Good question, im not sure. The only way to know would be to try to contact axis styling japan or twpanson. He used to sell the taillights on here (legit ones)

 

Pretty sure my throw out bearing is going bad.

I seriously hate this car.

 

Then Konis and swifts should be good. The swifts themselves feel great however I'd refrain from installing a progress RSB if comfort is your primary concern. It apparently makes the rear much firmer (decent increase in handling) but at the cost of your rear passengers feeling every bump/pothole etc.

 

Shinjari, when are you installing the bilsteins? Fittedonem is selling his just fyi. I want to know what you think of the ride quality and height differences

 

When I can afford them

I have no doubt they will be improved over stock/swifts. I like the ability to get as low as 50mm/2"...but I'll probably not go that low....more like 44mm/1.75" just to eliminate the wheel gap. Also I like that the shocks are NOT adjustable...my @$$ dyno is not good enough to notice those minute difference and despite being an engineer myself...I'm glad another engineer figured out the appropriate configuration for good DD and spirited driving.

They are on my definite "TO DO"...but have some other financial priorities (eliminate some low balance debts) before throwing anymore mod money at the Fit unfortunately.

I also have to do brakes soon (hit 70k miles) and am debating wilwoods or just changing pads/rotors. I don't autocross or anything so I'm uncertain. Also have to see if the wilwoods would clear my gram lights.

 

Haha yeah sometimes life gets in the way of fit stuff lol! I was wanting you to know that a socal member is selling his for around 700 so i figured itd be a good opportunity for you to grab them.

Im continually torn between these and a good bag setup. I dont necessarily need to be slammed, but i want to be lower than my current swifts go(especially in the rear). I am okay with ride comfort on the swifts and i dont want to worry about the problems associated with being extremely low, hence bags. Im thinking of trying the new airdynamiks bags, supposed to ride waaay better than my old air rex did. Now that i have a bBeater, i may just take the risk with bags

 

Hi Shinjari,

If I may know,
What is your engineering major and what field is you in now?
I am a Chemical Engineer by education but currently work in Mechanical Engineering related field .

not to mention my side job as a full time mechanic for my own car

 

^when are you moving north so i can hire you as my cars mechanic???

 

When I can find a better MAIN job (cough salary cough) up North

 

I'm not sure why that would occur? It only acts as a brace for the rear beam AFAIK? The car already does not have independent rear suspension & it doesn't change effective spring rate or impact the dampers?

 

In the Sport model of Honda Fit GE,
the rear axle come with internal rear sway bar to limit the real axle flex because The Rear Axle do FLEX under load,
The Progress RSB limit that flex further thus increasing the effective spring rate even further (limit the downward flex/travel of the part of the axle (base) where the spring mounted when the spring push back on it with it compress)
The Progress RSB on our GE were mounted below the spring mounting plate which move/deflect under load and now that flex is further limited by the Progress.

added:
so when you limit the flex, you also limit the suspension travel (in similar way of increase effective TOTAL Spring Rate), and because of the less suspension travel, it made the ride a bit harsher now, you can really feel the difference.
I was already using Bilstein plus Spoon Front Sway Bar and the addition of Progress increase the rear spring stiffness noticeably.

Here is a link to a post contain my observation right after I install my Progress Rear Sway Bar:
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...ml#post1188534

 

My indicator is always 6.4-7.1. I don't drive that fast :/

 

May as well post up the retrofit I did over the Christmas break. From the Retrofit Source. Morimoto d2s 4.0 with apollo 2 shrouds. lenses are wrapped in Xpel Ultimate ppf.

 

My dashboard MPG calculator never agrees with my hand calculations. Always hi / lo but on average if I consider multiple data points like over one year, the two methods are very close.

 

Found the member you mentioned. PM'd them. I may be able to justify that if its a good deal haha. would be nice to do a partial swap/trade. Instead of having to disassemble/cannibalize the OEM parts to complete/build the bilsteins.

I'm a Mechanical Engineer....working in the mechanical engineering field for the DoD as a contractor. Have met a Chem Eng or two down here in SD...they ended up in management/supervision.

Thoughts on the brakes? New/better pads? Or go Wilwoods? As mentioned....it's my DD and dont autoX. I do some spirited mountain driving when I'm up there but besides taking on-ramps etc at my driving limitations it's pretty casual driving especially with passengers. Just feel the OEM brakes are a bit lacking/soft.

 

Put my new winter tires on. These wheels and tires will serve as winters. Hopefully within the next year or so I can afford a nice summer wheel/tire setup.

But anyways the ride is so much more comfortable with 15's vs 17's. I will never do another set of 17" wheels ever again.

 

Wow, I always want to enter either Aerospace/Defense sector or Robotic Sector... I should take Mechanical Engineering Major 25 years ago but somehow I choose Chemical Engineering

Anyway,
here is my experience with Brakes on Honda Fit,

From the moment I bought my Honda Fit,
I already feel the brake is not strong enough, I mean it can lock up your wheel for sure which is how most people would use as a benchmark for adequate or strong enough brake but...
hmmm how to explain it...
It's like when you have a Jet Fighter forced to use the afterburner all the time to maintain their performance... which mean it's not efficient, it create extra stress and will result in faster wear and tear...
you know, not enough "reserve power".
Compare that to the "supercruise" function of the F22.
and I always plan to have a larger wheel/tire with much better tire compound which will result in better grip so that mean I can have more braking power before the tire lock up...

With that in mind I decide to someday I am going to have a more powerful brake which I eventually did almost 3 years after I bought my Fit

I did change my wheel and tire first though, the extra grip (well much much more grip) compare to the stock tire enable me to brake harder on stock brakes,
which mean I need to replace my OEM brake pads after just 20,000 miles, with a wrapped rotor...
At that point, I still don't have money to complete my front Brembo upgrade so I decide to change the OEM brake pad to EBC Green pads and keep the wrapped rotor but switch the rotor from left side to right side vice versa...
With the EBC, the stock caliper and rotor have a bit more braking power but the EBC only last about 5,000 miles for the first set and I bought my second set of EBC green pads and somehow this one lasted about 10,000 miles or so... still with the same OEM wrapped rotor hahaha ...

so my point is, changing the brake pads with better performing aftermarket pads and rotor can only help so much... if you are driving hard...
it still came down to available surface area of the rotor and brake pads to efficiently convert heat (and cool down again) and also the mass of the rotor to absorb the heat... oh, and not to mention a larger rotor would have more braking torque.

So if I may recommend, it is best to just change to the Wilwood brake kit and choose the larger rotor setup.
If you just change the Caliper to larger Wilwood caliper, it does give you larger brake pads area so more friction and better heat transfer to the rotor, but the rotor which act as the heatsink is still about the same size, so it will not be as effective with larger rotor.

if you just change the pads and rotor, well, it might give you more braking power but it won't last long... something had to give away...
I mean we are still talking about the same IRON rotor material here,
not some exotic carbon rotor or exotic alloy on the rotor,
and the aftermarket pads will have to be more abrasive or softer compound to be able to give you better friction... so either the pads will give up fast (like my EBC green) or the rotor will give up faster...

In the end, to have a better braking performance,
you will need:
a. Larger Tire (wider contact patch and more grip) so you can have higher braking threshold before locking up
b. Larger Caliper (more brake pad surface area)
c. Larger Rotor (better heat capacity and faster heat release / heat sink capability)
d. Better suspension (read firmer and lower suspension) to prevent too much weight transfer to the front while braking and unload the rear resulting in loss braking power from the rear brake...

oh, and another extra advantage is,
The Wilwood Red Caliper and larger rotor will look so sexy behind your wheel spoke
That alone worth the extra effort and money for me

On serious note,
about few weeks after I upgrade my brake to Brembo,
I was forced to brake very hard when a car in front of me on the freeway abruptly change lane and cut me because he is avoiding another car in front of him...
This is I think about 70 to 80mph...
That is a very close call... and I am sure I would not be able to avoid it if I don't have my Brembo brake... (and my larger tire/better suspension)
I am just centimeters away from hitting that car in front of me... that is how close it is...

That is what I think about brake upgrade...

note: if you just want to get rid of the soft brake pedal, that is not hard just get the Goodridge Stainless Steel Braided line,
that help with the softness... when I change to EBC pads, my brake actually got softer... cause the EBC was much softer compound than the OEM which is why they have better performance compare to stock, dust like crazy, last much shorter than stock but able to extend the life of my wrap rotor

 

I got an e-dyno from the tuner! 159 whp 148 tq

Sprintex stock boost 5th injector block off
Ktuner
410cc injectors
3" short ram intake
weld in muffler

 

I'd just change pads/rotors/SS lines. A big braking improvement will require upgrades down the line IMO.

I went to Type-R caliper/mini cooper rotor upgrade with Hawk HPS pads. It overworked the oem tires instantly. That's on koni orange/swift springs.

I ran some star specs and found out the swift springs were too soft for hard braking and rear would get squirrely.

just do pads/rotors/ss lines then toss on some swift springs and call it a day.

 

How was the install? I want to do a retro fit, but the whole process terrifies me.

Had you done a retrofit before?