If you were to do it all over again...
 

Regarding modifations to your FRS/BRZ and what you have learned... if you were to do it all over again what would you keep and what would you do differently?

I wouldn't have turbo'ed as quickly as I did. Ran into some factory defect issues with cams and oil pressure sensors which required me to uninstall EVERYTHING so the dealer would work on it, then REINSTALL everything after a proper amount of time had passed.


There are growing pains with these cars - teething, if you will. Always allow time to work out the problems before you go and void your warranty.



I wasn't necessarily affected by this, but a lot of people jumped on the intake bandwagon because that is what people do - only to find that the intakes are all pretty much worse than the stock airbox. Don't waste money on an intake - buy a nice K&N drop-in panel filter and call it a day.

I definitely would have gotten my car opti-coated and the x-pel ultimate shield I had put on put on right away instead of balking at the price and waiting around undecided on it for a few months.

My front bumper looked pretty bad in direct sunlight after only four months of use. I was lucky in that I had my front bumper repainted by the dealership that some idiot scraped when they parked my car after bringing it in for its first service.

Same thing with my license plate relocation kit. I didn't want to drill a hole in the tow cap and didn't like the asymmetry at first. Then after having my real plates for two days I got a $80 citation for no front plate while my car was parked downtown. I got the fine reduced by going to court, and I got the GrimmSpeed relocation kit which I really liked almost as soon as I installed it. I just wish I would have done it to begin with instead of letting that happen first and thinking I'd be fine driving around with no front plate in Portland.

Don't think I would loose anything as I'm very happy with all of my modifications right now, but I guess I've only done a handful of them and most are cosmetic.

I wouldn't touch the exhaust again. Everything else went fine

Don't go cheap on suspension.

I wouldn't have purchased the extended warranty. Now since I want to get a tune after I buy exhaust and headers, it seems like throwing money down the drain

2 regrets:
A loud cat back exhaust to start, and after putting headers/FI, the axle back needed to be toned down so I can drive it on the street.

Invidia N1-> Q300, shares the same mid pipe so swapping just the axle back was a breeze.

Should of went for 9.5in width wheel for the rears, its so close to being flush lol.. Not going for the camber look though. I currently have 9in R, 8.5in F.

Everything else I am very satisfied so far!

I would have bought mine in red....

Other than that my mods are all dialed. May add a cat and reaonator in the front pipe.

Would have waited for a monogram :-/

I'm with you on that too. Black is so hard to keep clean, it looked so good in the showroom though.

Which dealership?

It was Beaverton Toyota. From the research I did that is something that has happened a few times there before - I came out to get my car after service and it was forward-parked against a big curb stop with the lower part of the bumper sitting right on the curb stop, and sure enough when I looked at it it was all scraped up.

They paid to have it repainted and I think the job was well done, but I think if I didn't catch it right away and make a big deal about it they might have just denied it - they didn't even want to repaint the whole thing since the scrape was along the bottom, but the assistant service manager Rick made the call to repaint my whole bumper since he knew how much I cared about my car.

I would have put RCE yellow springs on it, an axleback, the supercharger with intercooler, trd quick shifter, clutch pedal height and spring removal, dual catch cans, oil cooler, and diffuser. Everything else I could have used the money to pay off my debt instead of adding to it or bought a motorcycle or save for a future Tesla Model E once it comes out in a few years. I like all my mods, just would like to have the $ back is all.

I've learned a ton about working on my car after all my mods since I did 95% myself.

Yeah, I bit on that too since this was my first new car purchase and I lacked the experience of buying a new vehicle and of course just wanted my car to be safe. Then I spoke with a few people who had purchased it and every single one of them said that it was worthless and a waste of money.

Thankfully I decided to cancel it within the time frame to do so, but they still made it a huge headache for me, charged me a $25 "processing fee", and it still took them close to two months to get everything finalized and settled with it.

I wish I wouldn't have got it in the first place, but I'm also glad I got that experience; needless to say I will never be purchasing any sort of extended warranty again!

I would have got a Monogram in Whiteout. My car is stock still. No regrets. I made those mistakes when the tC came out. This time patience is going to be beneficial.

Would have bought a 2013 Would have gone Premium vs Limited, Used that limited trim money for MORE MODS SOONER! Would have gotten Silver or WRB. DGM is a bird shit magnet.

Go straight FI

Almost same for me. I just figured mods will help with the FI in the future.

I would have surrounded myself in a circle of salt (for protection) and called upon the import gods to deliver to me the sacred wisdom of born-again modding. Only then would the Benjamin's have been wisely apportioned. Alas, time has passed and drifted away. There is no return from the stronghold of forced induction. Only acceptance remains.

Pretty happy with my mods. I would leave everything as is.

I'm probably way outside of the cancellation period but how long was it?

Current mods:

OFT E85 SII
Eibach Pro kit
B8 Struts
Mtec springs
Whitline positive shift kit
Perrin CAI
Strano front sway
FXT oil cooler
RPF1 245/40/17 ZII

I think the only thing I would have done differently would have been to wait longer to mod. Really enjoyed the car in stock form for at least a full year before modding. I don't enjoy the car less than when it was stock, but I'm not sure how much better it's gotten since modding. From a DD standpoint I don't think it's much more in comparison to how much I've spent.

I believe it was only 4 - 6 weeks from when I signed the paperwork :(, and they refunded it by taking that portion off of the back end of my loan.

If you were to do it all over again, I would've left my house a little later so I wouldn't get broadsided by that person who was texting and ran the red light. :*(


EDIT: oh my bad, this has nothing to do with mods. Carry on.

Damn, too bad they won't refund after a year and a half :bonk:

You can get a pro-rated rebate on the remainder of the warranty.

Really? How would i go about doing that?

No extended warranty.
Waited nearly 8 months for the car.
Ordered numerous aftermarket parts for the car.
Have since installed them.
Wouldn't change a thing. NO REGRETS!
Car is phenomenal!
See my 'garage' for specs.

Pete

Honestly, I wouldn't change much. Maybe get the wheels in a lower offset, but all my mods have pretty much done exactly what I expected.

I would have gone Monogram edition, AND i should have gotten my lip/skirts painted with a color that matched instead of the factory paint code, as it doesn't match.

But! Then I also was still in the 2 year grace period of college grad rebate ($1000) at the time of my purchase, and I've gotten to enjoy my problem free (so far) FR-S for the last two years.

Call the customer service number, almost all purchased warranties will do that.

Again, save $$, buy FI kit.