.
Tint if you dont already have it.
Consider a debadge, most people remove the infiniti letters but you can go as far as you like. Do this before you take it to a detailer because you will have shadows under the badges from sun burning the paint over the years and they can correct it.
Paint the grille black (for most car colors)
Intake for better sound (no so much for power)
Wheel spacers

After that things start to get more expensive, like wheels, lowering the car, or body kits. Its hard to get more power out of the VQ without forced induction. A 5/16 plenum spacer is usually best bang for your buck on these cars. Many sedan owners run the coupe OEM 19" wheels and they look great. You can pick them up for fairly cheap if you are not ready to spend a few grand on fancy wheels and they are very light (20lb to 22lb per wheel).

 

I would also pussyfoot around with my folks in the car - that all goes out the window once he's got a friend (or a girl) to impress. With a Civic you can make a few bad judgement calls before you get in trouble, with a VQ under the hood it only takes one.

Either way, 20 - 25mm wheels spacers are a nice cheap modification that go a long way to make the stock wheels look great. If you stick to stock ride height and tire size you shouldn't have any rubbing issues. Some folks say wheel spacers aren't safe, but I've tracked, autox'd, and put over 30k miles on mine and never had a problem.

After 14 years the suspension bushings are probably on their way out, so it's worth taking a look and possibly replacing with new OE (for better ride and NVH) or aftermarket poly bushings (for better performance). While you're in there it would be a good time to replace the shocks as well, either with OE or aftermarket adjustable shocks and lowering springs. I'd recommend Koni Yellow shocks, your preference on what springs depending on how low and stiff you want to go. Aftermarket sway bars are the single biggest difference maker in the handling department (in my opinion). I'm running Eibach, but get whatever ones you can find for the best deal, they're pretty much all the same.

Aftermarket performance street pads and fresh brake fluid are another nice addition to give the brakes better bite a more 'sporty' feel. They won't make you stop any faster (on that note, put new, name brand tires on there), but will increase initial friction levels, pedal feel, and reduce fade for when he's bombing down mountain passes. I'm very happy with my Sparta SPP 1.0 pads for street/autox and very light track work. Personally I'd avoid Hawk street pads (though the DTC compounds are alright for serious track driving).

He's a lucky kid getting a G for a first car, make sure he understands and respects its limits. Might be worth sending him to a 'defensive driving' type class in the G to really understand what the car can and cannot do, and perhaps more importantly learn how quickly it can go wrong in a safe environment.

 

I had mine for over 50k miles and no issues. Seems like people who claim they are not safe never have first hand experience, its just something they heard. I have seen spacers fail only one time, some guy put a 5mm or 10mm spacer on without extended studs. The wheel came off and ripped off his rear bumper. Clearly user error though.

 

Wheel spacers like Ichiba used studs that weren't up to OE quality and literally snapped off at the rotor surface with OEM power to the wheels... proper spacers should have an issued as the hub situation is only as strong as the weakest link. Which is usually the studs.

Highly recommend also doing suspension bushings with him over winter. What better way to learn about car suspension!? Energy has a whole front and rear kit. Also do the diff bushings while in there. You'll either need to purchase a small press or pay someone to press out old bushings. You'll need to research both of those.

Avoid power mods, they are totally unnecessary on this car. Can't squeeze water out of a dry sponge. Nissan made sure these had all the power they could squeeze out from the factory.

 

I'd change the plugs and go through the suspension first.

A good bang for the buck mod is 350Z springs and struts, 1" drop but you keep an OEM ride. Hotchkis anti-roll bars are good too.

Probably keep the engine mods simple for now, a Z-tube for the intake and the intake spacer for the manifold. Check local laws before modifying the exhaust.

 

Believe it or not my 15 year old is waaaay more mature than I am lol. He's tracked my 911 and has gone 124mph and handled it like a champ. I have a few modified cars and trucks but I'm new to the G35.... I've already replaced bushings and ball joints. I've already ordered some staggered 18 inch wheels (18x9/18x11) I want to start with lowering the car correctly for a daily driver but still having a killer look and i want to do the exhaust. I have a hookup on paint and body but I dont know what body kit or lip kit etc to go with. He loves loud exhaust but I love a deep throaty exhaust. I chose the g35 sedan because my kid likes 4 door cars and I got an awesome deal on this 1 owner 05. I've seen some pretty clean and nice sounding coupes, would like to duplicate but dont really know what's what when it comes to these cars

 

Depending on your emission laws, you may be able to go with Art Pipes to replace the cats, then there are a lot of sources for the y-pipe and exhaust.

 

Good advice, Scottwax, were among my first mods and really made a difference in the look and handling of my car.

 

Agree with others, start with suspension refresh, body and interior detail, and then move on to plenum spacer and z tube.

Suspension is a great place to start at that mileage because wheel bearings, lower control arm bushings, lower and upper ball joints can all go out as early as 60k miles or however old they are now.

 

Best advice thus far! Since your Son w/b driving this car, it NEEDS to be safe long before you jump on the modification wagon! Also check condition of the motor and trans/diff, when was the last maintenance completed? Have a compression check done, oil consumption has been a nightmare with these cars since day one! Nothing worse than running out of oil turning the motor into a giant paper weight or anchor! Have your Son check the oil level once a week without fail to be safe!
Good Luck, hope he enjoys the ride...Gary