Not necessarily known for doing paint on automobiles, Troy Lee Designs does manage to get a few done. Known mostly for doing some of the world's most creative and stylish helmet painting, TLD got the nod from a select group of aftermarket teams to do some paint and coloring for SEMA vehicles and the rest, as they say, is history. You won't find a vast array of vehicles being pumped from their doors, as that is not TLD's forte, but the few that do come out are quite cool.
This particular 2005 Nissan Titan is actually an in-house design project and was a SEMA centerpiece for Nissan. Kevin William at Troy Lee headed up the project, and the task was to make an eye-catcher out of the fullsize Japanese lines. A drop in suspension height was custom designed from Eibach and brings the hulking mass a little closer to the ground. Twenty-two-inch MOMO Storm wheels received a coat of black on the spokes, adding more dimension to them before being shod in 295/45/ZR22 BFGoodrich g-Force T/As. Binders from Brembo not only add major improvements in braking performance; they also add a pure look of speed with the racy red calipers showing brightly from behind the wheels.
Troy Lee Designs' paint booth cannot accommodate anything bigger than a motorcycle, so a call was made to a friend to borrow a paint booth for a few days. With the Titan safely within the confines of a fullsize paint booth at L&G Enterprises in San Dimas, California, the TLD crew rolled up their sleeves and went to work. Modifications to the Nissan body were few but effective. A one-off intake grille was fashioned into the driver's-side front fender and a metal plate was fabricated to cover the handle's expanse on the tailgate. As well, the upper and lower grilles in the nose of the truck are creative parts not available off any parts store shelf. Satisfied the truck was ready for color, PPG black, silver, and red were tossed onto the Titan's skin in a ferocious tribal layout that is sure to please any viewer.
The interior, not to be outdone, found itself in the middle of some added color. Classic Soft Trim encased the front buckets and rear bench with bright red, luxurious leather. The dash face and center console were coated in PPG red, with both the headliner and carpet changed from gray to black to better contrast the red. With the mods the interior is understated yet effective. Audio Innovations in Glendora, California, received the Nissan in hopes they could add some clearer sound but keep everything stealthy and unobtrusive. Joe and his boys came through with a Rockford Fosgate system capable of being too loud for your ears but not your eyes. A subwoofer enclosure resides under the rear bench and holds two 10-inch Fosgate bumpers. Middle notes and highs are reverberated from the factory door locations by way of Rockford separates. A Rockford Fosgate flip-face head unit is in the factory location and it controls the dual R.F. amplifiers.
With the completed truck in Nissan's hands, it saw spotlight attention at shows such as SEMA, CES, and the L.A. Auto Show. TLD's talented artists paint not too many vehicles, but the ability to cross over to full scale is there. Troy Lee Designs attacks helmet graphics like nobody's business and with the company's painting abilities lent to a much larger truck canvas, its talent only served to further tie-in the aftermarket community.