So I’ve had my 2015 Fit EX for a little over a year and I’m in love with it.


I was all about Ford, BMW, and Nissan. Hondas were for teenagers to bolt on wings and fart cans. But when the clutch went it in my Mustang I decided to get a new daily so the Mustang could become the project car I had always intended. I went to see my buddy who is a salesman at a Ford dealership and he had a few Fits on the lot they had taken as trade ins. One of them was purple, manual, and they only wanted 8k for it. So I bought it. Didn’t really care. This was just for driving to work. My real car was my Mustang.

It’s been about eighteen months and I still haven’t replaced the clutch in my Mustang. I’ve had so much fun driving the Fit. Now I’m itching for upgrades. I want to keep the fuel economy but improve the handling. I’m thinking lighter wheels, suspension, sway bars and bushings, cat back exhaust, and maybe air intake if it doesn’t touch my mpg. It seems like there are more options for earlier generations than mine, so I’m still trying to sort out what is a solid mod and what is hype. I’m looking forward to researching and getting pointers on this forum!

See ya’ll out there.

 

Unless you want to dramatically lower the car, the HFP suspension package is fantastic. I had aftermarket shocks/springs (koni orange/megan racing) and the HFP sits noticeably higher than those, but corners as flat and fights dive on braking just as well. The only aftermarket shock that's any stiffer than stock seems to be the koni orange from the GE, otherwise you're looking for coilovers. I don't have any experience with those. If you're looking for wider wheels or tires with a more square profile, get some camber bolts when you do the suspension swap. I had mild rub on large bumps and dips but about 2 degrees of negative camber fixed that. Not adjustable from the factory.

The car has understeer from the factory that was enhanced by the crappy tires mine came with, but the Progress rear bar makes it pretty well balanced. Some people here like having a stiffer front bar as well, but it seems like that would just bring back the understeer. I haven't really pushed the limits since switching to some sticky all season performance tires, though. I'm probably more into tire selection than most, I mount and balance my own after spending hours reading Tirerack comparison testing and skidpad/slalom numbers. Saved me from at least one idiot trying to invite me to his crash.

There are two options for rear disc conversion if you're interested, elpapas I think has posted a source from Taiwan a few times, and I went with a kit from fastbrakes here in the US. Not sure how the Taiwan kit handles, but I think the fastbrakes one gives less forward brake bias than stock. Not enough to be locking the rears, but enough to get a little more work out of the rear tires and a little less dive on braking, which is all I wanted. They don't publish any numbers to prove my theory, of course.

Rear disc absolutely not necessary, to be honest, but I like it.

Probably the single most effective mod would be the Progress bar, followed by wheels/tires if you're going to get good tires. If you go with generic round black tires, I think HFP suspension or your choice of lowering spring/konis would be more effective in improving handling. And that's not a criticism of anyone who just gets whatever they have in stock at the tire shop, just my opinion that you won't see anywhere near as much improvement dollar for dollar buying wheels compared to suspension upgrade if you leave the extra tire grip on the table.

 

Wow this is all terrific information! Yeah I’m not worried about lowering. Kind of a pain with speed bumps and potholes on a daily. I don’t think it would benefit much on these slower cars. And I’m not a stance guy, but I do like a clean figment. I heard good things about the progress bar, but you are the first that’s recommended them to me that’s actually got one lol. I think that’s where I’ll start. $200 for more of that sweet but elusive cornering response is a bargain!

What are your wheel dimensions on that setup? I’ve been playing around on tire rack trying to find the biggest that won’t rub. I’m not trying for low profile tires or anything and I don’t want to mess with spacers. I’m just looking for optimizing my contact patch.

I totally agree with you about tires. It came with some nice Sumitomos but I was going to probably try the Michelin sports. I love the Continental pro contacts on my Mustang but they are prone to wall chipping. I’m looking at some enkei wheels that are only 14 pounds but someone told me about some Advans that only weigh 10 and hold up really well.

And yeah, I’ve read a lot about the front sway bar and I agree that it’s probably not going to do much to help.

The rear discs are a lower priority but the drums do bug me. I read that you can do a swap with an integra parking break cable and a bunch of other stuff. Glad to hear there’s a kit and I don’t have to Frankenstein stuff.

Ultimately I plan to solo run this at autocross, first bone stock then again after each stage of modification. Hopefully I should have some good numbers next year to show how much improvement is gained by each mod. Thanks so much for all your great information!

 

I got Enkei RPF1, 16x7, I think the offset is 43mm. I had looked at the 15" for lower weight, but there wasn't as much performance tire selection. I originally ran BF Goodrich Comp2 Sport, which had fantastic grip, but Tirerack testing seemed to show the all season version had the same dry traction and more in the rain, so that's what I'm using now. Very stiff sidewall and square shoulder on both versions, size is 205/50r16.

Seems like there's fewer and fewer options in the smaller sizes lately. Too many new cars come with 18" or larger wheels stock.

 

Yeah the rpf1 is exactly the weight I was looking for. I’ll check out the Goodriches. I know a lot of b spec guys run their stuff but I never have. Thanks so much!