G35 2025 Refresh / Updates

G35 Update / Refresh

As some of you already seen, I’ve kinda “de-hotboy’d” the car. Got rid of all aftermarket chrome, went back to red tails and black grille. Car feels a lot more “adult” spec now, which is fitting as I’ve long outgrown my “hotboy” era. Doesn’t help that every knockoff wheel company started dropping their own uglyass trispokes and releasing every wheel imaginable in chrome.. really watered down the look for me. Same with clear tails.

Absolutely zero shade to anyone running chrome wheels and clear tails.

Wheels:

For years I ran a square 19x10 setup with 235/35s all around. It had its pros and cons. Biggest pro was great fitment at a comfortable “functional” ride-height. Biggest con was front fender and tie rod clearance. This got me thinking.. the s-chassis crowd has ran 17/18 forever to alleviate the same issue. The math was mathing on a 18/19, so I started looking for a pair of 18s to test the theory.

In late 2024, I bought a pair of 18x9.5 Work Emotion XC8s from my buddy Peter and ran them at Knuckle Up DC4 wrapped in 215/40s with 235/35/19 out back. Steering felt lighter and fender / tie rod clearance improved. I was on to something. Front grip wasn’t great on 215s. During DC4, the front would push (understeer) pretty bad. During the monsoon, I dropped the front in the dirt just before the inside rumble strip caught the 2” lip of concrete leading up to it. Absolutely smoked shit. Big hit, it spun and stopped the car. Ended up bending a wheel and later found out I tweaked a Gktech v1 LCA (more on this later). Thankfully, the wheel didn’t crack and was easily repaired by Olympits.

At this point I was committed to 18/19 but I NEEDED a matching set to appease my OCD. 18” S3 Pros don’t exist, and frankly I’m not paying for a new pair of 18” BRUs.

I’ve been a fan of XC8s for a long time and I loved how they looked on the car. Felt very period correct. AND they made 19s! Took me about a year to source, but I ended up with 2 pairs of 19x10 XC8s (shoutout to Muk @noodles_dad for helping import, and Connor for the other pair). Crazy enough, both pairs were made on the exact same day in 2007!

Now with my complete “set” of 6, they needed refinishing. Not only were they all blemished, but they were all different colors. The original plan was to powdercoat them silver or chrome them. However, when I testfitted the Bronze pair from Japan.. the color on the green was just too good. I decided to powdercoat them all bronze. Found a color + clear combination online and my brother Lucas / DTD Powdercoating absolutely nailed it.

Current tire setup:

Front - 225/40/18 Accelera 651

Rear - 245/35/19 Accelera 651 & PHI

Suspension:

I’d like to give a shoutout to GKTech for supplying replacement consumables for my V1 SuperLock LCAs. Unfortunately, the damage from DC4 was worse than I thought. I was hoping it was just bent heims, but after pulling the LCAs, I realized the passenger arm was tweaked like 1/2”. With some “precise” hydraulic pressing, was able to get them bent back to a tolerable spec.

Also would like to show love to Enjuku Racing for always coming through on parts and continued support.

Wiring issues:

Finally addressed some wiring gremlins that have haunted this car since I bought it (rodent damage). My good friend David (@infinite.auto.performance) is the GOAT when comes to Z/V-Chassis cars. Literally the only person I trust working on my car. He replaced the damaged section and now the car is actually 100%. No more random power cut, finally have a working speedo, and even cruise control!

Other things addressed: