A MINI FR-S Story

[VittorioS]

Let met start of by saying that I bought my FR-S back in February, so this thread is a little delayed. Luckily I documented all my things


One early morning, I decided that I didn't want my MINI Cooper anymore. It was starting to show and let it be known that it is aging. I went to the local Toyota dealer and test drove an FR-S. The steering felt so similar to my MINI that I was sold after one turn.



I ended up with a M/T 2015 Steel FR-S. I told myself that I wouldn't touch the car, not do any modifications of some sort but that didn't last long.




My first changes to the car came about 3 months after getting it. I bought Tein S-Techs with OEM struts from a fellow member and at the same time I bought OZ Formula HLTs. My uncle came through and gave me some free Yokohama S-Drives!



At this point the modding bug kicked in and I ended up buying another member's Valenti tail lights! I installed them in the school parking lot shortly before it started to rain.



As ownership continued, I began to make more subtle changes to how it looks. I ended up putting Toyota badges and a front lip. Also, a sweet surprise from Scion





For a while, I stopped making changes to my car and just enjoyed the fact that I had it. I ended up just going with friends to take photos as this car is very photogenic.





I hit a patch in my life that made me want to do more than just drive a car. I decided to ride motorcycles and with that said, I spent less on the FR-S and sold my E30.



As you can tell, I didn't really make much if any performance modifications to this car. I think my only performance modification is the track pipe I installed. It took about 15minutes but it sure made a difference on hearing the car. I thought it would be unbearably loud, but it's actually quite nice.



I installed mud flaps as driving through the desert meant that I would get rock chips/scratches on my bumper and fenders. I decided to go with red as it complimented my gold wheels and silver paint. I also ended up going back to the OEM tail lights as I felt the Valentis were not bright enough to use safely, maybe it was just me being paranoid...




I will keep updating

__________________________________________________ _____________

10/9/15 Update - New Tires

[VittorioS]

*reserved*

[Packofcrows]

what are those Valenti lights called? They the chrome?

[TimmyC]

My valentis are brighter than stock lol

[VittorioS]

Originally Posted by Packofcrows

what are those Valenti lights called? They the chrome?

They are the clear ones, I'm not sure if there's a specific name.

Originally Posted by TimmyC

My valentis are brighter than stock lol

Maybe lol. I was following my own car and while the brake lights are okay, the signal lights could be reflected better.

[86kahl]

Looks really clean👍🏽👍🏽


Sent from my toolbox

[damnitBobby]

Like the OEM taillights much better. They seem to add more dimension to the rear end.

I like those wheels. They look very OEM-like. Can you share the specs of the wheels and tires?

[VittorioS]

Originally Posted by 86kahl

Looks really clean👍🏽👍🏽


Sent from my toolbox

Thanks man!

Originally Posted by damnitBobby

Like the OEM taillights much better. They seem to add more dimension to the rear end.

I like those wheels. They look very OEM-like. Can you share the specs of the wheels and tires?

I think they have grown on me, although I do plan to get clear TOM's tail lights soon.

Wheels are OZ Racing Formula HLT - 17x9 +38 on 235/45/17s.

[VittorioS]

After installing the mud flaps I realized that my tires were bald; pretty much down to the wire. I thought about buying some performance summer tire but to be realistic I ended up with some Kumho Ecstas.

I had 225/45 that I got for free, now I went up one size wider to 235/45 and it has the more squared look. I wanted 245/40s but it didn't clear the front strut on my car so 235s since I didn't wanna run any spacers.

So far the Kumhos had held up in the rain and canyon driving. I took it off the usual roads to snap some shots.

[JazzleSAURUS]

Do you still have the Valenti's? I might be interested! I would be modifying them with superbright LED's and a potentiometer

Beautiful car by the way.

[Chrisgalactic]

Car looks great ! Good read. Love the wheels! I really liked how the clear valentis look on silver

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900AZ using Tapatalk

[VittorioS]

Finally bought some parts to install! My friends and I all have work and school at 8AM everyday so a lot of the times parts were installed in the dark

On Tuesday, 1/19/16 a new lip was installed on my car. The previous one was damaged from a tire flying into my car on the FWY. RIP.

On Wednesday, 1/20/16 winjet fog lights were installed and wired with the help of a couple friends. It was a lot simpler than I thought, it reminded me of wiring rally lights on my previous MINI.

On Thursday, 1/21/16 I bought one of my friend's coilovers and installed them that night.

Last, on Friday 1/22/16 my friend picked up an exhaust and it ended up on my car.

The STARKE coilovers are pretty decent for what I paid for them. I'm currently fine tuning the setup but for now it is a night and day difference from lowering springs to coilovers.

The exhaust was a Megan Racing NA type prototype. We got a good deal on it so why not and bought that as well. It's loud but not too loud and I'm happy to say that on my cruising speed 65-70mph there is no drone

[ap5512]

Great looking car! What size are the O.Z. Wheels?

[Ap1power]

Any plans on other performance mods to your car? I'm curious to see what direction you plan to take it. Looking forward to any new updates!