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Got snow tires this week and got them installed today. Hopefully won't have snow for another month that but my other tires were bald and not safe
I also ordered mud guards from Japan and picked them up this morning at the post office. With the wheel spacers you can see the car gets stuff slung all down the side of the car. I had factory mud guards on my last car and liked it. It wasn't cheap but the parts look to fit perfectly and they are already painted with factory colors. Hopefully I can get these on this week.
I also ordered mud guards from Japan and picked them up this morning at the post office. With the wheel spacers you can see the car gets stuff slung all down the side of the car. I had factory mud guards on my last car and liked it. It wasn't cheap but the parts look to fit perfectly and they are already painted with factory colors. Hopefully I can get these on this week.
I ordered a set of splash guards off of Amazon and they've been sitting in the garage waiting for my order of Liq. Plat paint to arrive. I installed a set of these on my '15 3 months ago and they matched well, and worked even better at keeping some of the spray/splash off the side of the car. So I'm confident these will work just as well. Installation is a breeze. Have fun!
Took a few pics today while downtown, waiting on my son. Actually washed the GS last Saturday but with all the rain this week, that's where it sat until this morning. Also got the tint done about 2 weeks ago as well, 15% on the rear glass and sunroof, 30% on the sides, darker than I expected, but great heat rejection.. and it still looks !
During the wash last week, the reflection of the sun was so intense, I had to take a pic.
Why would you even want wheel spacers with an AWD that doesn't have lowering springs and with snow tires installed?
I'm confused by this question/statement, but I'll see if I can break it down.
I wanted wheel spacers because the wheels sit in the wheel well and doesn't look good.
Not sure why AWD makes a difference in me wanting spacers on my car
The car is lowered, quite a bit actually
I don't really understand the last part about snow tires.
I'm confused by this question/statement, but I'll see if I can break it down.
I wanted wheel spacers because the wheels sit in the wheel well and doesn't look good.
Not sure why AWD makes a difference in me wanting spacers on my car
The car is lowered, quite a bit actually
I don't really understand the last part about snow tires.
Never having the need to install snow tires I'm not really 'up' on how most people change their cars between good summer weather setup and icy/snowy winter weather setup. I've seen people talk about changing from their nice 19" wheels with high-performance summer tires and wheel spacers where their car looks nice to some 17" or 18" wheels [they don't care all that much about] and dedicated snow tires to get them through the bad winter months of ice and snow. I just assumed that most people would forgo installing the wheel spacers with their dedicated snow wheels and snow tires...and it might help keep the mud and slush from being thrown on the side of the car.
Never having the need to install snow tires I'm not really 'up' on how most people change their cars between good summer weather setup and icy/snowy winter weather setup. I've seen people talk about changing from their nice 19" wheels with high-performance summer tires and wheel spacers where their car looks nice to some 17" or 18" wheels [they don't care all that much about] and dedicated snow tires to get them through the bad winter months of ice and snow. I just assumed that most people would forgo installing the wheel spacers with their dedicated snow wheels and snow tires...and it might help keep the mud and slush from being thrown on the side of the car.
I am in NJ and we get pretty bad winters with the snow/sleet. I drive perfectly fine on my stock AWD FSport w/19" with MXM4's all year around. Never seen the need to have winter and summer tires and the associated pains.
I am in NJ and we get pretty bad winters with the snow/sleet. I drive perfectly fine on my stock AWD FSport w/19" with MXM4's all year around. Never seen the need to have winter and summer tires and the associated pains.
I just don't understand using wheel spacers in the winter time along with snow tires, and spraying mud and slush all over the sides of the car when it's already not an easy time of the year up north to keep a car clean. It just seems like having wheel spacers to make the car look good at the expense of mud and slush all over the sides of the car doesn't make sense. I'd forgo the wheel spacers myself and opt for a less muddy/slushy and yukky car. I'm just glad I don't have to put up with that...
I didnt take the bumper off, I did it all from the top and those pics were in progress as I did it. The grills are stock repop F sport grills I got off ebay and are painted gloss black and clear coated.
You painted and clearcoated the bottom grill black too? My bottom grill I ordered is definitely a different material and finish then the top, the top I got is hard and has a shiny smooth greyish dark silver finish where the bottom is a more flexible softer matte material with a textured finish. I was thinking of painting them both black and clearing them but I am not sure how the bottom would turn out, if I have to sand that finish smooth first which would be a PIA.
Got the chrome delete done a few days ago and painted the calipers last weekend. Not the greatest pics, just a few quick ones in the parking lot. Loving how the car is turning out. Just need to figure out the exhaust and hopefully get my hands on some Tanabe springs here in the near future and I think the car will be complete for now. Fall/winter plans will be a paint correction and ceramic coating.
Never having the need to install snow tires I'm not really 'up' on how most people change their cars between good summer weather setup and icy/snowy winter weather setup. I've seen people talk about changing from their nice 19" wheels with high-performance summer tires and wheel spacers where their car looks nice to some 17" or 18" wheels [they don't care all that much about] and dedicated snow tires to get them through the bad winter months of ice and snow. I just assumed that most people would forgo installing the wheel spacers with their dedicated snow wheels and snow tires...and it might help keep the mud and slush from being thrown on the side of the car.
The only change I'm making is the actual tires. Which this is the first vehicle I'm doing it on as well just because I can. Ive always ran all season tires but having dedicated winter and summer tires will be nice to extend tire life. I've had this car all of 5 months now and put over 12k miles on it already so it will go through tires fairly quickly if I run a good all season tire all year. Also the tires I had made the decision for me as the tires were literally bald and one started showing chords. So with as much as I drive i needed to fix this ASAP and I was out of town for work for 6 days this past week so I just ordered the snow tires to get that done instead of new summer tires I would swap out in a couple weeks anyway. So that's why I have the tires.
As for the spacers, I don't really get the idea of not having them on in the winter as you can clearly see the car gets dirty as hell with them in the not winter months. The spacers are bolted onto the hub already so its not as if I had them taken off and reinstalled at the tire shop. They just took the tires off as normal and the spacers stay on. This is where the mud guards come in and hopefully help keep stuff off the side of the car. If they cant keep the dirt of daily driving off, its not going to anything for snow either, but I'm guessing from the way they sit it'll catch most of the junk flying off the tires. So I'm using the mud guards as a fix to the problem that spacers create (extra dirty sides), that were a fix to a problem that lowering creates (wheels look tucked in the wheel wells).
The stock wheels will be my dedicated snow wheels as they should hold up better to the pot holes and ice and whatnot that winter brings. I plan to have a second set of wheels for summer, actually going to look at them today, and by next summer will have aftermarket wheels and summer only tires on it. Come spring I will have the stock wheels powder coated for next winters use.
In short, getting summer wheels, keeping spacers, hoping mud guards help all year round.
Got the chrome delete done a few days ago and painted the calipers last weekend. Not the greatest pics, just a few quick ones in the parking lot. Loving how the car is turning out. Just need to figure out the exhaust and hopefully get my hands on some Tanabe springs here in the near future and I think the car will be complete for now. Fall/winter plans will be a paint correction and ceramic coating.
I just don't understand using wheel spacers in the winter time along with snow tires, and spraying mud and slush all over the sides of the car when it's already not an easy time of the year up north to keep a car clean. It just seems like having wheel spacers to make the car look good at the expense of mud and slush all over the sides of the car doesn't make sense. I'd forgo the wheel spacers myself and opt for a less muddy/slushy and yukky car. I'm just glad I don't have to put up with that...
The wheels sit in way too far after lowering, almost and inch in front and over a half inch in rear. I just thought it looked dumb like that so to run stock wheels and make it look right you gotta run spacers. To me, having to wash a car more often with better looking wheel offset is a trade off I'm willing to take then having it look worse.
You painted and clearcoated the bottom grill black too? My bottom grill I ordered is definitely a different material and finish then the top, the top I got is hard and has a shiny smooth greyish dark silver finish where the bottom is a more flexible softer matte material with a textured finish. I was thinking of painting them both black and clearing them but I am not sure how the bottom would turn out, if I have to sand that finish smooth first which would be a PIA.
Yes both are painted gloss black and clear coated so they match. I just got the fog lights in which I contemplated having painted gloss black, but with the light taking up most of the real estate I really don't mind them being as molded plastic.
Yes both are painted gloss black and clear coated so they match. I just got the fog lights in which I contemplated having painted gloss black, but with the light taking up most of the real estate I really don't mind them being as molded plastic.
Thanks. Still thinking if I should paint them black/clear, it definitely looks good and stands out more on your grey car, might not look as good gloss black on my already black GS, that greyish silver top grill color that I ordered might even be a nice contrast on a black car.
I am not bothering with the F Sport fog light surrounds on my Lux GS as I don't think the trim really stands out in that area or you could really tell right away it is non mesh especially with the fog lights taking up so much space. I'll see when I get everything on what it looks like. Did you drill yours to fit fogs or order a F sport Fog surround?
10-13-18, 08:51 AM
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