So I've been deabting the idea of getting a body or a lip kit for my Z for a while. But I have some questions regarding this. I live in Calgary where it snows a lot in winter and I am not one of those people that just part their cars in winter and let them sit, I don't have that kind of patience. So I drive my Z the year around.

Now my question is does getting a body kit make the car lower even if it is sitting on stock height? I don't plan to lower the car at all, but I am thinking no matter what kind of body kit I get, it's going to end up lowering the car anyway since that's just how those body kits are made right?

So to counter that problem, would getting a lip kit for the car instead be a better idea? As far as my understanding goes, the lip kit doesn't really lower the car but just extends it outwards in the front and such. I've been thinking of getting a CF lip kit, but I find them to be really expensive. So lately I've been thinking maybe I should just get a regular lip kit.

Which leads on to my next question, what kind of lip kits are our there for our cars. I mean I want to get something that will make the car look good and not ricey or anything, so I am looking for recommendations in regards to the brands and styles of these kits. If you can help me out, post some pictures of your cars or whatever with different kits, it'll be off great help.

Also if you can direct me to a website that sells these and ships to Canada without charging extortionate amounts for shipping, it'll be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance guys.

 

I would say... if you would to worry too much about cons I would just keep the car stock. But I think it'll look funky if you do not at least lower the car a bit and add a body kit.

Anyways, here are some example of kits...
INGS+1 They offer N-spec and LX
http://more-japan.com/ings/

Chargespeed is nice too cause they offer lip kits...
http://www.more-japan.com/charge-speed-nissan-350z/

 

Sooo many questions but I'll do my best.

I think most aftermarket body kits will go lower than the OEM side skirts, front and rear bumper covers.

I have personal experience with the Veilside version 1 front lip and side under-wings, see picture below. I guess it's one of the more subtle / "tame" lip kits available for the Z. The front lip sits just a little lower than the OEM front bumper (maybe half an inch), but it extends straight outward by a few inches. And you can also see the side underwing add-on pieces attach on top of the OEM side skirts, so obviously they sit lower than the OEM side skirt, maybe by 3/4" at their thickest point.



I used to drive my Z year round through the winter until last year when I bought a winter "beater". I didn't install the side pieces until I had my second car so I never used them while driving in snow. There is a gap between the pieces and the OEM side skirts so I would worry about snow/ice/road grit getting tightly packed in there while driving thru snow.

I think you would be better off getting a full side skirt replacement. As an example, before the Veilside v1 side pieces on OEM skirts I had the GReddy side skirts, pictured below. They sat a little lower than the Veilside pieces do. I drove these through 2 winters and never had any problems, other than the bottom surfaces getting a little scratched up from ice chunks on the road.




Note, I've had the veilside front lip installed through all 3 winters and plowed it through all sorts of snow and haven't seen any structural issues. Paint durability will always be an issue with road salt / grit.

End result, any body kit or lip add-on kit I can think of will lower that part of the car beyond OEM dimensions.

 

I see what you mean by getting a kit and not lowering the car. Though I don't think my car needs any more lowering. I have 20" Axis rims for it and I find that they cover the gap enough to my liking. I will attach a picture so you can see. Which is why I don't think I will lower the car regardless of the body/lip kit I go with.

I deff am leaning towards a lip kit right now, first I thought I would get CF but them being really expensive, I don't mind going for a more economical lip kit all around.

 

Thanks for that post, really helped a lot.

Even before you mentioned I was actually leaning towards the Veilside side skirts. But now that you mentioned snow and grit can get stuck inside it, I am not too sure. Out of all the lip kits I've seen so far, I do like the Veilside front lip. Perhaps for the side skirt I should go with something else like chargespeed.

There's nothing wrong with mixing and matching the kits is there? I mean don't want to make the car look odd by any means. What kinds of read lip/diffusers look good? That being said what is the difference between a rear diffuser & lip, I mean does it have any practical advantages over just a lip?

If the parts are really expensive, I guess I can get them one by one or a couple at a time, being a starving uni student doesn't help. I still like the idea of all CF lip accents because of the contrast they will give to my car. As you can see I like the silver/black contrast. Is there a way of getting black lip kit on that car without making it looking odd? Maybe getting the lip kit painted to match the colour of my rims or something. Hmm

 

Also, do you guys think it's odd to mix and match parts? For example if I get a CF diffuser and regular front lip and side skirts?

I really like this diffuser and it's fairly cheap compared to what they usually go.
http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/350z03a/50-1881

Say if I get that but a regular veilside front lip and some side skirts both are non CF. Would it look weird?

 

No problem mixing and matching, lots of people do it. You just have to do plenty of looking around at photos and figuring out what will go well with what. That being said, I would recommend going with a combination that gets the buttom surface of the front lip about even with the bottom surface of the side skirts / side pieces. And then IMO the rear should sit at equal height or higher than the rear part of the side skirt.

I think diffusers can be technically practical for managing air flow under the car for racing applications, but most people around here are buying for looks.
A popular rear add-on setup would be the Nismo rear fins. IF you do a search you should find many examples. (I actually have them on my car in both pictures).

Chargespeed is a nice subtle choice for side skirts, but keep the price in mind considering that they will get a little beat up during the winter.

IMO black accents on silver will look good, but CF might look better. As far as Veilside, word on the street is that Veilside USA is defunct and Veilside Japan may be going by the wayside as well, so I think production has halted and we're pretty much limited to whatever the vendors have in their warehouses.

 

I think the photos on that page answer the question - the CF diffuser with body-colored Nismo rear add-ons look good together.

 

You can find so many threads of cars with lip kits or body kits. Check out Media Share for members' cars.

I have the Nismo lip kit painted in black. If you do go with lip kit or body kit, then you have to lower your Z or else the Z will look like a Celica.

 

@sry110
Yea I think so too. I think that's settled for the rear part then. I am gonna purchase that rear diffuser, I really like how it looks, plus doesn't look like it would be hard to install. So I am going to get that one for the back. In the meantime I guess I can look for the side skirts and front lip then? Chargespeed is really expensive and like you said the fact that it will be winter drive, I don't want to spend that much. On local kijiji someone is selling veilside side skirts but now that you said they have problem with stuff getting stuck in it, I am not too sure.

But basically I just need the side and the front part now.

 

Or actually thinking about it, I think this might be a better option considering my wheels are sort of matte black?

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/350z03a/50-1880

What do you think?

Although it looks like both the cars have additional rear lips on top of the diffuser, I wonder if it would look good without those and just the diffuser.

 

I've seen it done with the rear diffuser by itself, but it only seemed to look good with the car stanced out really low to the ground, which is not what you are going for.

Also like Kuhan mentioned above, body kits will look odd if you're on stock ride height. It's just the nature of the beast. I would suggest a subtle drop. Using my own car as an example again, I am dropped on Hotchkis springs (I think half inch front drop, 3/4" rear drop) so I still have wheel gap front and back but not as much as stock, and it's enough of a drop that I can pull of a subtle body kit (although an inch lower would look so, so much better).

 

Well, I'm not a huge fan of mixing and matching but then to each their own taste am I right?

 

That sucks cause I really don't want to lower the car at all. I've had friends with lowered cars and body kits and I've seen their cars get proper ****ed in the snow here. I don't want to lower it right away anyway, perhaps next summer, but the thing is that I am really starting to get bored of my car and my eyes have started to wander (trades for other cars) and I think if I change it up a bit and looks different, I'll stop feeling that way. Cause I really like the car and love how much fun it is to drive. Even a 3/4" of a drop can be enough to mess up the body kit in winters.

But from that stance thing sounds like that read diffuser might be a bad idea then? Hmm I think the easiest would be just going with the same kit all around, the one you know already looks good. I would prefer lip kits that aren't super expensive. Suggestions?

 

You have to sacrifice if you want to play.

Like sry110, my Z is also lowered on Hotchkis springs.

Here are a few pics.

 

Are those carbon fiber parts? What kind of kit is that?

 

They look like painted fiberglass and not carbon fiber. The side skirts are Nismo (or Nismo replica) JDM-style; the rear fins are Nismo (or Nismo replica) JDM-style; the front appears to be Nismo V1 lip for 06-08 front bumper, but I'm not sure on that one. Someone help me out here..

And the rear diffuser appears to be the same type you were looking at a few posts earlier.

 

As far as the body parts are concerned including the rear diffuser and stuff I think I might go all matte black. That'll give the same contrasting effect that I was going for to begin with and that would also match my rims. So whatever lip, side skirts and rear lip, I end up with I guess I will have to get them painted matte black.

 

Yup, you are correct.

Front is authentic 06-08 Nismo lip. Side skirts and rear addons are from Shine Auto (the real ones are discontinued). All painted in black. The rear diffuser (for look) is carbon fiber that I bought from thezstore.com.

 

If the shipping doesn't turn out to be too extortionate, I am thinking of going with this front lip and rear diffusers. Would save me the hassle of getting them painted or anything.


https://my350z.com/forum/exterior/50...-diffuser.html