Late to the party

[Trekker427]

I've been lurking here long enough. I picked up a '16 Shadow Black back in February '23 with 75k on the clock. I blundered through the sale, not realizing it was missing some small bits and came with a Mishimoto cat back. No regrets about buying it though. I love it so much as my daily.
I immediately hated the headlights and after discovering this forum ordered a set of Depo Euro headlights and installed them that April. I also bought a set of bronze Dekagrams which I've yet to install. Swapped in some yellow SS3 fogs and the smoked tracer mirror signals and then decided to just drive it and get to know it before getting a tune or any major performance upgrades.
Two years later and I feel like I'm getting the hang of it. I always look forward to driving it and I frequently glance over my shoulder at it after parking. Its been pretty reliable save for the fiddly stuff that most you have probably encountered (blend door, purge valve, LSFP sensor).
It's coming up on ten years and I'm debating on whether to do the cam belt myself. I did it on my old ZX5 and it wasn't too bad. But I've been reading about how extra it is on this motor and it gives me pause.
In the meantime I'll keep enjoying the ride and daydreaming about maybe getting an S280 somewhere down the road.
Lastly big thanks to everyone on here for being pretty cool and for the wealth of knowledge and help available!

 

[akiraproject24]

Ive procrastinated on installing my Depos for years now. Those do look really nice.

 

[Trekker427]

Ive procrastinated on installing my Depos for years now. Those do look really nice.

Thanks! They also throw a lot better than US spec ones. The hardest part was splitting the connectors and changing the pin out for the DRLs. In hindsight I wish I had done a jumper connector to keep the stock wiring intact. That, and I was a little lazy with running the extra wire and it's just sort of sitting on the grille under the bumper cover. At some point in the future I'll pull bumper cover off and do something nicer with the routing.

 

[MKVIIST]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Irish Stryker]

Those headlights look legit! Been debating buying them for a while now!

 

[Intuit]

Yes, projector headlights, SpecD tail lights, and LED interior lights do make a big difference.
As far as I'm concerned the license plate light can burn out and never be replaced.
Interior upgrades are great for making a car "new" again.

 

[Mactor]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Trekker427]

Picked these up this morning from R/T Tuning. Hopefully I can get them on the car after work. Shout out to Dave for taking my cash even though they didn't have any power when I showed up!

 

[Intuit]

^ another reason why I don't like it when folks pretend it's too small to haul anything

 

[M-Sport fan]

Picked these up this morning from R/T Tuning. Hopefully I can get them on the car after work. Shout out to Dave for taking my cash even though they didn't have any power when I showed up!
View attachment 69444

I had R/T Tuning mount and road force balance my bronze Dekas with 205/50-16 Neo Gens in 2020 when I still lived in Solebury, and still had those wheels and tires.

They were the ONLY shop I could find at the time that would mount any profile 205 on an 8" wide wheel.

I wanted to have them mount the same exact Contis that you posted above (which I already bought from Simple Tire) on my black Dekas, but they said that they would not mount and balance any tires not bought from them currently.

Did you buy the tires from them to put on Dekas you already had, or did you get the whole setup from them?

Yeah, I got a text from them this morning (as a former customer, I guess) informing me that they had no power, internet, nothing at all.
(One of the things I do not miss at all about living in eastern Pennsyltucky are the power outages after every single wind storm or ice storm, and dealing with PECO!)

 

[Trekker427]

I had R/T Tuning mount and road force balance my bronze Dekas with 205/50-16 Neo Gens in 2020 when I still lived in Solebury, and still had those wheels and tires.

They were the ONLY shop I could find at the time that would mount any profile 205 on an 8" wide wheel.

I wanted to have them mount the same exact Contis that you posted above (which I already bought from Simple Tire) on my black Dekas, but they said that they would not mount and balance any tires not bought from them currently.

Did you buy the tires from them to put on Dekas you already had, or did you get the whole setup from them?

Yeah, I got a text from them this morning (as a former customer, I guess) informing me that they had no power, internet, nothing at all.
(One of the things I do not miss at all about living in eastern Pennsyltucky are the power outages after every single wind storm or ice storm, and dealing with PECO!)

Ha ha I thought you may have been overstating people's reluctance to install 205s on 8 inch wheels but no. I called a couple of independent shops and all them said no thanks. One kind woman even wished me luck! I didn't even bother with any chains.

I had bought the Dekagrams two years ago and R/T matched the Tire Rack price on the tires so I finally pulled the trigger.

 

[killer5280]

I took mine to my local shop and nobody said a word.

I don't really like having them on there, and I definitely don't like the stretched look, but after several months everything seems fine.

 

[Trekker427]

I took mine to my local shop and nobody said a word.

I don't really like having them on there, and I definitely don't like the stretched look, but after several months everything seems fine.

It must be a Pennsylvania thing since I've read that people elsewhere in the country have no problem getting them installed. It seems like PA picks and chooses what to be hard asses about too. I've had the euro headlights on my car and it's passed the state inspection three years running and the shop has never said a word about them. I didn't want to be the guy that drop ships tires to a shop for them to refuse to install them when I showed up with the wheels.

I too am not a fan of stretch and this probably as far stretched as I'd ever want to go. They looked stretchier off the car which I was surprised about.