I just bought a new 04 V6 4x4 SE Super Black and I am so in love with this truck, I know nothing about it but I want to do some mods any advice will be helpful, I am thinking grill gaurd, light covers what else what brands, how do I get started? Thanks

Forget the grill guards, in a low speed front end crash, you will do more damage to the body with the grill on as compared to no grill guard. Easy mods would be a cold air intake, and if you have the cash, a exhaust catback system, ie Borla. Maybe a front bug guard, and a rear air foil. Those would be your least expensive mods. Oh yea, dont forget some window vent shades, great when it rains.

what is the bug thing and the window rain thing , oh yeah and the intake thing, whats that?

The grill guard looks sweet though, just don't get the aluminum one that Nissan sells, buy the all steels ones you can get on the market, they will hold up a lot better, and just don't get in a crash...I bought mine expecting not to get in a accident, and if I do, then that is the punishment I get for ramming someone...haha

If your going to be in the dirt or mud at all,id recomend some neoprene seat covers and good rubber floor mats(makes cleaning the inside alot easier).New tires maybe depending on what you have on there.Super Black nice choice

I saw a Black X drive by a few minutes ago with a grill gaurd and it looked so cool I gotta get one.

The grill guards used to look cool to me.. until I learned that they are a poser mod and that they're completely useless.

Same with the tail light "guards". They are rediculous.

Stay away from the rice.... if you want it to look cool - go hardcore. Full replacement steel winch bumper. rock sliders. armor. lift. mud tires etc.

Here's mine with my new tires/wheels:


Calmini winch bumper (still working on affording the winch)
Bilstein shocks
3" Performance Accessories body lift
15" steel rockcrawler wheels
32x11.5" BFG Mud Terrain tires
Shrockworks rock sliders
1 Calmini + 1 custom underbody skidplates (not on at the moment due to the body lift... working on getting this back together)
Cheapie offroad lights and homemade light bar
etc.

Sorry for the driveway shot... haven't had it anywhere interesting since I put the new tires on

So you put smaller wheels on it ? Mine has the 17 inch wheels, does anyone know if the 04 came with other wheel sizes, that grill thing is badass looking.

The XE models of the '04's all came with 16" wheels, the SE's (as you are aware) came with 17" wheels.

The only stock Nissan wheels that are 15" came on all 2000's and the XE models in 2001.

You'll find that tire prices rise substantially for 16" and 17" rims, since 15" rims were such a standard size for a long time.

I would have to disagree that grill guards are a poor investment. As long as you invest in a quality product such as Manik or Aries, it's money well spent. My brush guard has held up hitting a deer at 50mph, hitting a stand of trees(chopped one in half), and hitting the back of another car when I was rear-ended. The brush guard may get a little dinged up, but it just adds character. And the major plus is that there was no body damage. It has saved me thousands of dollars in repair costs.

As Xorand points out - mine came with 15" wheels from the factory... but there *are* people who have intentionally gone to smaller wheels due to tire cost and availability.

I think he's confusing smaller rims for smaller tires. Whereas we know you have smaller rims than his, but not smaller tires.

I have an '04 super black with the grill guard - We all know that the Nissan stock grill guards arent exactley top quality but I have to agree that it ads character - the more I see without the grill guard the happier I am that I got one. Granted they wont be too helpful in a major crash but if you hit a column while your parking or something it comes in handy. The rear lamp guards aren't the most efficient either but they add character as well.

on another note - what do you guys think about the '05, I wasnt very impressed

15" rims came on XE's all the way through 2003...I used to have a 2003 XE as well, it had the stock 15" spoke steelies on it.