When it comes to selling cars, it’s almost an unwritten rule that a flashier car gets more people interested. Competition Infiniti certainly has that figured out, having fitting this showroom-fresh 2018 Infiniti Q50 with a suite of STILLEN 2018 Infiniti Q50 parts to make this sport sedan stand out from the crowd. Up front, the Q50 has been fitted with a matte black STILLEN Front Splitter for 2018 Q50. The painted matte black finish gives the splitter the appearance of a factory equipment option.
Compared side by side, it’s clearly more aggressive than stock and spices up the car a good bit. Molded in rugged, durable and resilient urethane, this front splitter is built to survive the road again, and won’t be wrecked the first time it brushes a steep driveway or something, as would happen with carbon fiber or fiberglass. This means you’ve got parts that will look good for years to come. The aggressive lines compliment the fluid styling of the ’18 Q50 refresh.
Completing the look, at the rear of the car, the Q has been equipped with a STILLEN 2018 Infiniti Q50 Rear Diffuser, painted in matte black, like the front splitter.
Check out the side by side comparison – the rear diffuser especially dials up the aggression, and gives the car a race-car-for-the-street aesthetic sure to pique the interest of everyone that walks through the doors at Competition Infiniti. The cherry on top here is a STILLEN Trunk Spoiler for 2018-14 Infiniti Q50, which pairs beautifully with the diffuser.
All in all, these three simple cosmetic parts made quite the difference in this car’s aesthetic.
STILLEN manufactures a wide range of performance parts for numerous cars and trucks, both domestic and import. Each set of STILLEN Sway Bars is influenced by founder Steve Millen’s years of championship winning Racing experience and knack for chassis dynamics to create suspension parts that truly improve the vehicle, tailored to each application. We wanted to so show you what goes into making our sway bars, so taking inspiration from the How It’s Made series, we decided to make our own version and give you an inside look at just how a set of STILLEN Sway Bars is manufactured.
In this video, we’ll walk you through the manufacturing process from start to finish and show you that everything really is Made In The USA, right here in Costa Mesa, CA.
Sway Bars are an important part of a performance vehicle suspension system, and serve to tie the left and right side of the suspension together for better balance and more composed handling.
A stiffer or softer sway bar can alter the behavior of a car towards understeer or or oversteer, making them a particularly attractive way to tailor your car’s handling characteristics to your driving style.
STILLEN has been designing and manufacturing sway bars in-house for more than 20 years. We private label manufacture swaybars for some of the largest “suspension manufacturers” in the industry.
We have also manufactured sway bars for OEM vehicle manufacturers as well.
In addition to our swaybar manufacturing expertise, we design and develop complete suspension packages for use on street, track and off-road environments.
Bottom line: you can buy and install STILLEN swaybars with confidence!
Got more suspension questions?
Call one of our Automotive Counselors for expert advice at (866) 250-5542.
Imagine you’re trying to run, but you’re wearing heavy work boots. You probably can’t run very fast, and it takes effort to start moving or slow down. Your stock crank pulley is kind of like that. It is a heavy pulley designed to drive the accessories, and it’s often weighted for the same reason as your flywheel – it makes operation slightly smoother, but just as often, the pulleys are heavier than they have to be simply because it’s much cheaper to use a heavier material.
Since the OEM pulleys are heavier than they have to be, lightweight pulleys offer an easy way to free up horsepower that’s otherwise lost. A lightweight pulley accomplishes this simply by reducing rotational mass – or in leymans terms, because it weighs less, it takes less horsepower to spin the pulley, so more horsepower gets to the wheels.
Consider that stock crank pulleys typically weight 4-10 lbs… this varies depending on manufacturer and engine size. As we mentioned earlier, most manufacturers typically make their pulleys in cast iron, which while it is cheap and strong, it’s also heavy, which is why there is some benefit to be had in a lighter weight set of pulleys.
Manufactured completely in house at STILLEN HQ in Costa Mesa, STILLEN Lightweight pulleys are machined from Aerospace grade 6061 billet aluminum and have been engineered to remove all unnecessary mass while still creating a stronger, lighter part than the OEM unit they replace.
For Example:
G37 Stock Crank Pulley = 4.75 lbs
STILLEN Crank Pulley = 1.30 lbs
That weight savings of around 3.5 lbs makes a noticeable difference on the motor. Some might say 3.5 lbs isn’t much, but you have to remember that since it is spinning, the physics acting on it make it behave as if it’s many times heavier when it’s in motion.
Stock Crank Pulley – Heavy, Cast Iron Construction
The engine has to spin that extra weight over 1000 times per minute (RPM) at idle alone, which explains why, after upgrading from an OEM pulley to a lightweight pulley, we typically see gains of 5-8 whp. Mind you, these aren’t nonsense numbers like that can be accounted for by dyno variance – there’s no snake oil here, there’s less drag on the engine, thus, more horsepower gets to the wheels.
STILLEN Underdrive pulleys have all the same benefits of a lightweight pulley and further decrease the workload of your engine. By decreasing the diameter of the crank pulley by a small percentage, we are able to slow the accessories (power steering pumps, alternator, and/or AC compressor), reducing the load on the engine even further. Underdrive pulleys still operate the accessories within their required operating parameters, but use 10-20% less engine power to turn compared to the stock diameter pulley. The combination of a lighter weight pulley with reduced engine load generally yields results of 10-12 whp.
Just as with a lightweight flywheel, a lightweight or lightweight underdriven set of STILLEN Performance Pulleys will make the car generally feel more lively and responsive and quicker to both gain or drop revs.
As a result of the reduced load on the engine, a set of lightweight pulleys has the additional benefit of being more efficient as well, meaning that you might even see an increase in MPG (if you keep your foot out of it.)
In closing, the TL:DR is that if you are looking for an upgrade that increases power and efficiency (better gas mileage), pulleys might be a great option for you.
If you have any additional questions please feel free to give a call (866-250-5542) or shoot us an email (sales@stillen.com).
Every week our automotive experts get questions about swaybars from automotive enthusiasts.
No wonder…swaybars, a.k.a anti-roll bars, are a popular and cost-effective way to significantly improve vehicle handling in corners, through slaloms and during evasive maneuvers.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to the question: “Which swaybar is right for me?” Picking your perfect swaybar requires consideration of key factors including:
The make and model of your car or truck
How and where you’ll drive it
What you hope to gain from suspension upgrades like sway bars
This sway bar buying guide will help you decide which anti-roll bars are right for you.
Soon you’ll be on the road to happier handling!
You can enjoy simple, cost effective handling improvements with a set of STILLEN sway bars
How Do You Drive, And Where Are You Driving?
By which we mean:
The best sway bar for you depends on how you’ll use your vehicle. Is it your daily driver, canyon carver, weekend track car, full-time race car, rock crawler or desert mauler?
The right sway bar is part of an integrated suspension system that reflects your primary vehicle use. For track days or racing, the optimal suspension setup may include shocks, springs and wheel alignment changes along with aftermarket sway bars.
THE BASICS – What Sway Bars Do
So what is a swaybar exactly? Simply put, it’s a metal crossbar that ties the driver and passenger side chassis and suspension together. When a car is traveling straight down the road or track, a sway bar has little effect on handling.
But as soon as you crank on the steering wheel and enter a corner, a sway bar ‘springs’ to life to help control the weight shift that occurs during cornering.
Here’s how a swaybar works:
As your vehicle turns into, say, a left-hand corner, a portion of vehicle weight transfers (‘rolls’) to the right-hand side of the vehicle.
This rolling effect loads the suspension, steering and tires on the right-hand side of the vehicle. Some side loading is desirable and necessary as long as it’s controlled.
A sway bar helps control this rolling effect by twisting along its axis as the chassis and suspension moves.
As the bar cycles through its range of travel, it offers progressively more resistance to twisting.
The sway bar’s ever-increasing resistance to twisting works to counter the force of vehicle roll.
Not all Plants are Potted
After installing a swaybar, the effect you’ll notice from the driver’s seat is that your car feels level or ‘planted’ as you take a corner.
This ‘planted’ stance is the result of better weight distribution and traction.
Not only does it feel good, it offers big benefits:
A car that’s more planted through a turn allows for better rotation and more control
A car that’s more planted lets you get back on the gas sooner, resulting in quicker acceleration out of the turn
With the right sway bars on board, you’ll soon be taking familiar corners at higher speeds than you used to.
Given that STILLEN is a leading manufacturer of aftermarket sway bars, our answer may surprise you.
The answer is: No, an aftermarket sway bar isn’t always the best solution for every vehicle, driver or environment.
Here’s why:
In most cases, an aftermarket sway bar is going to be stiffer than the factory sway bar
In most cases, this is going to improve the performance and handling of the car
For most drivers, these improvements are going to make them happy and they’ll quickly adjust to the improved handling characteristics of their car
But we won’t tell you that installing a swaybar is the right thing for all drivers vehicles and situations.
Real World Results May Vary
For instance, suppose you’re looking to improve the handling of your daily driver and you install a sway bar rated at 200% stiffer than stock.
Rather than improve, your cornering performance, ride quality and traction will suffer on real world road surfaces. Potholes, mid-corner dips, and road kill will all fight against your uber-stiff setup.
Say your left side front wheel hits a bump mid-turn. Stock suspension or a moderately stiff aftermarket sway bar will transfer some of the energy to the passenger side front wheel – no biggie.
But an extremely stiff sway bar will transfer much more of the energy – maybe enough to unsettle the suspension and reduce traction by creating tire lift on the inside wheel and excessive sidewall flex on the outside tire.
The swaybar you installed to improve handling can work against you, especially paired stock springs and tires (more on this later).
Newfound Glory
Even world-class car handlers like STILLEN founder Steve Millen don’t automatically run stiffer sway bars.
Here’s a great example of a situation where an aftermarket sway bar wasn’t optimal for the conditions:
In 2009 the STILLEN rally team headed to Newfoundland, Canada, to compete in the Targa Newfoundland rally with a NISSAN GT R. Prior to the trip, the team engineered new Penske coil overs and new sway bars along with a host of other performance parts designed to enhance the already formidable GT R.
They also packed the factory front sway bar into the trailer.
You might think: “Well Duh, rally car….if you crash you need spares.”
But in reality, the team wasn’t convinced the stiffer sway bars they’d developed and tested on smooth roads during the Southern California summer were going to be suitable for the rough roads of Canada.
Especially when the forecast called for plenty of rain North of the border.
When driving in the rain, tire compliance is key to maintaining traction. When the road is dry and offers plenty of tire grip, you can stiffen the suspension and make the tire work harder.
But when traction is limited, a stiffer setup overworks the tires and traction suffers. Better to soften the suspension and make it more compliant to conform to the road surface.
In the end, the team found that the optimum setup for the STILLEN GTR on the Targa Newfoundland roads: run the OEM front sway bar and the STILLEN rear sway bar.
By retaining the stiffer rear sway bar they reduced the car’s natural tendency to understeer and made the car rotate better through the turns.
The next year when they took the car to the Targa Rally in New Zealand, they re-installed the STILLEN front sway bar and ran stiffer coil springs on the Penske shocks.
The roads in New Zealand are faster and offer more grip even in rainy conditions. The stiffer setup was spot on for maximum control in the challenging environment of rally racing.
Check out the results in this video from the 2011 Targa Rally:
Moderation for the Masses
For the vast majority of drivers using their vehicles for daily driving, canyon carving or occasional track use, sway bars that impart a moderate increase in stiffness are the best choice. The incremental stiffness will retain factory-like ride quality while offering improved handling in the corners and slaloms.
For even more versatility and fine-tuning, adjustable sway bars might be your best option.
The more adjustability a sway bar offers, the more you can fine tune your suspension to suit your needs and preferences.
What’s more, adjustable sway bars allow you to set up your suspension to favor:
Oversteer (when a car turns more sharply than desired by the driver), or
Understeer (when a car turns less sharply than desired by the driver), or
NeutralHandling (when a turns exactly as desired by the driver)
UNDERSTEER happens when a car does not turn as sharply as driver intends.
Z Well Adjusted Z
The Nissan 370Z is ideal for explaining understeer and oversteer and for illustrating the versatility of adjustable sway bars.
Check out the stiffness ratings of the 370Z sway bars listed in the below chart.
You’ll notice the STILLEN option is a little different. We conducted extensive (and fun) road and track testing to get a feel for the 370Z and determine the best sway bar setup to optimize handling without diminishing the inherent nature of the car.
Like the majority of vehicles on the road today, for safety purposes the 370Z is set up from the factory to understeer a little.
The reason for this is liability and safety. Auto manufacturers like Nissan have to build their cars for typical drivers who aren’t trained to handle a car in high-stress situations.
When the average driver experiences understeer, their natural reaction is to panic, let off the gas, and apply the brakes. Conveniently enough, this is exactly how to counter understeer.
With less gas and more brake, the vehicle will slow down, the tires will regain their composure and the vehicle will resume traveling in the desired direction.
Too bad, because one of the biggest advantages of a rear wheel drive car like the 370Z is the ability to power through turns. With the factory setup favoring understeer, this advantage is lost.
All that beautiful power going to the rear wheels is pushing the car in a direction you don’t want to go.
Using a STILLEN adjustable sway bar, a 370Z the driver can fine tune the suspension to balance and improve the handling of the car.
This balanced feel will a give the Z pilot the confidence to carry more speed through a turn as they begin to feel the car rotate through the turn as opposed to pushing through it.
STILLEN rear sway bars take 370Z handing from great to superlative.
Through extensive testing and refinement, STILLEN identified stiffness increments we selected offer the 370Z driver great options. The STILLEN sway bars can be adjusted for a good balance of road comfort and crisper handling for spirited daily driving and canyon carving.
At the other end of the spectrum, drivers looking for maximum performance can adjust the bars to a stiffer setting for track days.
All Together Now
Along with a stiffer sway bar, for track or racing use, the key to maximum control and handling on the ragged edge may include shock or spring upgrades, tweaking wheel alignment and selecting the proper tires. Here’s what the STILLEN experts recommend:
Determine which tires you are going to run
Select the springs you’ll run based on tires, track layout and conditions
Select which sway bar is right for you
Adjust wheel alignment to suit, keeping in mind a more aggressive sway bar usually requires more aggressive alignment settings
For example, for track use you might run an aggressive tire like a Nitto NT-01 or a Nitto NT-05. If you don’t mind running an aggressive alignment specification, a really stiff sway bar should work well.
However, if you’re using your car primarily for road use, you might run tires like the Nitto NT555 or an Nitto INVO. The ideal sway bar will be slightly stiffer than the factory bar.
Sway Your Opinion
Bottom line: a properly matched set of sway bars will really improve the balance of your car or truck and is a great way to fine tune handling.
The result: major improvement in the joy you get out of hustling your ride through your local canyon roads or on your favorite race track.
Most drivers will be happiest with a moderate increase in stiffness. An adjustable sway bar offers the versatility to fine tune handling as desired.
STILLEN has been designing and manufacturing sway bars in-house for more than 20 years. We private label manufacture swaybars for some of the largest “suspension manufacturers” in the industry.
We have also manufactured sway bars for OEM vehicle manufacturers as well.
In addition to our swaybar manufacturing expertise, we design and develop complete suspension packages for use on street, track and off-road environments.
Bottom line: you can buy and install STILLEN swaybars with confidence!
Got more suspension questions?
Call one of our Automotive Counselors for expert advice at (866) 250-5542.
The 2015-18 Subaru WRX is one heck of a car, once again delivering on Subaru’s winning recipe for all-wheel-drive fun. As with every Subaru of the last 20 years or so, enthusiasts are feverishly modding 15+ Subaru WRX’s.
In their zeal to throw parts at it as quickly as possible, the FA20DIT engine has developed a reputation for being notoriously finicky among Subie lovers. In particular, the issue is that many aftermarket intakes cause a Check Engine Light or worse, resulting in quite a few ‘horror stories’. All the ‘horror stories’ have created the impression the motor will blow up if you look at it wrong. While that’s a wild exaggeration, there is some truth to the fact it’s fairly easy to hurt these motors.
Longevity with a performance car like the WRX can be a concern, so that’s why we wanted to take this opportunity to do a Long Term Review of the performance of our Hi-Flow Intake for 2015-2018 Subaru WRX to see how it really held up in the real world.
Dean’s WRX runs a basic COBB AccessPORT for tuning and datalogging, a KILLER-B Intercooler, as well as the prototype STILLEN Exhaust for 2015-18 Subaru WRX (currently in development), and that’s about it.
Dean’s WRX is not ‘wildly modded’ by any means, and it’s worth saying Dean doesn’t drive like your grandma – he also enjoys spirited driving in the Rex. After 2 years of normal commuting and typical maintenance, Dean’s WRX is still running great – no check engine lights, and the motor has not exploded. Furthermore, it still makes every bit of the power it did 2 years ago.
Given the FA20DIT’s ‘reputation’, that’s remarkable. The OEM airbox is rather restrictive and could really be in virtually every regard, airflow, sound – which is part of why our intake was able to safely achieve 30WHP gains.
This really highlights the value of the work we put into developing our performance parts here at STILLEN. When we were designing the STILLEN Hi Flow Intake for 2015-18 Subaru WRX, we wanted to create an intake that delivered power safely and would work well with the OEM ECU.
Dean tells us that around town, the intake sound remains fairly subtle until you tip in the throttle, offering an intoxicating and rich boxer four intake note, yet is still quiet enough to have a conversation with passengers. Given the power gain, longevity and sound level of this intake, this intake is a great option for any commuter WRX or any WRX enthusiast chasing horsepower.
That’s another quality we strive for in our performance parts- we aim to offer subtle, refined tones in our intakes and exhausts that sound GOOD, avoiding obnoxious drone and unnecessary noise that can take away from enjoying a car.
After dozens of prototypes, we settled on a shielded design that retains the factory air duct – the end result being a walloping 30whp / 32wtq peak gain. That’s one of the perks of doing all of our manufacturing in house – since every STILLEN intake is manufactured right here in Costa Mesa, CA, we’re able to produce and test numerous prototypes to fine tune diameter and design for safe, reliable, consistent power.
We wanted more than just “peak numbers” with this system – by carefully tweaking the airflow, we were able to make a huge dent in that infamous FA20/FA20DIT “torque dip” between 4300-5500 RPM that normally takes the fun out of things, offering a huge improvement in usable power across the entire rev range.
Considering that our intake delivers huge power, nearly eliminates the infamous torque dip and won’t cause a CEL, we’re not just blowing hot air when we say the STILLEN 2015-18 Subaru WRX Cold Air Intake is quite possibly the best intake for FA20DIT WRX models. The only question left is – why don’t you have one yet on your ‘rex?
Talk to our Performance Counselors including Dean. Give us a call today at 866-250-5542, shop online at STILLEN.com or chat live with us at STILLEN.com
What happens when a Nor Cal computer expert gets his hands on a stock 2012 Nissan 370Z ? Great things in the form of a complete performance upgrade for this lucky 370Z! This Z owner was looking for performance and handling gains, so he contacted our experts, booked his appointment at the STILLEN performance shop and shipped his 370Z to the shop so work could begin. From radiator to wheels, there isn’t much that wasn’t upgraded by this performance-hungry STILLEN customer!
Since this is his first heavily modified car, he spared no expense to make sure that it would perform up to his exacting standards, while still being extremely reliable. With this in mind, our experts recommended top brands like RS-R, CSF, SPC and STILLEN for his 2012 Nissan 370Z. Check out the full list of modifications below:
Rays Gram Lights Xtreme 19″ Wheels – call for more information
The Result
As you can see from the video above, this 2012 Nissan 370Z can really put out the power! Not only that, but with the other upgrades, it also handles extremely well and can stop on a dime. This is exactly what our customer is looking for and we can’t wait to hear how great his Z is doing after he puts some miles on his car after the install. Who knows, we might even see him whipping his way around the track, leaving the other cars in his dust!
Ready to Upgrade Your Z? Contact Us!
Whether you’re looking to add an intake to your 370Z or do a full makeover, trust our experts to help you get the most from your Z. From our expert sales staff to our ASE certified STILLEN technicians, the STILLEN team knows Nissan and Infiniti vehicles inside and out. If you have any questions about the 2012 Nissan 370Z parts we sell please give us a call at (866) 250-5542 and we will be happy to help you!
Here at STILLEN, we’re pretty proud of the products we make. We know firsthand how much time and effort goes into sourcing the correct materials, developing the perfect design and testing the prototypes all so that we are 100% confident that the aftermarket parts our customers are putting into their cars are the best they possibly could be. We tested our brake cooling ducts for Nissan 370Z on a real race track and verified everything worked with cold, hard data – but of course, the standard for any experiment is that someone else should be able to repeat your experiment and get the same result – so of course, we were happy to give our friends at MotoIQ the chance to test our brake cooling ducts for themselves.
As the article mentions, the goal of Project 370Z is to get some track time with their 370Z. As improvements to the car have led to improved lap times, they have also led to more stress on the brakes. With this in mind, the team decided it was time to upgrade with the STILLEN 370Z brake cooling kit. With that decision made, it was time to actually install the kit and test it. By this time, most of the STILLEN team was on the edge of their seat wanting to hear how our in-house testing was comparing to MotoIQ’s third party testing. Checkout the quote below to see how our brake cooling kit fared:
“With the brake ducts covered, the right front caliper temperature peaked at 272 degrees Fahrenheit, and the rotor at 529 degrees Fahrenheit. The Left front caliper reached 259 degrees, with the rotor at 550 degrees. Once the ducts were opened, both the left and right side caliper dropped 44 degrees. The right front rotor dropped 156 degrees, and the left front rotor dropped a whopping 216 degrees! This is a significant reduction and spot on with STILLEN’s in house testing at the same track. We were truly impressed with the numbers.
Also, the brake feel and control stayed more consistent throughout the session with the ducts functioning. Any 370Z that sees a decent amount of track time should look into purchasing this kit, it’s a cost effective way to give yourself a higher temperature threshold for your brake system and also prolong the life of the wear items, such as pads, rotors, piston seals, and brake fluid.” – Clint Boisdeau, MotoIQ
If you would prefer to speak with our experts about this kit or any of the other Nissan 370z parts we sell, please call 866-250-5542 and we will be happy to answer any questions you have.
This STILLEN supercharger system took over a year to develop and involves revolutionary designs to offer customers easy upgradability and installation.
With this supercharger system, power for the 350Z and G35 is boosted to 450 horsepower at the crank (or 360-375whp), and this system won’t give you a hard time when you need to smog, because these kits are CARB Exempt. Thanks to that CARB Exempt EO#, this means when smog – or inspection – rolls around, your car is 100% emissions legal. Since California is the strictest state in the union when it comes to emissions, if it passes CA standards, it probably will pass your local regulations. (Be sure to check your local laws to ensure you’re compliant anyways)
Air to water intercooler: By redesigning the intake manifold we were able to incorporate the intercooler inside the manifold, thus allowing us to cool the air charge immediately before the air enters the engine.
On the dual throttle body VQ35HR engines found in 2008-09 Nissan 350Z and 2008-09 Infiniti G35, power is slightly lower than the VQ37HR, due to the engine being smaller and the fact that VQ37HR has VVEL whereas the VQ35HR does not. Power output is typically around 450 horsepower to the crank (stock is 300hp to the crank), which ends up working out to around 360whp, in most cases.
Additionally, the front mounted heat exchanger does not block the airflow supplying cool air to other vital coolers such as the radiator, engine oil cooler, transmission cooler, power steering cooler or the A/C condenser.
Because water is 4 times more efficient at dissipating heat than air, we are able to utilize a more compact heat exchanger to cool the water.
** Individual results will vary based on the baseline of the stock engine, type of dynamometer used, temperature, elevation, fuel and various other factors.
We put hours of testing and development into ensuring this kit performs as well on the 350Z and G35 as it does on the 370Z.
We offer this kit in 2 versions – the Tuner Kit, which does not include the tuner cable, tune file or license and assumes you’ve already got those items – and the Tuned Kit, which includes the tuner cable, a custom tune file and tuning support from STILLEN. Available in your choice of Satin, Polished and Black Powdercoated Finishes for the Supercharger and chargepipes.
Check out Yoshio testing the performance of his newly Supercharged 2008 G35 Sedan in the video below:
Have questions or want to order this kit for yourself? Give us a call at 1-866-250-5542, chat live with the team at STILLEN.com or email us at sales@stillen.com – and of course, you can always stop by the shop during business hours.
Since the early days when we offered STILLEN-modified 25th Anniversary Edition Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo models through new car dealerships in the 90s, STILLEN has had a long history of offering our quality parts in new car showrooms. That’s still true today as STILLEN proudly offers our products through new car dealerships around the country. This relationship builds a great foundation for our customers, offering them a trusted local source who will install and service their performance parts and gives enthusiasts the peace of mind that they are protected by the factory, dealership and/or STILLEN warranty.
Holman Infiniti in Maple Shade, New Jersey recently upgraded one of their showroom model 2017 pure white Q50S luxury sedans with the full suite of STILLEN body styling components.
Kevin Shaw (Parts Manager at Holman Infiniti) had this to say,
The team at Holman Infiniti has done a great job on this build and we look forward to seeing what they come up with on their future cars! Make sure to stop by and check out the car for yourself and see what kind of great deal they can offer you on this amazing car!
STILLEN Event Tracking: Nitto Auto Enthusiast Day 2017
Text and Photos by Richard Fong
The car show scene has exploded in recent years, with car events happening across the country and around the world throughout the spring, summer and fall. There is almost nary a weekend during the summer months that doesn’t have some sort of an event happening somewhere. Unfortunately, the shows become a blur when local events feature the same cars every weekend. This is where the Nitto Auto Enthusiast Day presented by Drivingline stands out from the rest.
STILLEN, of course, represented with a NISMO 370Z, a WRX and a Rough Country Lifted Titan, courtesy of Surf City Nissan.
Held on August 12, 2017 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, the Fifth Annual Auto Enthusiast Day takes the common car show to the next level. This entirely free event (to both attendees and vendors) featured acres of asphalt with over 130 vendor displays of all types, 1,000 show vehicles and seven demo vehicles, including special drift and off-road machines, smoking their tires throughout the day. Sound like overkill? Perhaps, but it was the right size to entertain and intrigue the more than 23,000 people that came through the gates.
Evasive Motorsports brought its R35 GT-R to display in the Turn 14 Distribution booth.
The vendor area featured everything from wheel and parts manufacturers to automotive lifestyle brands. There were even a few key media companies like DSPORT magazine, MotoIQ and SuperStreet magazine covering the event and displaying project cars.
DSPORT magazine showcased Project Fiesta ST in its booth.
MotoIQ brought a pair of BMWs to represent in its booth.
The Purist Group’s founder and leader, Sean Lee, represented at the event with his Porsche GT3RS.
The Autocon main stage featured interviews throughout the day with key personalities who drove their rides up onto the stage. Hosted by John “Nads” Naderi, the interviews gave attendees insight into their vehicle builds as well as the shaping of today’s automotive lifestyle and reflection of how it has evolved throughout the years.
The Autocon Main Stage was abuzz with activity as John “Nads” Naderi interviewed vehicle builders and talked about their builds.
Super Street Alumni John “Nads” Naderi MC’d the Autocon Main Stage. One of his guests was a former peer from Super Street, Jonathan “JDM” Wong.
The demo area, located behind the Nitto Tires booth, gave everyone a clear view of pro drivers drifting, spinning, smoking the tires and jumping off ramps.
Ryan Sage of Formula Drift took command of the mic, as off-road drivers, Formula Drift competitors and stunt drivers took to center stage.
Formula Drift commentator Ryan Sage perched himself on the Nitto Tires Trailer to get a birds eye view of the action on the demo track.
Over 50 lucky VIPs went for ride alongs throughout the day as Vaughn Gittin Jr, Matt Powers and Alex Heilbrunn executed three-car tandem drifts to the spectators’ delight. Former Formula Drift champion Samuel Hubinette and his wife Christina demonstrated car control while smoking the tires of their specially modified RWD Lamborghini Huracan and a BMW coupe.
Thousands lined the fences as the first demo session was about to begin.
Vaughn Gittin Jr, Alex Heilbrunn and Matt Powers delivered three-car tandem drifts around the demo track.
Sam Hubinette drifted his specially modified RWD Lambo Huracan around the track with ease. For many it was a thrill to see the Huracan, but to watch it smoking the tires was incredible.
Sam’s wife Stina Stunts drifted an M3 during the demo with the Huracan.
As the sun began to set against the “Big A”, so ended another successfully executed Nitto Auto Enthusiast Day. A big thanks goes out to Harry Kong at Nitto Tires for putting together a great event for both enthusiasts and the aftermarket alike.
Surf City Nissan provided STILLEN with a Titan XD equipped with a Rough Country Lift Kit.
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