It is definitely a fun car to drive. The SE-R handles well, packs a lot of juice, and surrounds you with toys. I like toys.
Three months after I got the car, my landlord nearly ripped off the rear bumper with his Chevy Silverado 1500 in the garage. Ass. He had the gall to deny doing it. Hole. Well, I managed to get him to fork over the dough to replace the bumper and fix the body, so that's that.
After a few months of initiation in the Bay Area (Berkeley), I drove it to Houston to attend graduate school. Here, I was witness, and victim, to some of the worst roads I or my car have ever experienced. Definite sphincter pucker! Well, it didn't matter because less than a year after getting to Houston, my OEM rims were stolen, and my poor SE-R was left high and dry on some well stacked blocks (these guys were pros).
So, after much agony, I was able to get some 16" Enkei RP02s with 205/45 Nitto 450s slapped on. I can say handling improved at the cost of ride comfort. Now potholes were double pucker!
Well, just last month (after almost two years on the Enkeis) I discovered that both rims on the right had cracks in them. One of the rims had a 1X5 inch piece missing (see picture)! On top of that, the sidewall of the tires were damaged beyond salvage (one had blown through the sidewall). Time for new wheels. This time I opted for 16" TeamLoco 143s and wrapped them with 205/50 Bridgestone Potenza RE730s; just a little more rubber to reduce future cracking of rims. So far so good... Only thing is that the car rides noticeably higher now. Maybe some suspension upgrades are in order. Maybe when there's money...
