I want to get some exterior mods for my 1996 Nissan Maxima. I'm a novice at this so I don't really know what to get and whatnot, I know a few minor things but nothing major so any help and suggestions are appreciated. I'm working on modding my interior/exterior so I need suggestions. I was thinking some wheels/rims would be cool, I just don't want to spend like $500 a wheel, that's too much for me. Ideally I would like some shiny/chrome wheels but they're probably too expensive, but if there are some cheap priced ones let me know, otherwise other wheels will do, I just can't stand these crappy plastic hub caps I have now, lol. Not really looking to get a body kit, not yet anyways because that means I would have to get it painted on top of paying $1k+ for the kit alone. Maybe some day though, once I get some money saved up, just dropped $500 for college books for this semester so I'm a little sparse on money at the moment, but I have a part time job making about $350-$400 every 2 weeks so I'll have some saved up soon so go ahead and suggest whatever you want. I might be looking into getting my hood/spoiler repainted because the clearcoat is peeling off them, I don't want to spend $2k for a new paint job of the whole car so I might just get the hood and spoiler done (factory stock spoiler). Right now I have a leather hood bra on to cover the peeling clearcoat on the hood but I don't want that to be a permanent fixture. I thought of getting a carbon fiber hood but I dunno if I like those or not. Anyways, before I ramble more, I would appreciate any exterior mod suggestions you have, and fill me in on how to do them too, because this is new to me. I'm mostly looking for looks/cosmetics and audio (upgrading my system soon) and a little performance, but not all out with the performance just yet. Thanks a lot!

Cheap exterior mods?
Let me think...

-You can do a LED mod for your taillights.
Here are some examples
http://www.retro-solutions.com/product%20photos/LED%20tails/custom/05%20RSX/1small.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/11/web/443000-443999/443899_44_full.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f276/magyver1/P1020541.jpg

A LED mod shouldn't cost more than $75 (even with the best equipment), and in my opinion, looks freakin fantastic for such a low price.

Directions courtesy samnissan2003 @ NissanClub.com
http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/f-q-1993-2001/124857-leds-tail-lights-brakes-side-marker-faq.html

-Look into other lighting mods also, such as sidemarkers.

-You can also remove all your badging for a cleaner look
Instructions courtesy Nismo1997 @ Nissanforums.com
http://www.nissanforums.com/cosmetic-mods/87620-how-remove-all-badging.html

-How about changing your exhaust tips?

Well they don't all have to be cheap exterior mods, I will take suggestions on more expensive ones too, I know wheels are going to be pretty expensive, as well as most performance ones if I decide to do those too. I just mentioned cheap for now because like I said I just spent $500 on college books so I'm a little low on cash at the moment (<$1k) so I'll get it built up over the next few paychecks. So cheap and expensive suggestions are welcomed.

As for the LED taillights, those do look pretty cool, that might be a possibility. I'm not an expert on wiring and stuff though, so it all depends on how hard it is to do that, I'll check out that link

I don't know if I'd like the de-badging, seems to me like it would make it look really plain, but I don't know...

As for changing exhaust tips, I still have the stock exhaust, so nothing really to change, unless I bought a tip and put it on, but I think I want to get a whole exhaust system (cat-back and such) or I would really like to get a dual exhaust system but not sure which is better.

For <$1k, I'd still suggest some lighting mods.

-Try a HID retrofit. Meaning, try to retrofit HID projectors into you current headlight housing. Actually, for less than $1k you can have another, experienced, person retrofit it for you.
But here are some directions none-the-less, courtesy Matt @ TheRetroFitSource.com
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7
Some examples:
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e200/Retrofitsource3/stratusretrofit001.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a28/PhilaPhreak326/hlight.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v129/ScurRT/carsummer017.jpg

-What about window tinting?
-Maybe a new grill?

There aren't many cosmetic mods you can do for less than 1 grand other than lighting. As you already mentioned, bodykits and wheels are too expensive.

Although the HIDs look cool, I'm not really looking to spend that much on headlights you can only see at night. As for the money, I didn't budget myself under $1k, I just said that's all I currently have until I get a few paychecks saved up (I have one for $300+ coming tomorrow) so you can suggest other things. As for wheels, I wanted to get some to replace my crappy looking plastic hub caps, but I didn't really want to spend a fortune on them, are there any decent wheels out there that look cool and don't cost me 6 months pay, lol? And I was thinking maybe an exhaust system, my friend got a dual exhaust system on his firebird and it's pretty cool, and I saw a Maxima like mine in Wal-Mart parking lot tonight that had dual exhausts and I was thinking that was pretty cool, maybe do that instead of getting one nice exhaust upgrade, but you guys probably know more about that then me to know if it's better than one exhaust or not, also not sure how expensive it is, if it's more expensive than upgrading my one I have now or not. Also I saw this one eBay if I would get a dual exhaust system (or even keep my single one) http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Nissan-Maxima-Dual-Exhaust-Pipe-Flame-Thrower_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ42610QQihZ001QQ itemZ110019587296QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V
Now would that be something that would look cool or is it a stupid ripoff thing? Seems like it would waste a good bit of gas, and at $3/gallon that's not really what I want to do, but it seems cool if it would work like it looks.

And I plan on getting my windows tinted as soon as I get ahold of some shops around here and see what they're prices are and such, so that will be in the near future.

Grill doesn't seem like a bad idea, I saw a couple people with mesh ones that looked decent, what kind of grills are there available and what's the best one to get?

Also if I went with a dual exhaust system, would it be better to just get a single muffler on each exhaust, or could I get 2 dual mufflers and make it a quad muffler type system, with each muffler having 2 pipes coming out of it, making 4 total. Not sure which would be better or if they would be the same, but I just was thinking about it and that seemed like it would look pretty cool with 4 exhaust tips on the back of my car.

Like this but obviously not a Vette, it would be on my Maxima.
http://www.westcoastcorvette.com/images_old/parts/thumbs/olipticalthn.jpg