First Fun Car!

[joemama]

AWE Touring Exhaust installed last week - took about 2.5 hours (used a lift), pretty straight forward.

OEM exhaust sounds good. But this exhaust is way better and there is little to no drone. It's pretty tame inside the cabin. Only annoying thing is you get a loud change in tone around 2600-2900 RPMs that people on the FL5 forums have talked about. But I'm almost always outside that RPM range so no big deal. Put about 500 miles on it and so far so good!

Best sounding exhaust in my opinion - especially for valveless setup I'm cruising in comfort explicitly now. If you want to piss the neighbors off, just switch to sport+ and you'll get pops and bangs lol.

Not sure why video isn't uploading on here but you can check the sound clip on my IG below.

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[joemama]

Finally got around to installing H&R lowering springs, new tires mounted on set of ZE40s. Stay tuned for new stance/wheels pic! Only PRL RMM, Acuity stage 2 shift kit, and RSplitter's full splitter kit left to install. If I'm not Iazy, hopefully will do it next month lol.

H&R Spring install:

Relatively straight forward, just a pain in the ass maneuvering the strut out. I did not have an issue installing without backing out the axle nut, axle did not pop out during install. I was however an idiot and left the car hanging without a jack or something to support it overnight - continued install the next day to see the axle indeed popped out. Easy enough to slide back in.

ZE40 18 x 9.5 +39, wrapped in Conti DWS06+ 275/35, and ceramic coat:

Went with GTechniq G5 wheel armour. Used 70% IPA and wiped with microfiber to clean the surface. Applying ceramic coating was easy. Letting cure overnight (instructions say 12 hours).

 

[optronix]

Finally got around to installing H&R lowering springs, new tires mounted on set of ZE40s. Stay tuned for new stance/wheels pic! Only PRL RMM, Acuity stage 2 shift kit, and RSplitter's full splitter kit left to install. If I'm not Iazy, hopefully will do it next month lol.

H&R Spring install:

Relatively straight forward, just a pain in the ass maneuvering the strut out. I did not have an issue installing without backing out the axle nut, axle did not pop out during install. I was however an idiot and left the car hanging without a jack or something to support it overnight - continued install the next day to see the axle indeed popped out. Easy enough to slide back in.

ZE40 18 x 9.5 +39, wrapped in Conti DWS06+ 275/35, and ceramic coat:

Went with GTechniq G5 wheel armour. Used 70% IPA and wiped with microfiber to clean the surface. Applying ceramic coating was easy. Letting cure overnight (instructions say 12 hours).

So that van came to your house and mounted the tires on the wheels?

Why tf have I never heard of this type of mobile tire mounting service... could have saved me such a pain in the ass when I was swapping tires every season.

Great wheel choice, excited to see them on the car. Keep us posted if you have any leakage issues; I've seen a few references to that when the axle backs out during spring installs.

 

[joemama]

So that van came to your house and mounted the tires on the wheels?

Why tf have I never heard of this type of mobile tire mounting service... could have saved me such a pain in the ass when I was swapping tires every season.

Great wheel choice, excited to see them on the car. Keep us posted if you have any leakage issues; I've seen a few references to that when the axle backs out during spring installs.

Sure did! Paid 100 over what a regular balance/install would cost at a tire shop but thought it was worth the convenience of transporting everything

Thanks! No leakage issues (as of now). I was nervous about that also but the boot didn't tear and doesn't appear to have any damage... will monitor and keep you posted.

 

[joemama]

Finally got around to installing H&R lowering springs, new tires mounted on set of ZE40s. Stay tuned for new stance/wheels pic! Only PRL RMM, Acuity stage 2 shift kit, and RSplitter's full splitter kit left to install. If I'm not Iazy, hopefully will do it next month lol.

H&R Spring install:

Relatively straight forward, just a pain in the ass maneuvering the strut out. I did not have an issue installing without backing out the axle nut, axle did not pop out during install. I was however an idiot and left the car hanging without a jack or something to support it overnight - continued install the next day to see the axle indeed popped out. Easy enough to slide back in.

ZE40 18 x 9.5 +39, wrapped in Conti DWS06+ 275/35, and ceramic coat:

Went with GTechniq G5 wheel armour. Used 70% IPA and wiped with microfiber to clean the surface. Applying ceramic coating was easy. Letting cure overnight (instructions say 12 hours).

Wheels installed!!! Really happy with the moderate drop and OEM-plus set up. See below for before/after.

Post-wheel/spring install:

Wheel gap and fitment

Before:

After:
Front

Rear

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