Hey everyone. I've been lurking on these forums for a little over a year, having owned my fx for about that time and I recently found myself wanted to trade the car in for an Audi S4 Avant. I liked the FX in many ways, but the little things that did bug me..REALLY bugged me.
The number one thing that bugged me was the weight of the FX. For an SUV, it's fine. But being used to cars, it just feels heavy. Until I realized the FX is about 4300lbs..and an S4 Avant comes in at just shy of 4100lbs (for a tiptronic) 200lbs is not all that much to lose, especially considering an inflated spare tire is probably about 60lbs by itself. So I decided to put the FX on a diet, and use the money saved to improve it a little and see if I can be happier with it. Especially since my concerns weren't based on power concerns.
I'm looking at a couple of items. The car just hit 60k, so I'm looking at shocks soon. Figured it was a good time to do springs too. I'm looking at either BC Coilovers or H&R springs. I'm not looking at a huge drop, mostly for a little better cornering and weight savings. I found weights for the BC's, does anyone have the weight differences on the H&R springs with KYB Shocks combo?
I'm also looking at brakes. The car stops very well for a big car, I really just want to reduce the fade. I'll probably go the track monkey route and grab better pads, snake some cooling ducts, and get some other fluids. I'm figuring weight will help here too.
You can call me crazy for trying to slim down an FX. But I'm not trying to make it into a lotus, and the interior isn't going to be stripped. Weight just seems to affect everything..acceleration, corning, braking, fuel consumption. So I plan on addressing that first and slimming whatever I can before moving on.
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Some other items I disliked in case anyone is curious..most of these things has nothing to do with driving the FX itself but more with the gadgets.
- I HATE that the nav can't be inputted while driving. I know this is from the parnoid lawyers, but come on! Luckily I found the override DIY
- The lane departure system was something I thought was cool..until I had it. I found that if it's a day where glare is coming from a freshly paved road, or a slightly wet one..the car just wont shut up. Same goes for highways where the lanes are a bit more narrow. Now I wish I never had it. I found on the forums that you can disable it, but I haven't found that in my manual yet.
- Adaptive cruise control. Not a problem usually, but when commuting. Everyone tends to be going quickly..and distances between cars diminish. Every now and then someone will cut in front of me leaving very little room..but, they are either maintaining speed or accelerating. At this point my car will panic and decide that choking me with the seatbelt while giving the guy in the car behind me a heart attack is the best way to cause traffic for those 5 miles behind me...but I found that I should be able to disable this too..but I couldn't find it in the manual either. The infiniti dealership sat there and told me to hold the button..and then a couple more other things before concluding - it cant be done.
The number one thing that bugged me was the weight of the FX. For an SUV, it's fine. But being used to cars, it just feels heavy. Until I realized the FX is about 4300lbs..and an S4 Avant comes in at just shy of 4100lbs (for a tiptronic) 200lbs is not all that much to lose, especially considering an inflated spare tire is probably about 60lbs by itself. So I decided to put the FX on a diet, and use the money saved to improve it a little and see if I can be happier with it. Especially since my concerns weren't based on power concerns.
I'm looking at a couple of items. The car just hit 60k, so I'm looking at shocks soon. Figured it was a good time to do springs too. I'm looking at either BC Coilovers or H&R springs. I'm not looking at a huge drop, mostly for a little better cornering and weight savings. I found weights for the BC's, does anyone have the weight differences on the H&R springs with KYB Shocks combo?
I'm also looking at brakes. The car stops very well for a big car, I really just want to reduce the fade. I'll probably go the track monkey route and grab better pads, snake some cooling ducts, and get some other fluids. I'm figuring weight will help here too.
You can call me crazy for trying to slim down an FX. But I'm not trying to make it into a lotus, and the interior isn't going to be stripped. Weight just seems to affect everything..acceleration, corning, braking, fuel consumption. So I plan on addressing that first and slimming whatever I can before moving on.
-----------------
Some other items I disliked in case anyone is curious..most of these things has nothing to do with driving the FX itself but more with the gadgets.
- I HATE that the nav can't be inputted while driving. I know this is from the parnoid lawyers, but come on! Luckily I found the override DIY
- The lane departure system was something I thought was cool..until I had it. I found that if it's a day where glare is coming from a freshly paved road, or a slightly wet one..the car just wont shut up. Same goes for highways where the lanes are a bit more narrow. Now I wish I never had it. I found on the forums that you can disable it, but I haven't found that in my manual yet.
- Adaptive cruise control. Not a problem usually, but when commuting. Everyone tends to be going quickly..and distances between cars diminish. Every now and then someone will cut in front of me leaving very little room..but, they are either maintaining speed or accelerating. At this point my car will panic and decide that choking me with the seatbelt while giving the guy in the car behind me a heart attack is the best way to cause traffic for those 5 miles behind me...but I found that I should be able to disable this too..but I couldn't find it in the manual either. The infiniti dealership sat there and told me to hold the button..and then a couple more other things before concluding - it cant be done.
