Greetings all!

I am about to join the club with a 2013 Vortex Blue Pearl Fit base model manual transmission. The car is going to be a daily driver in Harrisburg, PA for at least the next year, thus the base model. The lower front bumper on the sport would be scraped to hell within the first week and the alloy wheels would have a decent chance of getting stolen on the occasions where I have to park on the street. Thus, I'm looking to make a few practical modifications.

Round One (upon delivery):

OEM Window Visors - Practical and I like the look. I almost went with the Mugen visors but I thought they would clash with the clean look with minimal benefit.

OEM Interior Lighting - From my research it's not too ricey, and a little extra light never hurts.

Round Two (upon delivery or first week):

Mugen Shift Knob - My highest priorities are the driver interface components, since I'll be using them constantly every time I drive the car. I like to keep my mods as close to OEM as possible, and Mugen/Spoon is about as close as you can get, so I'm OK with paying the premium over another similar shift knob.

Mugen Sport Pedals - Driver interface again, and I think they look / will feel nicer than the stock pedals in the sport, as well as the extra Mugen flair.

Round Three (once I wear out the stock Dunlops):

Snow tires on stock steel wheels - I plan to use the stock 15" (correct me if I'm wrong please) steel wheels as a winter setup with Blizzaks or another snow tire, I'm open to recommendations. I think the narrower width of the steel wheels will actually be an advantage in the snow.

Light weight 15" or 16" alloy wheels w/ performance tires - I'm a firm believer that the best upgrade you can do to just about any car is tires. With a dedicated winter setup I'll have the freedom to get some UHP summer tires. I'm pretty partial to Falken Ziex, but I'm open to recommendations. This is purely for street use for the foreseeable future, so I'm looking for practical, sub $100 tires.

As far as wheels go, my primary concerns are weight first, and contact patch second. I don't plan on lowering the car at all, so I'm probably looking for something close to the 16x7 wheels from the Sport package, perhaps 15x7 for the lighter weight. I'm only open to black, grey/gunmetal, or a dark bronze wheel. I prefer a classic look like the typical BBS double spoke design or thicker spoke like the Spoon SW388, probably my favorite wheel of all time, aka Rota Slipstream.

Current favorites (please correct me on weights, these are from Google, not a scale):

Buddy Club P1s - FORGED? good price, good reputation, light weight - 11.1 lbs for 16x7

Rota Slipstreams/C10s/Grid - CAST - looking for negative feedback beyond "they're not Mugen", ~13.5 lbs for 16x7 Slipstream, similar for others

Volk TE37 - FORGED - thicker spoke design like the SW388/Slipstream, but six spokes. Not my favorite, but lightweight and decently priced. 11.2lbs for 16x7

Konig Helium / Volk CE28N - any real difference between the two? I think they're both 8 spoke in the 4 lug models. I know Rays/Volk is the originator, but I'm pretty sure Konig is a quality brand.

OZ Superleggra - I think these are out of my price range, but the 17s in this post look awesome! https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/1178019-post164.html

Hopefully that gives you an idea of the styles I like, I'm open to suggestions under 14lbs!

I'd also like some feedback on ideal offset/tire size for a 15x7 and/or 16x7 wheel on stock suspension. I'm sure I can search but if anyone has firsthand experience please let me know!

Round Four (when I have the time/money)

???

Looking for suggestions for practical mods / tasteful cosmetic mods.

I'll probably tweak the badging with red emblems and maybe the JDM Fit emblem with the red "i". I considered the Mugen grille, but it's too pricey and I actually like the stock grille a lot.

Intake/Exhaust or light suspension mods are next on the list, but seem like a waste on a daily driver that I'll rarely if ever drive at 9/10ths+, especially since the car will be under warranty for a while.

Any other suggestions? Headlights seem practical, but I'll switch to SilverStars once the stock bulbs burn out and see if I need anything more than that.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

 

Howdy there.

This thread contains some useful information about DIY's to do: https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...s-top-ten.html (Good reference for pictures for mods. There's hundreds available though, so I'd take a look around )

I would personally at least try and do the lower grille protection for the air condenser. I did so after hearing the horror stories. Worth not having to worry about rocks. (Fog light protection is worth a look too.)

If your looking to change the interface components, as you said, they affect you most, seat covers may be a good investment. A lot of members have the Clazzio's and only have positive things to say. Dependent on personal taste, floor liners are a good investment.

I'm not so familiar with tires/off-sets yet. Somebody else may be able to assist better with that.

 

Thanks for the quick response! The lower grille is actually one of the only areas on the car that I think needs improvement visually, and the fact that it's a practical improvement pushes it over the top!

I'm going to hit Home Depot/Lowes/hardware stores/etc to see if I can find a more "honeycomb" style mesh to match the upper grille, like this, but ideally cheaper ($45!?!)

Universal Aluminum Honeycomb Style Mesh 48" x 16" - Black

If anyone has found anything like this please let me know!

The U-Ace floor liners look awesome too! I toyed around with the idea of buying the Mugen mats, but there doesn't seem to be much going for them aside from the logo, and I usually pull the floor mats from the driver seat at least, since most OEM mats (90s Hondas at least) slide around a ton, which is extra dangerous driving stick.

Thanks again for the feedback, that whole thread is giving me awesome ideas! Most other forums people would have just said "SEARCH" instead of linking the sticky for myself and future n00bs =)

 

There is a black mesh gutter guard I had picked up at Lowes for $5 or so for like 50 foot of it. However, it was very soft and flexible, not want I was looking for. Someone had pointed out that Home Depot has single strips of steel (probably not actually steel, something metal ) but it wasn't near as flexible. I removed the clips, and threw it on. It's a lot more sturdy and heavy duty.

I think it's similar to this; Amerimax Home Products 6 in. x 36 in. Hinged Gutter Guard Unpainted-85280 at The Home Depot

 

Bam, my google-fu is strong, getting a term like "Gutter Guard" will get me pretty far. I'll post up my finds once I settle on something! Thanks again!

 

My replies in bold.

 

For some reason I thought the Ziex fell into the HP/UHP category as far as manufacturer rating goes. I'll have to do some reading, though I've liked the 512s and 912s I've owned as far as daily driving goes. It does rain here so I have to balance dry grip and wet performance. Any recommendations of a good summer tire that doesn't suck in the rain in the $100/tire range?

Thanks for the correction, don't know where I read 16x7 for the stock wheels.

Should have said SW388, the design is just more associated with the Slipstream name in my mind.

Any knock on the Buddy Clubs beyond not being forged? Appreciate the correction though.

388/Slipstream are similar visually (should be, Slipstreams are replicas), I'm just talking about looks here.

True on Volk pricing, I was just looking at different wheel designs at that point, didn't check the pricing.

Konigs are crap heard, don't know where I got the idea they were a quality manufacturer. Can anyone else confirm or deny this? What about Motegi? I thought they were on par with Konig, but that may mean they're no good either.

Wow, no MPG improvements w/ intake or exhaust? I guess that's more dependent on the ECU than anything else these days.

Yeah, suspension is good when done right. So is spaghetti. Any suggestions for either?

 

How about the ol' magnetic drain plug? I'm not really interested in any flame wars on weather they work or not, seems like a mod that can't hurt other than the few bucks it costs.

Any recommended sources? Seems like the OEM part is: 90009-PY3-000 BOLT, DRAIN PLUG (14MM). Last I ordered one of these (jeez, 5+ years since I last had a honda) it was more of a generic part type where you specified the make and bolt size as opposed to specific year and model, probably varies by retailer though.

 

No idea, I can't imagine it would hurt, but I wouldn't bother on anything outside a high buck engine build.

Swift springs for now, Koni Orange once the stock OE shocks are worn out.

 

Ah, excellent, glad to have a recommendation for the OEM shocks. I assume that'll have to wait until I'm out of warranty though.

 

The Swifts will work well with the OE dampers and shouldn't shorten their life any, the Orange will just make the Swift's positives shine even brighter.

 

Yep yep, I'm of the opinion that Koni is the gold standard. They make a lot of OEM dampers, no?

 

Yes, along with Formula 1 and other premier racing series.

 

Yep, only real competitor is Tokico as far as I'm concerned, and it looks like they only make dampers for the GD.