Spotted this the other night at the 3rd anniversary Kinod meet. I guess he hit something on the way there.

NA Miata on 13×8 SSR MKII’s.

Uh oh.

Luckily someone was nice enough to lend him a Triple A tow.

Back with part 2…

When all of their work is finished, they work on their own cars. I have passed Platinum VIP on a few occasions after midnight and spotted their doors open and lights on. The shop closes down for the day when Kennedy gets tired.

Lexus SC on JLines…

One of the guys’ Y33 Q45…

You might notice that this car *could* be lower. I mentioned in my previous post that Platinum VIP likes to follow traditional VIP “rules” so all of their cars are on coilovers. Some are utilizing their own Phantom cup kit setup. More on that in a bit.

This is Kennedy’s ride. It was recently revamped with an LS460 Job Design kit modified to kit with custom styling lines and custom wide all-metal fenders. The details on this car would blow your mind away. The hood is sprayed with a wood grain pattern.

Of course, the car has near perfect wheel fitment. All of the custom camber work is done by Kennedy with factory arms. I believe he sets up GS’ with camber bolts. His own car is running something ridiculous like -11 degrees rear and -5 front. With the stretched tires, they last him 400 miles. They made a trip out to Las Vegas (yes he drives at that height), and he had to get new tires mounted before driving back.

The wheel of choice around here seems to be VIP Modular. I’m sure both companies have a good relationship going… The great thing about VIP Modular is that they will actually come out and take measurements to build the perfect wheel setup.

Random wide body Supra that I’m sure is on the backburner.

Here’s a customer’s GS that is in for fender repair. While the Phantom cup kit allows for the car to be aired up, the whole purpose is that you can ride slammed and then air up for speed bumps or steep driveways. Inevitably, that also means a chance for damaged fenders if you aren’t careful.

Big ballin’ Platinum VIP tour bus.

Here’s an F50 Q45. I first saw this car up in San Francisco at WekFest. All of their cars were driven up there and none of them were on air! I remember it being on a different set of wheels. All of these cars just sit outside overnight.

…And finally the Heavy Hitters x Platinum VIP Ford Flex. If you haven’t seen this beauty before, then you need to do some video watching on YouTube. The interior is to die for… everything was custom done from the kit, to the engine bay, and the pair of $5,000 (each) massage chairs in the back.

(borrowing pictures because mine don’t do it any justice!)

The lips of each wheel as well as select parts of the interior were airbrushed by OG Abel.

The whole interior was re-wrapped in Italian leather; headliner done in suede. The second and third row seating were removed to make room for those massive seats.

Inside their showroom, you can see some of the trophies they have taken home as well as a cup kit on display.

The cup kit is basically the same thing as the Roberuta lifter system (but at half the price). You have a cup on each corner which goes on top of the spring and like an air suspension system, compressed air is used to crush the spring and drop the car even lower. There are switches inside the cabin that lets you control the ride height. Unlike air, you can actually drive the car slammed and it feels normal as far as ride comfort and handling go.

That’s it. I hope you enjoyed it and encourage you to check out the shop if you ever have the chance.

Believe it or not… some things kept me busy this week and I was unable to deliver this post on time. But, since I did promise this content, I might as well post it late.

You may or may not have heard of Platinum VIP before. But that’s okay. They are basically known around the web for the VIP cars they churn out. You may have noticed a large Platinum VIP sticker on the windshield of one of these cars.

What most don’t know is that they are a full-on body shop, – used to be called Premiere Autoworks. They now specialize in VIP/luxury work, but yes, you can bring your mom’s t-boned Toyota Camry in for insurance work. They will take excellent care of your car and produce excellent work. Their pricing also reflects that very well.

So anyways, I stopped by this past week looking for some interesting stuff to document. I haven’t actually had any work done by them before, but had a few friends whose cars they worked on.

The first thing I see when I head inside is Kennedy applying clear bra to the front end of a GS.

Kennedy is the owner of Platinum VIP. He personally works on every car that rolls through the shop and makes sure everything is up to standard before it leaves.

Above is a Lexus GS on their state of the art frame pulling machine.

Below is a Lexus LS460 that was hit on the freeway, spun out, and hit a center divider.

This is an older Mercedes almost ready to roll out of the shop.

Platinum is known for following true to traditional VIP styling from Japan. Besides selling manufactured high end body kits, they do a lot of custom work. All of it is from imagination. If you can think it up, they can style it. One example is Kennedy’s own 1GS. More on that later…

Here on the lift is another shop car in progress. They are doing an all metal wide body. The first picture is the side that is yet to be touched… stock.

And this is the side where work has begun…

The benefits of an all metal widebody are it’s strength and painted surface that matches the rest of the car. With a wheel setup that has a high potential for rubbing, it’s best to have a metal fender which will hold up better than pliable fiberglass which cracks the instant something even remotely harsh hits it.

As some of you may know, Platinum VIP partnered with Heavy Hitters magazine in the past on the crazy Ford Flex.

This is the owner of Heavy Hitters’ car… it has the entire interior redone, but I’m told that he was unhappy with the look, so it’s being torn apart and going back to get redone differently. Must be nice, right?

What the hell is an S2000 doing here? Well, it’s an insurance car that is near completion. Interesting touch with the shaved sidemarkers… *ahem*

Well that’s where I’ll leave off for this post, more later… hopefully it won’t be another 4 days before I find time again.

If you thought the Mugen RR sedan was to die for, wait til you get a load of the hatchback.

One can only assume that it’s the same upgrades, just in 3 door hotness form. One thing that is really interesting is that the original EK9 Civic Type R came with 15″ wheels. The new one is on 18’s… goes to show how much bigger the new cars are getting. Then again, with 237 hp, it does have 57 horsepower and 50 torque more than the original.

The larger wheels are also there to accommodate the larger Brembo brakes. But, just look at how tiny those 18’s look! Almost seems like some 20″ Volks would sit perfect on there.

Obviously the common styling theme here is the Triangle shape. From the vents, to the exhaust shrouds, and door handles. Even the shape of the car itself is MUCH more angular than traditional Honda styling.

The HellaFlush guys say that “offset is everything”…
The CCW guys say that “offset is nothing without width and drop”…
Well, to properly execute an eye-popping stance, I say that offset, width and drop is nothing without a nice and thick tire.

I am sure that by now, you all know that low offsets aren’t a new thing. While I applaud those out there who are trying to pull off what the successful have achieved, one of my biggest no-no’s is running a skinnier tire than stock. While I certainly wouldn’t go as far as calling it a pet peeve, I would personally never do it on my own car. I say, do whatever floats your boat.

However, the difference between what TJ a.k.a “silentdancer” has accomplished and those who try to imitate the same look is running a meaty tire. He has always run a sticky/wide street tire on all of his wheel setups. You will never see a 205 or 215 in the rear on his car as some people have done (example below).

Especially since most of these low offset setups require a decent amount of camber; the combination means a drastically reduced contact patch when compared to stock. You are hereby degrading not only the performance, but also the function of the car when compared to how it left Honda’s factory. Already known as a tricky little so-and-so in less than ideal conditions, I just don’t think it’s a wise idea on an S2000.

Here’s my idea of a proper setup. 18×10.5/9.5 +30/27 Enkei NT03-M with 255/225’s.

I am not saying to go for a max tire setup with offsets in the 70’s (although those can look sick too), just run at least factory sizing. That’s not really asking a lot considering that the AP1 comes with thin 225/205 tires.

Here is an 18×11 CCW Classic setup with 295/285 tires. It is possible to fit up to a 315 in the rear on a stock body s2000.

What it all comes down to is that perfection is really a bit of everything. Very comparable to women if you think about it. Nice tits, butterface, no ass, no brain? ehh…