Stance Is Everything…. It's all about how it sits

It’s no secret that I am a big fan of the caliber of cars California produces. I would guess that a good 80% of the cars I see from California I like, and, today’s two featured e36s are no different.

Bryan’s ti and his friend Marc’s coupe are perfect examples of my favorite type of automotive styling.

Clean and slammed, with just enough of a personal touch to make them unique.

Bryan’s Ti

Before getting his e36ti Bryan was just about to leave the BMW scene for good and go back to his first love, Honda’s.

However when a too good to be true craigslist e36 ti popped up nearby Bryan felt compelled to go take a look.

Things started to look grim for this cars future when it overheated 3 times on the way to his mechanics for an inspection.

After learning the extent of the work that needed to be done to this car Bryan talked the owner into dropping the price from $1200 to $700 and the rest, as they say, was history.

After getting the pesky maintenance work (brake and cooling system over hauls) out of the way Bryan corrected his ti’s laughable stock stance with Rokkor coil overs which brought his car down so that it’s stance complemented his bright green BBS wheels.

Wheels which he finally settled on after an astonishing 10 sets previous.

After the suspension was dropped Bryan ditched the bland e36 factory bumper in favor of  the M3 version, and  in a final effort to drop as many jaws as possible both coming and going Bryan added an LTW spoiler to the rear.

Performance wise Bryan’s hatch has a Dinan short ram intake and n1style exhaust.

Bryan was going for a final look that reflected his unique personality and the pride he takes in his vehicles, judging by the finished product it looks like he succeeded on all counts.

The car looks great and it’s sure not to be one that many people are soon to forget.

Bryan didn’t do this all alone however and would like to thank: Terry Keith at Star Tech Foreign auto repair in Rowland Heights, Ted at Turbo Teds in Costa Mesa, Ayed at H&H Valley Autobody, Joe at Euro Dyne, The West Coast Euro’s crew and his girlfriend Lorena for making this all possible and pushing him to succeed.

Marc’s 328i

Like girls hot cars roll in packs and the other half of today’s e36 double feature showcases what Bryan’s friend Marc has been able accomplish with his e36 coupe in just 7 months.

Obtaining a solid base chassis to work with Marc quickly got to work making the car both look and perform far better than how it came from the factory.

Like many e36 owners Marc knew that BMW hit the mark with the design of the m3 and styled his 328i after it by adding a DDM M3 front bumper, an m3 styled rear diffuser, and finally M3 side skirts and mirrors.

Marc also added DDM Motorsport door moldings, DJ auto euro ellipsoids (with 6000k HIDs), euro side markers, clear fogs and corners and French style fog lights.

Once all that wrenching was complete on the outside Marc turned inside replacing his factory headliner with the m3 version, adding carbon fiber trim and last but not least replacing his factory seats with a set dove gray vaders.

In the performance department Mark added a Dinan front strut brace and cold air intake, m3 x brace, DTM exhaust, and UCC stainless steel brake lines.

Once everything else was complete Mark threw the icing on the cake by adding a set of BC Racing BR Type coil overs alongside a set of immaculate looking German imported 17×8.5 (et13) and 17×9.5 (et21) AC Schnitzer type 1 wheels.

Both of these cars look amazing and you won’t see my picking a favorite anytime soon but I do want to thank both of them for sending in the photos and information which allowed me to feature their cars here on Stance Is Everything.
Thanks guys.

Division R has been making a lot of moves here on Stance Is Everything lately and today brings another member from their crew, Matt, with his dumped Toyota Matrix.

Spotting a well done Matrix in the GTA is on par with spotting a unicorn, as a lot of them end up in the hands of people who either rice them out or wait for them to die as daily drivers.

Thankfully Matt saved his from both fates and has put his ‘trix to work skimming the top of speed bumps all over the GTA.

Matt’s Tein suspension setup currently puts his cross member at mere 1.437 inches from the floor which means that not very much makes it under his car.

Matt’s car isn’t only good at collecting fleck’s of yellow paint in it’s under carriage however as he has also gone 4/4 in show appearances this year collecting 3 lowest car awards and 1 best Toyota award.

If Matt’s ride height isn’t enough to get your attention as he drives by his very robust sound system setup comprised of Clarion, Infinity, JVC, and Rockford Fosgate equipment most likely will as it’s been verified to hit a very respectable 136.7 DB.

Matt’s looking at building a new motor with the crew at Monkey Wrench Racing in New York in the near future and further expanding his I.CE. setup to include a full fiberglass trunk and game console.

Here are a few pics more of Matt’s ride and for more info be sure to check out his in-depth feature over on The Scraped Crusaders and the poll in which he is involved in where he is trying to attain the undisputed crown of the worlds lowest Matrix.

Additionally Matt sent through this video of him at Drop-tec getting his ride height verified, check it out.

Thanks for sending your info in Matt and good luck with the title.

Hyundai surprised a lot of people when they released the Genesis being a company with no prior sports car platform to speak of unless you make the stretch to include the Tiburon.

In 2009 it was tough to say how the car would do in regards to initial sales and aftermarket acceptance/support, however about a year or so after initial release it’s fairly safe to say that the Genesis has been well received.

Andrew along with the crew at Next Mod figured that the Genesis would be the perfect car to mod for the 2010 track/show season and together built the car getting the spotlight today.

Starting with GT platform the turbo 2.0 motor was allowed to breathe and exhale better thanks to a Grimmspeed intake manifold spacer, AEM cold air intake, Ultimate Racing 3″ downpipe, secondary cat delete, and HKS catback exhaust.

Other performance modifications include a a recently added inter cooler, Torsen LSD, RRM lightweight crank pulley, and a PowerAxel PowerX ecu re flash, and to add a little show with all that go the motor received silicone hoses and a custom paint treatment.

Andrew can brake a little later for corners in his Hyundai thanks to KPR stainless steel brake lines and a Brembro big brake it, and the SMA coil overs along side a strut bar help keep the car planted during high speed maneuvers.

The running gear on this Genny are genuine 19″ Volk GT-F wheels with Bridgestone Potenza RE 760 sport tires in 245/35/19s up front and giant 275 30′s in the rear.

As the Genesis is fairly unique looking car Andrew decided to keep the body fairly simple choosing to only add a Canadian spec spoiler, M&S badges, M& S grill, tinted headlights, CF fog surrounds, and a Bliss front lip.

Even though Andrew’s kept himself quite busy putting in work on his Genesis he has also found the time to start the www.ontariogenesisclub.ca for he and his fellow Ontario based enthusiasts.

Andrews full modification list is below and he would like to thank:

Huge thanks goes out to Peter Pang and his company NextMod, Jay at Performance Improvements in Guelph,  Arvin Ko at PowerAxel, Point Zero, my friends at Gencoupe.com, Gencoupe.ca,  ontariogenesisclub.ca and Guelphsfinest.ca, and finally my family for having to put up with me as I work on my build, especially  to my Dad for letting me use his shop and his beer fridge!!

Engine/Performance

Engine/PERFORMANCE
KPR Stainless steel brake lines
TIC Short throw shifter and bushings
KPR Stainless steel Clutch line
Brembo big brake package
Torsen LSD
Grimmspeed intake manifold spacer
RRM lightweight crank pulley
AEM cold air intake
HKS Catback exhaust
Ultimate Racing 3″ downpipe and secondary cat delete
Ultimate Racing Intercooler
Ultimate Racing O2 Housing and High flo primary cat
Power Axel PowerX ecu reflash
SMA adjustable coilovers
Front strut tower bar
Custom engine paint
Hella horns
Vibrant silicone hose kit
Red silicone radiator hoses
HKS oil cap
HKS radiator Cap

Interior/ICE

Blox LP460 weight shift knob
Racing pedals
Stainless steel “Genesis” door sills
Power Axel UniNav
RRM CF A piller/guage pod
AEM Wideband
Autometer Boostguage
LED interior lighting
Red/Black interior theme
Complete Infinity sound system
JBL 8 chn Amp
10″ Infinity sub
2 10” JL w6 Subs
2 PG 200.1 Amps
2 farad Tsunami Cap

Exterior

Canadian Spoiler
Tinted windows
M&S Type A grill
M&S badging
Custom tinted tail lights
VIS CF foglight surrounds
Custom Painted Rear diffusor
Bliss front lip
19” Volk racing GT-F rims
Bridgestone Potenza RE-760 sport, 245/35 F, 275/30 R
Racing Composite Lug nuts
8000k HID headlamps
3000K Ignited HID foglights

Growing up one common rule among children is that they all have at least one toy car, next time you’re around kids take a look around and you’ll see at least one happy youngster taking their favorite toy car through its paces in their own little imaginary track.

Those of us who grow to become car enthusiasts trade in our toy cars for one we can drive and our imaginary track becomes real world terrain.

Sam, the owner of today’s featured ride, is an enthusiast who is no longer doing laps in his mind, these days Sam cruises the streets in his low, flush, 350z fittingly plated ‘JDM Toy’.

Sam’s toy story started with his previous car; an immaculate 1995 all wheel drive Eagle Talon TSI, which by the time he was done with it was a 400 hp, ‘99 Eclipse bodied beast sitting dropped on Eagle Alloys.

However shortly after completing his Eclipse Sam realized that it was no longer what he was looking for in terms of performance and styling.

Sam decided to take his next car in an entirely different direction.

The direction he had in mind was low and flush, and to meet these requirements he chose the Nissan 350z/Fairlady platform.

A strong believer that stance and offset are everything Sam’s new 350z was quickly dropped over 19 x 9.5”/10.5” Varrstoen TE37 replicas with 225/245 tires via, the more popular by the minute, BC racing coil-overs.

Sam then pushed his wheels closer to the fenders with 20mm Ichiba spacers in the front and 25mm H&R spacers in the rear before adding SPC rear adjustable control arms and a JIC Magic CF strut brace.

To further highlight the new stance a Suzuka Urethane front lip spoiler was added to the bumper and a rear deck spoiler to the boot.

The factory 350z exhaust note is a glorious, but Sam wanted a little bit more, so removed the factory setup in favor of a Greddy SP2 unit, with Stillen ceramic coated headers, Berk high flow cats, and a Megan racing Y pipe.

Under the hood Sam addressed the Z’s performance with a Takeda short ram intake, skunk2 Plenum spacer, and an OBX pulley set. To keep everything looking tidy under the hood a carbon fiber engine cover.

The future for Sam’s Z has even more horses ready to join the stable as he plans to add an aggressive cam setup and possible ECU reflash or ETC.

Sam, along with his group of fellow car enthusiasts, known collectively as ‘Division R Performance‘, have attended a number of shows (Sight & Sound, Drop Tec OPC to name a few) already this year in the GTA and Sam’s Z has fittingly brought home  number of trophies.

Notable ones include 1st place  Nissan/Infinity, Lowest  ride height, and best Negative camber (twice).

Sam and Division R Performance are also the driving force key behind the upcoming Voice Coil Meltdown show at Selective Sound and are looking forward to showing everyone why they are one of the most dedicated show teams with some of the cleanest cars in the GTA at that event.

Thanks go out to Sam for giving me the opportunity to feature his ride and I can’t wait to see where it goes next.

*All photos copyright original photographers – thanks for the shots

Today’s mini feature is a Subaru which, like the last one featured here, is sure to push a few buttons among the more ‘purist’ minded automotive enthusiasts.

This car was brought to my attention by the owner/operator of WeLoveThis.ca, Graeme Harvey, Graeme and the crew over at We Love This (who are good friends with the boys at Union) are all about celebrating anything and everything dope; and today’s car just happens to fit the bill.

Mike Ross’s Bug Eye started out the same as every other Rally Blue rex: stock, and awd. While this starting point is enough for a lot of people Mike wouldn’t be happy until his car was transformed into something that couldn’t be picked up off the local car lot.

After a short stint as a daily driver, the car transitioned to a road course terror for a season, before going in a direction that is foreign to most Subaru’s, rear wheel drive.

After removing his front drive axles and modifying his center differential Mike installed a set of Megan track coil-overs and a custom powder coated Cusco multi-link setup.

With his sights set on getting the most out of his new suspension Mike took his car to Scott at Can-align for proper corner balancing before installing his 17×10 +25 Miro STP1′s (with 225/45 Yokohama tires).

Under the winning blue hood Mikes motor lives in partially shaved the engine bay and once the unnecessary bits where gone under the  hood the shaving  spread through the rest of the vehicle until a total 250lbs of excesses was removed from the cars over all weight.

When riding in Mikes car you would hardly notice where the weight was subtracted (hint: custom aluminum bumper beams) as save from the air conditioning, no real passenger comfort has been sacrificed.

This car has come a long way since Mike got it but the end is no where near in sight, he and the Union Auto Club have a number of tricks left up their sleeves for this already great looking and performing car.

Photo credit: JP Ellis

Big thanks to Graeme (tips and info) and JP Ellis (flicks) at WeLoveThis.ca for helping me out with this feature, and finally a big thanks to Mike for letting me feature his ride.

Expect a few more WeLoveThis.ca/stanceiseverything.com collaborations to come in the future!

Not to take anything away from the builders doing great things here in North America, but the guys over in Europe consistently build Volkswagens of outstanding quality.

Today’s featured Passat, out of London, England, is just another example of what the European crowd is capable of.

Pete (better known as Big Pete in his local scene), the owner of this Passat, spared no expense when creating this jaw dropping VW.

Pete chose the Passat for his build due to it’s practicality both in storage capacity and fuel efficiency (diesel) and while his friends may have thought he was crazy Pete had an exceptional end goal in mind.

A week after Pete took delivery of his new ride he yanked the stock springs out and installed a set of 40mm lowering springs, while the springs were being swapped he discarded the stock wheels in favor of a set of 19” Audi A8 wheels.

After a little bit of a fender bender aftermarket headlights, hood and bumper were added while th car was being fixed. Not long after the new body pieces were installed the 40mm drop springs were replaced with a set of coil overs. At this time the 19″ A8 rims were also removed in favor of a set of 20” Ascari Cuervo rims.

Once this stage of the exterior additions was complete a full in car entertainment system (9 screens in total in addition to components and subwoofers) was installed while the stock cloth seats, which were already out for the install, were replaced with a leather set.

At the end of 2008 the car was sporting yet another set of wheels (color coded Legendary Penta’s) and Audi R8 headlights supplied by ULTRA.

Early in 2009, after a few run ins with the ground Pete realized that what his car sorely needed was a dynamic suspension set up.

After visiting his friend and getting an ‘idiots guide’ to air ride Pete headed home and laid out all the components of his air ride setup so he could figure out exactly how it was all going to fit into the car.

He and his friend managed to bag the front end themselves before sending the car to UK specialist Rayvern Hydraulics for the rear end and complex wiring.

Shortly after the install Pete added a set of digital gauges to monitor what was going on at all four corners of his vehicle as it’s a FBSS set up system.

Speaking of the four corners Pete had much, much, wider wheels in mind which required his car to go to the body shop and get it’s fenders widened. However no ordinary flared fenders would do, Pete made sure that the shop kept the flares as oem looking as possible since he wanted his car to maintain that clean OEM look once it was complete.

While the fenders were being reshaped the hood, bumper (MKV golf GTI fogs and Scirrocco mesh for the center were added the the bumper at this time), and side skirts also got some attention. Right before the final coat of Mercedes Benz Tanzinite blue was sprayed a few unnecessary factory bits were also shaved off.

Once the car was done at the body shop Pete added the last of his final touches to the interior and exterior (including being able to control the air ride via a remote FOB) and bought a new set of wheels for the car.

The first set being 20” x 9 and 20 x 10 fully polished (both sides of the wheel and between the spokes) Ascari Pentas and the second set being a fantastic looking set of Mercedes Benz AMG 20×8.5 and 20×10 as Phils daily/winter wheels.

Yes 20” wheels for winters.

Pete took his Passat and made it into an absolute masterpiece and it’s hard to capture everything that was done to this car in one feature.

Be sure to check out Pete’s highly detailed build thread on AUTOBAHN25.com as it is a delightful read.

Big thanks to Pete for letting me feature his ride and his friend Zebtan (zebtanphotography.co.uk) for hooking me up with the photos and connection out in England.

I’m sure his car will inspire a lot of Passat owners for years to come.

Here are some more photos of this great looking Passat:

Accords have really be coming into their own lately among the stance crowd. A car which was historically seen as the older, more conservative brother of the Civic is finally starting to get the respect it deserves as a platform, that in the right hands, can hang with the best of them.

Hailing from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Malik bought his Accord brand new in 2007 as a way to escape the lure of the street racing scene and has been transforming it into a head turner ever since.

Soon after purchase Malik started his modifications off fairly conservatively by upgrading the headlights and fog lights by retro fitting HID units and before he knew it the mod bug was fully taking over.

In his hunt for the perfect stance Malik went through a variety of different suspension setups initially the car was lowered on Tien S-techs, then Eibach Sportlines, and finally Nuespeed race springs.

When none of these options delivered the slam Malik needed he picked up a set of Function Form coil overs and dropped his Accord on its knees.

With his suspension finally in order Malik flew through 14 different sets of wheels before landing on the 18×8 TSW Snetterton wheels currently taking residence in his wheel. However these wheels are only there until a set of flush fitting CCW Classics takes their place.

In preparation for the stunning forthcoming wheel set Malik has added a trio of Siebon Carbon fiber accessories including a hood, mirror covers and B pillars.

By the end of the summer Malik is hoping to wrap up the exterior mods by adding a carbon fiber trunk to the mix, once that happens his attention will turn to the interior where the current stock seats will be replaced with Bride units.

So far Malik is off to a great start with his Accord and with what he has in store for his ride it’s only going to get better, I hope once it’s all done Malik will send new pictures in and give me another opportunity to showcase his ride.

Thanks again Malik.

At one of my previous jobs I used to walk by a local Toronto Mini dealership on my way to work, as I passed I would look inside and wonder why there were not more modified Minis cruising the streets. It seemed that at the time, for whatever reason, the enthusiast crowd over looked this capable platform.

Lately though the Mini has been making a lot of waves in the online stance/flush community and one that’s been causing quite a bit of a stir is Nathan Gilbert’s o9 dark silver blacktop.

Having previously owned and modified a Volkswagen Corrado Nathan knew exactly which factory options and upgrades his Mini needed in order to work with the vision he had in mind, and almost immediately after he drove his Mini off lot it was it was under the knife to have a JCW Aero kit and set H&R coil overs installed along with a set of 18×7.5 Konig wheels.

Not about to build a car that was all show and no go Nathan added a turbo back exhaust system, and intake to give the mini a little more zip, and opted to make his time behind the wheel further enjoyable by adding a JCW Recaro seat imported from the United Kingdom.

For those of us who do not know much about Mini’s Nathan explains that this seat is essentially a deluxe version of the Recaro Sportster seat;  equipped with side impact air bags, heating units,  and the John Cooper Works logo embroidered into the alcantara covering.

After rocking the Konig wheels for awhile Nathan was fortunate enough to come across a set of staggered CCW Classics, CCWs are quickly becoming popular among the stance crowd and for good reason. These wheels instantly transform the look of whatever car they are on and always look good doing so.

Nathans CCW setup consists of 18×8 front wheels with an offset that has been adjusted from 32 to 27 via a set of 5mm spacers  and a set of 18×8.5 rear wheels with an offset of 28.

With the new wheels Nathan set up his H&R coils with 2 threads left to go down up front and 5 in the rear, this setup allows Nathan to drive his Mini daily without having to worry too much about the conditions of the corners he is tearing up.

I am very glad that Nathan contacted me and gave me the opportunity to not only show off the transformation of his car, but also showcase his great photography skills. If you want to see more of both his car and photos click over to his flickr account: flickr/gilboyto.

To end here are a few photos that I particularly enjoyed:

Once again a huge thanks to Nathan for the opportunity to showcase his ride.

When Mike Latter bought his 2001 Subaru Forrester he had no intentions of modifying it, however shortly after joining the Toronto Subaru Club he was bit with what we enthusiasts like to call the mod bug. After plenty of online research hours, wrench turning and visa bills later, Mike’s car is on it’s third revision and currently awaiting its fourth.

Like most Mike’s first round of modifications started off fairly conservative, he installed a set of RaceGear coil-overs and OZ Superturismo wheels and called it a day. Since modified Forrester’s are such a rarity in the GTA Mike’s Forrester quickly stood out and turned a lot of heads in the Summer of 2007.

With the mod bugs venom seeping into his veins via the compliments he was getting on his rides new look Mike began to modify his Forrester over the 2007/2008 winter months.

Once summer of 2008 rolled around Mike further improved upon his Subuaru’s suspension setup by adding a trio of Perrin suspension parts including: a 22mm rear sway bar, sway bar mounts and sway bar end links. Mike also got out his chop saw and welder to fabricate a set of heavy duty front and rear strut bars.

While the suspension was apart he improved braking performance by installing power slot rotors on all four corners.

Under the newly fitted WRX hood, Borla headers were mated to a custom vibrant exhaust system, while inside a GroupA Short shifter was added, along with a set of nex carbon bucket seats for summer use, and 2001 WRX seats for winter. He also took some time at this point to shave a few pounds of sound deadening weight.

When the summer of 2009 came around Mike was at it again installing a set of 19×8 OZ Ultra leggra wheels along with a set of cusco coil overs that allowed him to drop his car lower than his previous, RaceGear, setup would allow.

Near the end of the 09 season, after having some time to take in his cars new look, Mike decided that his wheel fitment left a little to be desired. Aiming to fill his wheel wells a little better Mike ordered a set of custom spacers, which required longer ARP studs, and open ended lug nuts.

Mike knew that a set of Work Lug nuts would be the perfect way to set off his new fitment so he placed his order. Unfortunately for Mike these lug nuts were back-ordered and as month, after month, went by Mike soon found himself in the middle of a snowstorm on summer tires.

This is when tragedy struck, one snowy November night in Burlington Ontario, in the form of a very stubborn pole. With a significantly damaged front end Mike was put in a position that none of us as car enthusiasts want to be in.

With time, love, dedication, and money invested into this vehicle it was heart breaking for Mike to see his Forrester now almost fit for the scrap yard. After much debate on what to do with his bent ride mike eventually pushed his emotions aside Mike and decided to rebuilt his prized possession.

After spending two days locked in his garage Mike was able to get his car back on the road with a new rat/hoodride inspired look.

Mike’s Forrester now wears it’s battle wounds with pride and while one day Mike plans to transfer his parts over to a clean chassis he currently loves his car now just as much as he did before the accident

Mike’s plan, once he gets a new chassis, is to continue to modify his car in a way that makes it unique and eye catching.

Personally I can’t wait to see what comes next, and with the dedication and passion Mike has shown so far the sky is the limit.

Here are a few more photos of Mike’s ride in its current winter and battle ready condition:

Volkswagen drivers are serious when it comes to stance. They have been doing it for a long time, and arguably do it the best. Therefore, anytime a pack of proper VW’s scrape down the street together, it’s a rolling lesson in stance 101. I hope that Northern Jersey and area residents have their pens and paper at the ready, because when Star Status is in town they put on a clinic wherever they go.

MKIII GTI – Ramon

The MKIII GTI is a popular platform among the VW crowd, and no VW crew would truly be complete without one. That’s why Star Status has this beautiful example in their fold. Ramon’s MKIII is heavily modified, but never looks over done which is proof of a keen eye to detail.

The body is set off by a JOM badge-less grill, vr6 chin spoiler, fk long turn signals, clear red hella tails, french headlights and chrome mirror caps.

Motor wise, the perpetually loved vr6 has been hopped up with a MarkIV headgasket, Autotech 262 cams, Schrick VGI intake manifold, Giac cam file chip, Secondary Air delete, and a Suitcase muffler delete. To help put all this new found power to the ground, a stage 1 clutch has also been installed.

Inside this dub, and behind a leather wrapped dash, sit a pair of r32 seats, which are complimented by matching leather wrapped door panels with Bentley diamond stitched inserts. The leather continues to flow over the A-pillars, glove box and center console. Finishing off the interior, a suede Bentley diamond stitched headliner was installed alongside a Weichers polished 4 point cage, should this car ever have the misfortune of ending up upside down.

The chances of this car rolling are, thankfully, pretty slim since it squats down in the weeds on a bagyard “bomber” air setup that tucks the 17×7.5 and 17×8 MAE crown jewels perfectly into the wheel wells

Download high res – 371kb

Black MKIII Cabrio – Danny (Mouth)

The second Star Status car is Danny’s MKIII Cabrio, and it’s a serious bit of machinery. The boser hood hints that this car has a little bit of attitude, but I think few would expect that come spring time, underneath that hood and behind the badge-less grill an all black super charged 2.9L vr6 with a Shrick manifold, will sit in the red, shaved bay (which matches the red diamond stitched interior) for anyone ready for a little fun.

Additionally little birdie informed me that by the time spring rolls around Danny’s current 3 piece OZ Pegasus 16×7.5″ wide wheels will be history in favor of a deeper and wider set of wheels. The new set of wheels should be the icing on the cake for this mean little Cabrio.

Download high res – 302kb

UG MKV GTI – Sal

If Danny’s Cabrio wasn’t an indication that Star Status doesn’t believe that riding low always means riding slow, this GTI should be.

Sal’s GTI has been boosted up and beyond factory specs with a GT3071R turbo upgrade while the ride height’s been adjusted with a set of FK silverline plus coil overs.

With such a potent motor and suspension setup this car needed a pair of wheels to pull everything together and the HRE 449r 18×8′s do exactly that.

Download high res – 359kb

The Star Status Black Rabbits

Star Status likes to double their fun, and does so by having two sets of identical body, identical color cars in their flock.

The first Star Status pair is a duo of black MKV GTI’s that drive home the point that often nothing looks cleaner, or meaner than a slammed, clean, black, car.

Furby

Furby’s rabbit keeps the mod list short but very sweet, this car has; B&G coils, Radinox lipped Th-line rims (17×8 and 17×8.5), blacked out headlights, and amber turn signals.

Each of Furby’s modifications compliment the one before it, and create an extremely clean enviable ride.

Download high res – 361kb

Matt

Matt is from the same school of thought as Furby, and as such, his rabbit also has a tight list of well thought out modifications which play off one another to create a portrait of stance perfection.

This black beauty is hammered down onto polished Benz six slots with an air ride setup and has an cutout free oem votex rear, a badge-less grill, and projector headlights.

Download high res – 438kb

Download high res – 504kb

The Star Status Yellow GTI’s

Yellow is a hard color to pull off correctly. It takes a certain type of finesse to modify a yellow car knowing that one misstep can cause an endless amount of big bird references to take flight.

With two yellow cars in their collective, it’s safe to say that Star Status knows how to keep things tasteful when it comes to dealing with yellow rides.

Before Star Status, I would have been hard pressed to post two modified yellow cars in one post, but the decision is basically made for me when the yellow cars look as clean and proper as these. If all yellow cars looked as clean as thisStance Is Everything would be 90% yellow cars.

Paige

The first Star Status GTI was featured in the Girls with hot rides Theme Tuesday and upon seeing it again I remembered just why I liked this car so much.

The female touch behind this build knew that the factory body needed a little bit of help, so a badge-less grill was installed, half of the door cups were shaved, and the hatch was smoothed out entirely.

Once the body was all squared away, a set of RH wheels were installed and an air ride kit brought the body down to ground level.

A lot of guys in the game could take lessons from Paige on what it takes to build a clean, slammed, ride.

Download high res – 382kb

Ahmet

Ahmet’s GTI starts out with the same Imola Yellow paint as Paige’s, and truly upholds the clean look that Star Status is known for. This GTI has an oem votex body kit (Super rare!) and smoked golf tails. Ahmet installed these taillights as something for slower cars to watch fade into the distance as his APR stage 3 plus turbo kit propels his car into the night.

Not about to leave the under hood area untouched, this car has received a flawless Star Status quality shaved engine bay as well. Inside a set of cloth r seats were installed.

Finally Ahmet’s car achieves it’s immaculate stance and fitment by sitting super low on Brown AC Schnitzer Type 1s at 17×8 upfront and 17x9s out back.

Download high res – 382kb

MKIV – DTek

Another Star Status black beauty DTeks MKIV is a head turner. The paint on this car is so deep that it’s easy to overlook the shaved hood notch, bumper notch, side markers and hatch. But what’s not hard to miss is the crushed red velvet that covers the headliner and pillars. This deep red provides a perfect contrast to that flawless black paint.

Under hood the motor breathes better thanks to an intake, turbo inlet pipe, down pipe and exhaust. While an aftermarket chip has been added to remove the restrictive factory ECU settings for a final power push.

The UV airbags on H&R struts bring this Golfs fenders down closer to the polished lips of the 18×8 and 18×9.5 J line 5SL2 rims and if anyone says that black face chrome lip rims are played out the need to look at this car again. When done right this look is tough to beat.

Download high res – 240kb

MKV GTI – Dan

Last but not least in Star Status is Dan’s flawless red GTI. The body of this car has been fitted with euro R32 tails, and a no-cutout euro R32 rear bumper. Inside the engine bay, it packs an extra punch with a stage 2+ tune and bolt ons.

Inside this vw, the front and rear seats have been wrapped in black leather and alcantara to keep the occupants in place during high speed maneuvers, and since Star Status believes in the complete package, the door cards were also done to match.

Star Status is clearly a fan of air ride set ups, and this car is more of the same since it sports a bag over coil setup that allows the lips of these 17×8 and 17×9 polished faced RS rims to sit flush with the fenders when fully aired out.

With these wheels sitting so perfectly in the wells, you just know that a lot of time and measurements went into this final stance.

Download high res – 317kb

I’m no fortune teller but I can see Star Status making waves in the euro tuning scene for years to come. The nine cars you see above are just a few of the cars in the crew.

I’m very happy to have been able to showcase some of their amazing lineup of cars here on Stance Is Everything, and look forward to posting more.

Thanks to Daniel Berenson for being the liaison between myself and Star Status and for splitting photo duty with his friends Ahmet Baran and D Tek.

If you would like to see more of their work photo work their flickr accounts are:
flickr.com/photos/ahmetthejerk
flickr.com/photos/dbson
flickr.com/photos/dtek