jaredg

I bought my window deflectors and side moldings at www.quirkparts.com.

I was not familiar with them beforehand, but they were competitive and quick to ship. The website has a pretty good parts search function too.

Wow. Sorry to hear about that. I'm just glad everyone is ok. So you didn't have any airbags deployed?

I'm not familiar with the diminished value concept. I'll be interested to see how this all works out for you.

Best of luck.

KMG - I know what you mean. Style is good as long as it doesn't compromise function. At least not too much, anyway.  B)

Thanks, Bamps. They were reasonably priced, too!

Glidedon - The window deflectors are the Nissan parts. They seem decent enough. I think they are pretty much the only ones available and because of that, they cost more.

I bought the deflectors and the body side molding from a company called Quirkparts.com. They had some of the better pricing I could find and they were prompt in shipping the parts. I had never heard of them before my purchase.

I figured that width and offset would be pretty forgiving. I think a 265 or 275 would fit with no problems.

Thanks. Just eyeballing it I'd estimate door to tire clearance around 1.25".

I got my new wheels mounted up about a week ago. They are Vision Off Road model 372 Raptors. 17X8, 25mm offset. Mine are machined/black painted. They also offer chrome.

I had them mounted with the original 245/70/17 tires and TPMS sensors. They even set the air pressures correctly! I was pleasantly surprised.  B)

Here's a before and after from my gallery:

Vision Off Road 372 Raptor. 17X8, 25mm offset. OEM 245/70/17 tires. No fitment issues.

Update - I got a set of the extended thread lugs pictured above and that got me the extra thread engagement I needed. It also has the added benefit of locating the wheel on the hub pretty well since hub rings don't seem to be offered on a lot of these applications.

My local Nissan dealer (30 miles away) said they have a tech trained to do the service work. However, they said they can't do any warranty work without permission from Nissan Commercial. I think I will have to make the 120 mile trek to a commercial dealer for that.

We only have about 2000 miles on our NVP so far. I'm hoping for reliability!

I probably would if the price was right.

The rear legroom was the determining factor for us. We are a family of 7 with two teenagers coming from an Expedition EL. I really wanted the Transit to work for us since it's lighter and should get better fuel economy, However, my legs were against the seatbacks in the 3rd and 4th rows of the Transit and I'm only 5'-10". I have a good 2+" of clearance in the NVP.

Our entire reason for going to a full size van was to gain additional space for people and cargo. The Transit was going to be less comfortable for the rear passengers than the Expedition we already had. That alone was enough to eliminate it from contention.

We also have a 2002 Odyssey that we use for short trips or less than full loads. If everyone is going, the kids always want the NV because they each have a one-seat buffer zone between each other. 

As for cargo, we have one of the 4th row seat pairs removed. That seems to be working pretty well.

I will also mention that the brakes do have a good, powerful feel. They definitely seem better than the Expedition. Even my wife noticed it.

Good luck.

Andy - I am interested to hear what you find later.

I called the retailer today and they said I need the extended thread lugs pictured above. They were not in stock, so it will probably be a week or so before I get them. Then I will be out of town

Andy - Do you know what type of lugs are on your wheels?

I just found the ones pictured below over the weekend. Mine don't have the .25" straight section at the bottom. That might make the difference if they will work with my wheels.

I just bought a set of Vision Raptor wheels in 17x8 size, +25 offset. I was test fitting them in the garage to test for clearances, etc and found that the lug nuts only engage about 4 to 4-1/2 turns by hand. That doesn't seem like nearly enough thread engagement. I've always gone by the rule of thumb that you want at least as much engagement as the diameter of the stud. That would be about 9.3 turns for 14mm x 1.5 studs like we have. I only have about 1/2 of that.

Has anyone else run into this problem? If so, what did you do?

http://www.visionwheel.com/wheel/1142/528/

I tried to measure my stock-height NVP. It appeared that the antenna was the tallest feature sticking up roughly 2" higher than the rest of the van. I crudely measured it at about 7'-2".

I put mine on this weekend and I agree with what nv2500sl said. I installed mine about 1/4" below the body line - which is probably about 2" higher than the directions called for.

Nice! We have boy (15), boy (13), girl (11.5), girl (10), boy (7). They just end up arguing about what dvd to watch anyway.

Twindaddy,

Like you, we also made the move from an Expedition EL. So far I'm resisting the DVD player. Our kids are old enough now that we're going to try to get by with tablets or portable players.

As for running boards, I just installed a set a little over a week ago. They are the black 98"/98" Luverne O-Mega steps that CHPHILO linked from Eurocampers above. I'm pretty happy with them. Let me know if you have any questions. I'll try to get some pictures on here sometime.

I have a set in my garage. I'll let you know after I get them on - hopefully within the next week or so.

Here's another vote for the NV brakes. The rotors are about 14" front and rear with huge calipers. They have a very linear, positive feel to them.

We traded an Expedition EL and my wife commented on the test drive that the Nissan brakes felt better.  

We just recently bought a NVP SL for our family of 7 and we're happy with it. We also looked at the Transit and I really wanted it to work for us because of the dealer network and the 2 hour drive to the commercial Nissan dealers around us. However, the lack of legroom in the 3rd and 4th rows of the Ford was a deal breaker. I'm only 5'10" and my knees touch the seatbacks in those positions. We needed more room and that was not moving in the right direction.

I don't have a solution for the height. It sure would be nice to drop it 2-3" without ruining the ride and load ratings. Plus, it would look cool.  B)

I'll give an update on the issue. I called Nissan Commercial and they basically told me that they don't provide technical support directly to the consumer. They assigned a case # and directed me to the closest Nissan dealer, which is not a Commercial dealer, to have it checked out. I questioned whether they were able to work on the NVP and they said it would be no problem.. I wanted this to work because our commercial dealer is nearly 2 hours away while the non-commercial dealer is only about 45 minutes. However, I was skeptical.

I made an appointment on a day when I needed to be in town anyway. Upon arrival, they told me that they don't normally work on these and weren't sure about the camera system. They did offer to gather some information and call me back later. No big deal as I was in town anyway. In the end, they think that if the predicted course lines aren't there, they can't be added. It was pretty much a waste of time as I expected.

I do need to visit my original dealer for some work that they owe me. I will have them look into it before I put it to bed for good.

Radin2son - You're right. The mirrors are very good. I just want to know why I don't have the feature the owner's manual spends so much time explaining. 

Here's another vote for a classifieds section!