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January of 2016 found a local Craigslist ad for Rota Circuit 10s 16x6.5 which is crazy because I had been lusting over anything Mugen. Especially thebronze Mugen Mf10s.
After complaining about the hard arm rests on my bony elbows fellow Fitfreaker MrDucky sold me these JDM soft touch arm rests. Such a huge improvement.
These are more recent photos. A month ago the hood got demolished by a falling branch:
It made me realize that time is fleeting and I should enjoy the time I had with the car. So, after the $500 deductible and one week in the body shop I got her back and ordered the Swift Springs I had wanted since before they came out for the GK5
This shows the Swift Springs I got from kamispeed.com on new tires. After a fair amount of research I went with General AS-05 205/50 16. I had the Swifts on the stock factory tires for a week and I have to say the ride was pretty bouncy. I am right at 24k miles and the tires were pretty ragged. I cannot even begin to describe how nice the ride is now. It was like they brought around a different car from after the tire install. I could tell the difference in ride the second I took my foot off the brake. The car just felt sure footed. This is due in part to the difference in ragged and brand new tires of course, but the bounciness and noise was gone as well. Really looking forward to driving it more.
Curious as to where to source out that padded arm rest.
I'm trying to find them again. I saw them once on something like Rakuten.com, Croooober.com, or Minkara.carview.co.jp, but I'm not seeing them. That was a year or two ago however. Fitfreak user MrDucky was just altruistic enough to see me complain about it in some thread and sell them to me. He put them up on eBay, so maybe another set will find its way there.
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The ride is a helluva lot different. I would like to get the Progress rear sway bar, but that is at the bottom of the list. I'm really happy with how it feels now. Even happier with how it looks. Its amazing what dropping it that little bit did to the look of the car.
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I ordered these from UA Garage in Malaysia on Facebook. They were very responsive and quick to mail out the side mirrors. They are cheap knock offs. One is a little greyer than the other. Fitment is not great. But it gives the slimmed down look I am going for without the $800+ Spoon price tag. Here is how I put them on:
- Using a tool, gently pry up the window/ locks shroud from that corner (I just tape up a flat head, one to slip it in between easier and two to protect from dings):
-I don't have an image for it, but the plastic door cover needs to come off. There is a youtube video on this. Two screws are very easily removed, one from in the door handle well and one under the window button shroud you just removed. Then starting in the corner by the rear view mirror quickly pull toward yourself to pop off the plastic door panel.
-Next you will need to gently pop off the two rounded rubber covers. They hide the nuts you need to remove. You also need to disconnect the two electronic ports. One that controls the mirror (easy to disconnect), and one larger one for windows and locks I believe. This damn piece was the hardest thing in the whole process. It has delicate metal leads that mate with the female part and I didn't want to damage it. You can see it dangling in the bottom left corner of this image. I finally just worked it out. Also notice that you will need to guide the electrical cord that connects to the mirror down into that white insulation. It will easily pull out as you remove the nuts on the bolts. (See below)
Here are the knock offs:
This shows the 10mm nuts you need to remove. It would be a benefit to have a magnetized wrench and not drop anything down into the metal door cavity. The vapor barrier has a really nasty oily black tar like glue that holds it. You can remove that button and peel back the plastic to reveal the inside of the cavity. Remember to hold on to the mirror as you are removing the final nut, it is mostly held by the 3 pronged bolts, but I wasn't taking any chances. Remember to thread the mirror's elec cord down back into the white insulation it is coming thru. It will pull out as you dislodge the mirror unit from the body of the car once all nuts are removed.
I need to get some better photos of the final look and clean up the gunk from the outline of the oem mirrors.
Hey, your Fit is looking great ! I’ve seen you around way back, curiously asking about mods on some threads, so it’s nice to see you finally doing some work on your Fit. Keeping it clean, functional and tasteful thus far, I like it - solid classic wheel design, always loved those mirrors, and very cool unique arm rest mod.
Regarding the arm rest for the rest of the guys here, I believe this is what you’re all looking for:
I’ve purchased from this Yahoo Japan shop (Desir De Vivre) before, so it’s legit. Unfortunately, it requires a freight-forwarding service from Japan, so it depends on how much you’re willing to spend. Alternatively, I think you could give JDM Yamato a shout if they could source it for you (recently made two purchases, one being quite significant) - excellent service, tons of OEM Fit parts in stock. Lastly, there is always RHD Japan’s OEM Store.
07-02-2019, 08:32 PM
![[LegenD]'s Avatar](https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/customavatars/avatar86137_1.gif){kind=avatar}
! I’ve seen you around way back, curiously asking about mods on some threads, so it’s nice to see you finally doing some work on your Fit. Keeping it clean, functional and tasteful thus far, I like it - solid classic wheel design, always loved those mirrors, and very cool unique arm rest mod.