2013 2.0 Tech PMM Progress Thread: Luxury to VIP

Some shots I enjoy. These are after I tinted the front side windows to match the rears. The place I go to sells tint in a way that makes for all the soccer moms to tint their vans and lifted SUV/trucks. It's a 4, 5 being limo and 0 being no tint.





I'll end this post with the photochops I have done to get some ideas going for myself and others. Keep in mind wheel specs are not exact unless I matched the wheel size up with the stock wheels.

Rotiform BLQ in gunmetal tinted lights and color matched grill.


Lowered, spacers, yellow fogs, black gloss grill.


BBS LMs in gunmetal.


Just lowered.


Volk RE30s in silver.

Then bronze.

Work Emotion kai in white.


BBS Super RS... only ones I've not liked so far. May just be the color.


Work Euroline SL polished.


Work Meisters in gloss black.


Modular VX110 in silver with polished lips.

And the 3 17in wheels I did.

Work Meisters again but with a polished lip.


Desmond Rega Evos in almighty grey.


Polished CCWs. Forgot the face design.

Finally, my first... and to date (7/28/13) only performance mod.

Installing these was a nightmare. Not like either time swapping suspensions on my Integra. The Civics, and I guess the ILX, share an issue with axles that don't like to remain seated. My driver side axle popped out of place during the install which created a horrible sound at low speed driving. Garaged the car over night at my friends house where we were doing the install and had to get a lift to work the next day. After work got back working on my car. Patience got the axle bearing seated properly. There were three bearings so it took a lot of moving around and patience upon patience to get it back in. Did I mention it took a TON of patience? Cause it did.
After that it took some arm strength to get the CV boot back to its proper position and everything was good again.

With the new H&R Springs.

Now it was time for something cosmetic to set me apart.

Enter the STI lip.
I took the front lip from an STI and retrofitted it to my ilx by simply trimming down the back ends to match up with the bumper and redrilled mounting points into the bumper to match with stock mounting points under the bumper. I ended up drilling three screws into the underside of the bumper (on plastic trim areas underneath, no painted surfaces were ruined) just to make sure it wasnt falling off.
In the end I suppose it does slightly act as a splitter and force more air over the hood of the car than previously possible, but I see it as more cosmetic than anything.






Attempted to change my grill up. I didn't like the end results so I took it off.

This is plastidip smoke. So its not completely black but almost there.

Then the first pictures of my Cream plastidipped oem wheels.

I saw a VIP inspired VW in a similar color with cream merc wheels and I loved the contrast so I went for it.
Soon after that before any other shots I took the front plate off.


The wheels are matte so in different lighting they change color drastically.

Found a peacock!

And a smashed Audi.

All while out taking pictures of my car and this was the only decent shot..

I didn't edit it because I wasn't happy with it.

Here we go!


Second one has a chopped background. FarCry anyone?


Fast forward to today. 7/28
The plastidip has been taken off. I messed up one of them on accident and didnt do a great job covering one wheel on the opposite side so I just took all 4 off.
Also had a run in with an officer. Great guy; turned my 20+mph over speeding ticket into a front window tint and no front plate fix-it ticket. So now the front plate is back on.

Only reason I got the ticket was because of the reckless driving. It was a secluded 2 lane road both ways with no traffic or cross streets but I understand. If it was any more dangerous I doubt he would have let me off. Also, he saw my Oak Tree Gun Club rear plate frame. When he asked where the fire was I said "Hopefully not where I'm headed. I'm on my way to Oak Tree Gun Club, they just had a fire last week due to some jerk with a tracer round."
I figure due to my knowledge of recent events at the range and my rear plate he asked if I worked there. I told him I'm the warehouse supervisor at which point any officer immediately tells me what gun he is looking for... he wants an XD-45. I told him if he likes Springfield he should check out the 1911 operators. AWESOME GUNS. He then made small talk with me for about a half hour. In the end, we have 26 precincts that train in our facility. HIS precinct, LAPD, owns a small range on our property. No officer wants to cite someone that MAY OR MAY NOT give them a law enforcement discount on firearms and ammo.

I'll probably take the plate back off and throw the tint back on in a month or two after the ticket is written off. I just need to watch my speeds and take it slow.

I'm going to end this post, the start to my progress/build thread, with a list I have compiled of future mods. The order is pretty specific too. I may throw some suspension upgrades here and there with the motor parts but the cosmetics will be pretty much saved for the end. Anywhere I only have one manufacturer listed I will be doing more research to find other options to compare and contrast. That's the only way to assure you buy quality parts.

Motor:
intake - spectre/blow/aem/injen/fujita/art
downpipe - megan
exhaust - magnaflow custom 2.5-2.75/vibrant/megan to turn down
intake manifold - weaponR
intake revamp - blox/heatwrap/spectre
throttle body and spacer - p2r/maxbore
Then Finally FlashPro! And lots of weight reduction.

Suspension:
wheels tbd
coilover or bags tbd
rear sway bar - eibach/asr
subframe brace - asr/custom
camber kit - asr
rear bracing - cusco/custom
brake kit from a TL

Cosmetic:
white reverse lights and plate lights but I want halogens. LEDs are obnoxious in my opinion
white drls - halogen so i dont lose my high beams
fog bulbs - yellow non hid
debadge maybe
vinyl gloss black roof AND fin
smoked rear lights
full oe kit and new retrofitted front lip
vip parts - jp/dad/custom


The future after my lease will hold an air suspension and turbo set up. It'll always be daily driven but I have been one to enjoy builds where function meets form on a balanced playing ground. So far I have put roughly $200 into performance and roughly $125 including tint into cosmetics so I'm on a good balanced path. It wont be a race car but it wont be a show car. It'll be a blend of both worlds. It'll be what I want and chances are some of you simply wont like it. Constructive criticism is always wanted and appreciated!!

cfrp said:

what wheels do you have in mind?

OEM lip kits are always expensive. But you get good fitment and OEM quality paint. So I guess it's worth it in the end.

Click to expand...

The way I see it, good OEM kits went for $200 with the integra depending on how much the seller felt he could get in their area.
But those are FULL lips, not just corner valances AND they are discontinued products you cant find new anymore. Acura can push out a new ilx front lip whenver they want. Two pieces of plastic both smaller than my forearm is NOT worth $350 before shipping and any installation or even hardware.
Only plus side is the OEM paint job but in the end its a front lip. Its going to get so mangled it wont be OEM paint after a year. The front lip on my ilx is already pretty damn beat up.

Wheels wise Im looking at the Rotiform BLQ and Work Euroline SL. I posted chops for both of those and I recently fell in love with the following wheels.
The rotiforms actually come in 5x114 so they'll be much easier to fit.


Another chop.
3sdm 0.05
EDM wheels so they only come in 5x100 5x112 & 5x120

photochop