Best mod under $500?

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

................... I maintain that it's much safer to explore the car as-is with the inherent understeer. Only after it becomes frustrating for the driver would I recommend easing it into a more balanced state. Understeer really is safer for 99.8% of the drivers out there.

Oh, yes, I agree.

My take is that most drivers, on average twisty roads, are afraid to drive a stock FR-S past ITS 6/10ths mark.

In other words, the drivers 9/10ths ........ is the car's 6/10ths.

So, the best performance mod you can do for $500, is to learn where the car's 9/10ths is. Then your 9/10ths will be at the car's 9/10ths ........ and all it costs you was some time and gas ........


humfrz

[DarkSunrise]

If you want more power, I wouldn't buy anything for $500 or less. If you can double your budget though, go with OFT + OFH. You'll feel the difference and gain about 20 whp.

If you want better handling, tires + front camber bolts are the way to go.

I think you'd have the most fun doing a few track days with that money though.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Oh, yes, I agree.

My take is that most drivers, on average twisty roads, are afraid to drive a stock FR-S past ITS 6/10ths mark.

In other words, the drivers 9/10ths ........ is the car's 6/10ths.

So, the best performance mod you can do for $500, is to learn where the car's 9/10ths is. Then your 9/10ths will be at the car's 9/10ths ........ and all it costs you was some time and gas ........


humfrz

I'll do you one better. I have yet to find a public road twisty enough to legally/safely explore past the car's 6/10ths.

edit: well, I don't know if it's any better. I just think it bears mentioning.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by solidONE

Seeing that the OP has the '15 FRS, hes probably still has plenty of tire left.

This is the order of the first mods I did when I first purchased my 13 FRS, IIRC.

1. AFE drop in filter
2. 1 set of camber bolts
3. a set of RS3 shod RPF1 wheels
4. Catless front pipe
5. OFT
6. Swift sport springs
7. a second set of camber bolts for the front because "hella-camber"
8. track-pipe

You can easily do a set or 2 of camber bolts + alignment, drop in filter, front pipe and/or track-pipe for well under OP's $500 budget. With the left over money he probably can get some decent brake, trans and diff fluids if he does it himself. That would be my suggestion from a "bang-for-buck" perspective.

Come up here and shop car parts please. A track pipe alone is $400+ dollars.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I'll do you one better. I have yet to find a public road twisty enough to legally/safely explore past the car's 6/10ths.

edit: well, I don't know if it's any better. I just think it bears mentioning.

Generally, that would be true, however I've run across a few that come close .....

humfrz

[fumanchu1]

Originally Posted by mav1178

Currently $1CAD buys about $0.76983 worth of USD goods, at a straight exchange rate.

Most banks will add 1-3% to cover their own costs, so you're looking at about a 25% premium in price for purchasing US goods and sent to Canada.

-alex

Thats jsut with conversion, if you add higher taxes, duty fees, higher shipping costs because we're not continental US its much more than a 25% increase.

For example my seibon carbon fiber front lip cost nearly 300 just in shipping and duty, thats on top of the nearly 800 pricetag, the conversion fee and the taxes of nearly 100$

Sent from my SGH-M919V using Tapatalk

[solidONE]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Come up here and shop car parts please. A track pipe alone is $400+ dollars.

$400+ for a track pipe?! Is it titanium, or gold plated? lol

Here's one for little more than $100 Canadian:
http://www.ft86speedfactory.com/priv...w#.VzzqIfkrIdU

Nameless:
http://www.ft86speedfactory.com/name...Q#.VzzqJPkrIdU

If you want one with a fancy tip, by Berk:
https://www.vividracing.com/catalog/...FQmVfgodJrEOQQ

I'm sure if you looked hard enough you can find one even cheaper, or even used.

Here's a front pipe for about $125 Canadian:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mandrel-Fron...FWCihB&vxp=mtr

Even cheaper resonated pipe:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-14-SCION-...BVoVxK&vxp=mtr

After getting either or both you'd still have left over for camber bolts, alignment and a drop in filter, I'd think.

[chaoskaze]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I'll do you one better. I have yet to find a public road twisty enough to legally/safely explore past the car's 6/10ths.

edit: well, I don't know if it's any better. I just think it bears mentioning.

The first half of highway 130 CA between san jose & petterson is pretty fun....

[RichardJ]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

You may be able to get the drop in and pipe for some place around $350 here but that is what I meant about budgeting for mods not modding to a budget. At that point people would be just grasping at straws to find mods they can afford and would be totally disregarding the value of what they are doing.


Now if somebody just wants to nickel and dime their way up so that they can have an impressive list of mods for their Facebook or Instagram account or if they have a long term plan and know what they want but can only afford bits at a time then that is a great way to go about it.


I do not believe that there is a long term plan in place for the OP here and he is just trying to buy random stuff that he can afford. That is NOT the way to mod a car.

Thanks for everybody's input; I didn't expect to get this amount of suggestions. Great community!

I really appreciate the honest feedback. You're right, it's a waste of money trying to mod for the sake of modding. What I intended to draw from using this sum of money for a potential upgrade was to be satisfied with the car a tad bit more than I already am. It isn't like I have lots of track experience like lots of folks on this forum. That is something I will eventually get to. However, alot of people, sometimes even people who aren't into cars, can recognize that this car may lack in power even for daily use. Honestly, I love how this car look and handles. No doubt about that. So I wasn't willing to spend more money on the aesthetics (lips and stuff like that) as I already got the tailight + exhaust component down. So I guess I wanted to know if there was anything else that could potentially change the way the car drives in terms of getting more power. Since going FI is a plan for the far far future 4+ years, I simply wanted to know if I could achieve a noticeable difference whilst staying NA.

Without going FI, I know the difference in power no matter what I do is well within +40hp at the wheels.
But after reading lots of OFT related posts and many reviews, I decided on investing in an OFT tablet myself. Cost me $700, but from the seems of it I deemed it would be a worthwhile upgrade.

Don't worry, I'm under no delusion that a non-FI upgrade will give me significant power gain.
However lots of the handling mods you guys suggested I doubt I'll be able to appreciate the differences it will make right now. I simply am not that good of a driver to understand that you know?
A little but noticeable power related upgrade was what I looked for, and it seems I found it.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far guys, I really appreciate it.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by chaoskaze

The first half of highway 130 CA between san jose & petterson is pretty fun....

How about Patterson ....... for those of you that are looking for a Petterson, CA.........

Yep, that road up to Mt Hamilton saw a lot of my MGB and my motorcycle ...... back in the 60's .......


humfrz

[chaoskaze]

Originally Posted by humfrz

How about Patterson ....... for those of you that are looking for a Petterson, CA.........

Yep, that road up to Mt Hamilton saw a lot of my MGB and my motorcycle ...... back in the 60's .......


humfrz

Hahaha thankss That road is tons of fun.

[daiheadjai]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

So I added up what I know for the shipping you stated, fees, exchange, taxes etc and the $90 each tires would cost me $890 just to get them here. That includes no installation. Even the $260 to ship actually costs $338 with the exchange.


As I said earlier in this thread the $78 rear diffuser I bought from Ebay cost me $260 by the time I received it. My wife almost killed me with it.


You guys think we are joking or exaggerating when we say that things cost more here? You can't make this shit up!!!!!!

Tcoat, I got my diffuser, wheels and tires shipped to CBI USA at Niagara Falls. EBay and Amazon have free US shipping most of the time, and the stuff is usually cheaper even with the exchange rate.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by RichardJ

Thanks for everybody's input; I didn't expect to get this amount of suggestions. Great community!

I really appreciate the honest feedback. You're right, it's a waste of money trying to mod for the sake of modding. What I intended to draw from using this sum of money for a potential upgrade was to be satisfied with the car a tad bit more than I already am. It isn't like I have lots of track experience like lots of folks on this forum. That is something I will eventually get to. However, alot of people, sometimes even people who aren't into cars, can recognize that this car may lack in power even for daily use. Honestly, I love how this car look and handles. No doubt about that. So I wasn't willing to spend more money on the aesthetics (lips and stuff like that) as I already got the tailight + exhaust component down. So I guess I wanted to know if there was anything else that could potentially change the way the car drives in terms of getting more power. Since going FI is a plan for the far far future 4+ years, I simply wanted to know if I could achieve a noticeable difference whilst staying NA.

Without going FI, I know the difference in power no matter what I do is well within +40hp at the wheels.
But after reading lots of OFT related posts and many reviews, I decided on investing in an OFT tablet myself. Cost me $700, but from the seems of it I deemed it would be a worthwhile upgrade.

Don't worry, I'm under no delusion that a non-FI upgrade will give me significant power gain.
However lots of the handling mods you guys suggested I doubt I'll be able to appreciate the differences it will make right now. I simply am not that good of a driver to understand that you know?
A little but noticeable power related upgrade was what I looked for, and it seems I found it.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far guys, I really appreciate it.

LOL wrong guy to talk "lack of power" to! There is way more power then anybody should need for daily driving. You just need to drive it right to use that power. There has not been one single time that I felt I needed more power and rest assured if I felt I did I would have it by now.
Now if somebody wants more power for some reason then that is a different matter.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by daiheadjai

Tcoat, I got my diffuser, wheels and tires shipped to CBI USA at Niagara Falls. EBay and Amazon have free US shipping most of the time, and the stuff is usually cheaper even with the exchange rate.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk

YA if that is an option for people it can work very well. If I order anything else I will just have it shipped to one of our Detroit plants and get it from there. The shipping will be way cheaper and frequently they will not bother to send you in for duty and taxes at the border.