Murano/ The Italian Connection
Hey fellow enthusiasts...Found this website just recently...and i love it. I find it mesmerizing. Nice to find others who are as crazy about their Murano as me. I have customized my 03 Super Black/Cafe Latte cloth SL Murano. I have had the chrome grille painted black to match the body paint. I have totally de-badged the car of all Nissan emblems, inside and out. I have had the calipers painted red. The chrome door handles recovered in a carbon fiber adhesive trim. The Nissan emblems on the wheel center caps were removed and also covered in carbon fiber. I have replaced the stock tires with p255/50 18 Kumho Exstas that are "V" rated. These give the Murano a squatter more stable ride. A little stiffer, but so much more butch looking. They are unidirectional and handle rain incredibly. Bought them off the web from Tirerack.com. I have replaced the rear gas cap cover with an aluminum cover. I have added the XM-Delphi satellite radio on an aluminum stalk inside the vehicle. It is mounted on the right side of the center console and is multiadjustable. The Delphi's lighting is orange to match the Murano's interior lighting scheme. And the exterior of the Delphi-xm unit is the same aluminum as the accents in the Muranos interior. I have had the steering wheel, which is cafe latte colored leather, repainted black on the sides of the steering wheel where the seams are stitched and the center boss {steering wheel cover} painted black also, as well as the Nissan emblem in the center of the steering wheel boss also painted black to blend in. I also had the Cafe Latte shift knob and the center console/elbow rest pad painted black also. I replaced the stock muffler with a true dual exhaust system from Borla with larger 3" alum exhaust tips. Sounds awesome. The stock unit was so too quiet. Also added a K&N airfilter. I had it dynoed a couple of weeks ago..and these two enhancements alone brought the stock hp figure up to 262 horses. You can hear and feel the difference when the accelerator is pushed. I had the small interior dash panel right above the display and the bump in the dash-tray that extends from the display to the front of the windshield both recovered in the same carbon-fiber material that i used for the chrome exterior door handles, window exterior trim and exterior mirror housings. I also had the same carbon-fiber trim applied to the raised portion of the front hood. I also added a small black carbon-fiber NACA hood-scoop feeding fresh air into the engine. In the large bottom air-intake below the front grill opening i had an aluminum mesh grill fabricated to fill the entire apeture. I also had a small aluminum mesh grill cover manufactured to take the place of the hole in the black painted grill when i had the Nissan emblem removed. The rear tailights i had sprayed with special paint that makes them a dark smoked color, almost black and as such blends in with the debadged black hatch paint...the black paint and rear smoked lights look like one piece...with the fatter tires, the bigger exhaust tips and smoked taillights..it looks tough and evil. When i mentioned the above Italian Connection, what with the Murano being an Italian art-glass...i am also a big Ferrai fan and have placed a few small Ferrari cloisonnes badges on the Muranos black flanks. The "sculpture in motion" that Nissan uses in their ads looks "Italian", and is something that I can see as a Ferrari SUV. That is if Ferrari ever would make an SUV, i know it would look sleek and relatively small like the Murano, instead of the overweight pig that is a Porsche Cayenne. My Murano also DOES NOT have the roof rails, and it looks so much sleeker. I live in Kansas, where we do get lots of snow..but i have it garaged in bad weather..and drive another vehicle. I bought my Murano off of the web, and went all the way to Oklahoma to pick it up. Saved about 2k from the local dealers. But the local dealer still services it for me. Summing it all up...i have a vehicle that people mistake for a Ferrari SUV, a Porsche Cayenne etc.....that hauls ass and turns every head.
