My '06 Toyota Aurion SX6 Sportivo

Kiwi-Corolla

Known Member
Senior Member
Thread starter
Jul 27, 2010
356
350
563
New Zealand
Quick Saturday mod - I pulled off my old foam EZ Lip and installed this glossy carbon lip in it's place. Was difficult to photograph due to the glossiness but you get the idea :)







 

Kiwi-Corolla

Known Member
Senior Member
Thread starter
Jul 27, 2010
356
350
563
New Zealand
I installed these*LED bumper reflectors today. I haven't see this particular style on any Aurion before so when I saw them I knew I had to have a set :). They're designed to be 100% plug-and-play with no splicing required and mount the exact same way as the stock reflectors.

The worst part about the whole job is that you have to remove the rear bumper in order to get to the screw on the back holding the reflector in, but it didn't turn out to be as difficult as I had imagined.

After fitting them I found that they were really quite bright, in fact too bright, so I put a layer of tint film over each light to dull down the light output a bit. Not 100% sold on the tinted look however, so time will tell if I pull the tint off or not. Either way, the lights are here to stay.

The lights come on when the park lights are on and get brighter when you brake. They also have the ability to flash when you indicate, but this looked tacky in my opinion so I left that particular plug disconnected.

All in all it's a nice simplistic mod that looks like it was there from the factory. Below are a series of photos in their original form and then tinted.





















Also, these carbon fiber vent stickers arrived in the mail today so I figured I'd chuck them on and see how they look. I'm not normally a fan of dull/matte carbon fiber designs but these were nice and cheap. I traced around them before sticking them on so I can try and make my own ones out of glossy carbon in future:





 

Kiwi-Corolla

Known Member
Senior Member
Thread starter
Jul 27, 2010
356
350
563
New Zealand
Something a bit different from me - Night shots!! We decided to take the kids into town last night since they've never been before, so while we were there I took the opportunity to take some night shots of the Aurion with the Auckland Sky Tower in the background.











 

6UE5t

6,000 RPM
Senior Member
Oct 8, 2010
6,756
1,300
1,713
Kuala Lumpur
Nicely done indeed! :top: This is the same engine as the 3.5ltr Mark X, 312ps, so very good power. Is this car AWD or still FWD? If FWD, can easily wheel spin?

I like the previous rim fitment though, coz the front rims were still inside the fenders. The design of this last rims is nice but the fitment of the front rims already come out a bit of the fenders plus make the tires stretched already, hence does not look as nice & clean as before. To me rims must stay align to or just inside the fender lines and no stretched tires, so the car looks nice & clean, just classy and not ricey.

Good job an the photography to I must say.
 

Kiwi-Corolla

Known Member
Senior Member
Thread starter
Jul 27, 2010
356
350
563
New Zealand
Nicely done indeed! :top: This is the same engine as the 3.5ltr Mark X, 312ps, so very good power. Is this car AWD or still FWD? If FWD, can easily wheel spin?

I like the previous rim fitment though, coz the front rims were still inside the fenders. The design of this last rims is nice but the fitment of the front rims already come out a bit of the fenders plus make the tires stretched already, hence does not look as nice & clean as before. To me rims must stay align to or just inside the fender lines and no stretched tires, so the car looks nice & clean, just classy and not ricey.

Good job an the photography to I must say.
Thanks. The engine in the 3.5L Mark X is similar but not the same. They use a 2GR-FSE (direct injection) whereas the Aurion uses a 2GR-FE. The difference being 311hp vs 276hp. This is FWD. The wheels will easily spin in the wet if you take off quickly, and also in the dry, so it's not a car you want to floor it off the line with.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on the wheel/fitment choice :proud:. The wheels sit dead flush with the fenders, whereas before with the stock wheels they sat very far in, which didn't give an aggressive look whatsoever. You'd probably have to see the car in real-life to see exactly how it sits, but I assure you that there's no poke, crazy camber or anything else that looks out of the ordinary :burnout:
 

6UE5t

6,000 RPM
Senior Member
Oct 8, 2010
6,756
1,300
1,713
Kuala Lumpur
Thanks. The engine in the 3.5L Mark X is similar but not the same. They use a 2GR-FSE (direct injection) whereas the Aurion uses a 2GR-FE. The difference being 311hp vs 276hp. This is FWD. The wheels will easily spin in the wet if you take off quickly, and also in the dry, so it's not a car you want to floor it off the line with.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on the wheel/fitment choice :proud:. The wheels sit dead flush with the fenders, whereas before with the stock wheels they sat very far in, which didn't give an aggressive look whatsoever. You'd probably have to see the car in real-life to see exactly how it sits, but I assure you that there's no poke, crazy camber or anything else that looks out of the ordinary :burnout:
Ah ya, it's 2GR-FE so not GDi so a bit less powerful but still pretty good nonetheless.

What's the size and offsets of the rims? What tire sizes? Tires surely stretched a bit already. I prefer square fitment tires as it's better for cornering and comfort too.

May I suggest 1 more important thing though, your front brakes, it's still just 1 pot calipers! Toyota stock brakes are usually not good. With this size and power better upgrade to 4 pot calipers, plus stainless braided hoses and dot 5.1 fluids. I think you can use either from old Aristo, Lexus LS, or GS350 4 pot with some mods or brackets.
 

Kiwi-Corolla

Known Member
Senior Member
Thread starter
Jul 27, 2010
356
350
563
New Zealand
Ah ya, it's 2GR-FE so not GDi so a bit less powerful but still pretty good nonetheless.

What's the size and offsets of the rims? What tire sizes? Tires surely stretched a bit already. I prefer square fitment tires as it's better for cornering and comfort too.

May I suggest 1 more important thing though, your front brakes, it's still just 1 pot calipers! Toyota stock brakes are usually not good. With this size and power better upgrade to 4 pot calipers, plus stainless braided hoses and dot 5.1 fluids. I think you can use either from old Aristo, Lexus LS, or GS350 4 pot with some mods or brackets.
Yep, has less power than the FSE but without any of the problems associated with direct injection. Admittedly the V6 versions Toyota has produced have been pretty good with no major issues like the 4cyl D4 engines (1AZ-FSE etc).

The wheels are 19x9.5", 32 offset all round. Front tyres are 225/40/19 front and 235/35/19 rear, so there is quite a stretch on them, but nothing that affects handling or safety. You bring up a good point about the brakes, and one I thoroughly looked into when upgrading the rotors. I work at a Toyota wrecker so have access to all of the models you mentioned but after careful consideration I decided that for my style of driving bigger rotors and twin pot calipers would be a waste, as I only drive about 8km to work and 90% of the drive are straight roads. I went through brake conversions etc with my Corolla (previous project) and it responded well due to the lightweight body and high revving 20v engine, however the Aurion is a lot more fun in a straight line than it is around corners, but that's just how I like it :biggrin:
 

vr2turbo

Beyond 20,000 RPM!
Helmet Clan
Moderator
May 11, 2010
29,998
8,385
1,713
Petaling Jaya
Thanks. The engine in the 3.5L Mark X is similar but not the same. They use a 2GR-FSE (direct injection) whereas the Aurion uses a 2GR-FE. The difference being 311hp vs 276hp. This is FWD. The wheels will easily spin in the wet if you take off quickly, and also in the dry, so it's not a car you want to floor it off the line with.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on the wheel/fitment choice :proud:. The wheels sit dead flush with the fenders, whereas before with the stock wheels they sat very far in, which didn't give an aggressive look whatsoever. You'd probably have to see the car in real-life to see exactly how it sits, but I assure you that there's no poke, crazy camber or anything else that looks out of the ordinary :burnout:
I like the newer setup, looks more aggressive also.....:rolleyes:
 

Kiwi-Corolla

Known Member
Senior Member
Thread starter
Jul 27, 2010
356
350
563
New Zealand
Thanks! :shakehands:

Figured that I should post a few other small things that have been done over the last couple of months that made a noticeable difference (or at least to me anyway, haha). The photos were taken before some of the latest updates (carbon lip etc) but include chrome trim around the silver dash inserts and front fog light surrounds, a facelift Aurion license plate bracket that I modified to fit the pre-facelift front bumper so the plate sits nicer with the large frame, the reinstall of my original knob type A/C controls but wrapped in carbon vinyl to match my centre console and an updated photo of my engine bay as it stands right now.























 

6UE5t

6,000 RPM
Senior Member
Oct 8, 2010
6,756
1,300
1,713
Kuala Lumpur
Yep, has less power than the FSE but without any of the problems associated with direct injection. Admittedly the V6 versions Toyota has produced have been pretty good with no major issues like the 4cyl D4 engines (1AZ-FSE etc).

The wheels are 19x9.5", 32 offset all round. Front tyres are 225/40/19 front and 235/35/19 rear, so there is quite a stretch on them, but nothing that affects handling or safety. You bring up a good point about the brakes, and one I thoroughly looked into when upgrading the rotors. I work at a Toyota wrecker so have access to all of the models you mentioned but after careful consideration I decided that for my style of driving bigger rotors and twin pot calipers would be a waste, as I only drive about 8km to work and 90% of the drive are straight roads. I went through brake conversions etc with my Corolla (previous project) and it responded well due to the lightweight body and high revving 20v engine, however the Aurion is a lot more fun in a straight line than it is around corners, but that's just how I like it :biggrin:
I like the newer setup, looks more aggressive also.....:rolleyes:
Hehe as I suspected the rims are too big and tires very stretched, should've been only 8.5j width. With 9.5j it should've been using minimum 255 tires, 265 better, and the offset should be at least 45 but that may not clear the inside of the front fender. No doubt at the front it does poke out from the fenders, confirmed by your subsequent photos. The rears will also rub if you use properly sized 255/265 tires. Stretched tires will affect handling if you lean on corner a bit hard coz the tire may lean partly onto the sidewall already instead staying on the tread as it's supposed to. I think the perfect fitment for Camry should be max 8.5 with 235 tires all around (not staggered for FWD) with offset not lower than 35.

As for brakes, you'd never know when you'd face real emergency situation where very good braking system will save you and your already beautiful car. This car weighs over 1.6 ton with 270+HP, it does need better brakes than the normal puny 1 pot std Toyota. Toyota does tend to be cheap skate on some things and this is one of it, plus std Toyota brakes are usually a bit spongy and not enough stopping power. Judging from how well you've done up your car, surely budget is not a constraint for you so this is a very good upgrade to do, in fact more important than the rest. If you don't want to convert to 4 pot, at least use much better pads, stainless braided hoses, and dot 5.1 brake fluid. Rotors actually better use smooth ones or just slotted but not drilled.

Well anyway that's just my humble positive criticism on other wise an already great job you've done so far. It's your car and not mine so up to you how you view it.

Keep up the good work.
 

Random Post Every 5 Minutes

Ive been putting a lot of thought into starting a business , handphones especially. everyone owns a handphone and everyone i know change them ever so frequently . My question is , If you were to start your own handphone shop , where would you start and how would you go about it ? ( i really dont know btw , hehehe )

Your thoughts and opinion would really help , Cheers !
Ask a question, start a discussion or post something for sale!
Post thread

Online now

Enjoying Zerotohundred?

Log-in for an ad-less experience