Just moved from a 2007 328i Cabriolet to the G37S. This forum was a great source for making my decision to swap cars. Looking forward to this new ride. Any advice on upgrades/enhancements welcome.

 

Welcome to the site & congrats on your new G. Plenty of folders on the site to browse for just about anything related to your G. Let us know if you have any ???s. Post a pic when you can.
Brad

 

You asked for it, here's my generic response to new members who are looking to get into modding. It's a little overwhelming at first, here's a breakdown of the various mods:

Here's the cliff's notes version of most of the questions new members ask Version 2!

1. Everyone disagrees on which external mods look good. That being said, the popular mods people do externally are:
Body kits (IPL or Aero or Top Secret)
New wheels (Vossen, Stance, Velgen, VMR, Forgestar, Forgeline, and Enkei are popular brands), check threads to see if they'll clear your brakes instead of just posting up a wheel fitment thread.
Lights (people change the lenses to TSX lenses, paint the housings, delete amber corner, and add LED rings)
Fog Lights switched to HID (less useful in actual fog, but good for looks)
Carbon Fiber (most things are available in carbon fiber, VIS and Seibon are popular mid-price brands, fitment is always a concern, IGT, AIT, and Autokits X make great stuff too)
Painted calipers
smoked lights (recently cause for instant inspection fail in Texas, YMMV)
Debadging
LED interior light swap (diode dynamics or other companies offer kits containing all the LED's you need)
Spoilers (front chin, rear decklid, rear wing type, roof mounted spoiler)
Diffuser (autokits x, other companies)
Plastidip (hideous, don't do it)


2. The best HP performance mod you can do is Forced Induction. These cars love boost, and any bolt ons (exhaust, intakes) will see only marginal HP boosts. However:
Cold Air/Short Ram style Intakes (K&N, Sillen, Takeda, R2C, Injen, Greddy)
As far as intakes are concerned, the two main types are long tube style, or short ram style. Short ram has the benefit of being simple to install, does not require bumper removal, and adds very nice aesthetics and minor sound changes)
Long tube intakes pull cold air either from very low in the engine bay, or from in front of the radiator. These typically see bigger hp gains, but require modification to the radiator shroud on occasion.
Intake Manifold (Motordyne, Z1)
Header (Fast Intentions Long Tube Headers, Z1 short tube, Stillen short tube)
High Flow Catalytic Converters (Fast Intentions, Berk, Stillen, among others)
Test Pipes (same companies as Cats)
Catback Exhaust (Apexi, Tanabe, HKS, Greddy, Borla, Fast Intentions, Motordyne, Magnaflow, Top Speed, others)
Tune (either dyno professional, or handheld tuner unit)
Grounding kits (DIY)
Forced Induction (GTM twin turbo, GTM twin super, GTM single super, Stillen Super)

3. Suspension mods
Sway Bars, biggest bang for buck mod, (Hotchkis, Cusco, Stillen, Eibach)
Front Tower Strut Bar (Cusco, GT spec, others)
Coilovers vs. Springs
Coilovers allow user to adjust drop exactly as needed, springs have 1 drop height
Coilovers allow user to adjust drop without changing spring compression (usually), springs do not
Coilovers and Springs may both require camber kits.
Various chassis braces (may not be compatible with whatever exhaust you choose)
Coilover Brands: Ksport, BC Racing, Megan, Tanabe, JIC, HKS, Stance, Fortune, KW, and Tein
Spring Brands: Swift, Eibach, H&R, others


4. Tires
Most dealerships have OEM Bridgestone Potenza tires for their sport models in a staggered fitment. The factory toe and camber specs tend to make very short work of the OEM tires, plus their tread rating isn't the best. The favorites on the forum as far as summer performance replacement tires would be:
Michelin Pilot Super Sports $$$$
Bridgestone S-04 Pole Position $$$
Hankook Ventus V12 Evo $$
OEM Bridgestone Potenza
Falken, Eagle, Etc.
Welcome to the forum, watch your head!

 

Congrats & welcome to the forum