Hello all!

[AlexN09]

Hey everybody,

I am new to the forums and I wanted to say hello and introduce myself! I joined this forum after buying a new 2011 ocean grey 2.5 S coupe. I looked at cars for a couple of months and decided on this model based on styling, performance vs. fuel economy, and availability of aftermarket parts and culture. After owning this car for a few months I am still VERY happy with it. I have done a few minimal mods, mostly lighting, and I have looked through many topics and I am very impressed with several member vehicles. I have several future modifications in mind, mostly cosmetic, a few performance. Overall I love this vehicle, I am a little disappointed with the low end torque and acceleration which I have assumed is mostly due to the CVT. I love the exterior styling very much and the interior is alright for now.

Here are a few pics of my car now (I'm sure you've all seen one before ...)




Here are some conceptual pictures that I have photoshopped:





So far I have debadged, replaced all interior lights with LEDs and replaced my low beams with some HIDs and currently I'm working on fogs. I want to tint, do some overlays, replace the grill with something.. drop the suspension, then start working on audio.

Thanks for all of your help so far and I will continue to post and update my car here!

[2010alticoupe]

Bro I like the color. I can see it with some flat black wheels and dropped. It would look sick in my opinion.
o yeah, welcome to Nico

[mmkeller]

Welcome to Nico

[AlexN09]

Bro I like the color. I can see it with some flat black wheels and dropped. It would look sick in my opinion.
o yeah, welcome to Nico

I totally agree, I have been thinking maybe some 18" or 19" flat black or like dark gunmetal rims. Idk if eibach is worth it though because it doesn't seem to drop quite low enough.

Thanks for the welcome

[2010alticoupe]

Yeah save up for Coilovers bro.

[AlexM.]

Welcome. Coils

[downedzephyr]

welcome to nico! like everyone else says, dump it!

[mmx23z]

welcome!

so ocean grey's wat their calling it now?

assuming ur gonna drop it 1st... wat other mods do u have in mind???

[elfenlied8]

intake+exhaust right???

[AlexN09]

Okay so obviously the consensus is to drop this sucker low on coilovers. I would guess that everyone would urge everyone else to do this but after seeing prices for this I would never consider it haha Honestly I prefer a reliable ride height where I won't scrape anything ever and a very low price. I don't care much about how low the car is, only the wheel gap actually bothers me. I would assume that a spring kit and 19" rims would look great and suit my needs very well.

I am a full time student and I work full time in the summers only. I have a limited budget that I can spend on this car every year and I want to get the most for my money and do all the mods myself. I really enjoy doing little things like wiring in fog lights or spending long hours trying to get overlays to work and I am always going to be sensitive to the costs of these mods. I will own this car for the next five years or so and I am looking forward to the very long process in which I will transform this car into something a little cooler with every modification.

I have the front bumper finisher pieces coming in the mail for my fog lights and I am having a very hard time deciding what fog lights I want to order. I am tempted to get projectors with halos mostly because I want projector lenses with hid but I am unsure of how these ebay units are wired up, I can't really tell and I have no idea what type of bulb fits in these units. I would be happy with halogens in regular reflectors but I wouldn't be comfortable putting hids in these housings because of glare and crappy look. I want to keep this car classy and elegant and not have glaring blue light pouring out of the bumper. If anybody has experience or knowledge on what the best replacement fogs would be I'd appreciate that.

Thanks for the comments everybody.

[AlexN09]

intake+exhaust right???

In the future yes, I want to replace the intake but I want it to be carb legal and the exhaust would be a big future modification for me and I would also be concerned about 100% legality. I don't want any fines, tickets, wasted money on illegal exhaust mods etc.

[AlexM.]

What you plan on doing with it is cool and I respect it. I just wanted to add that coils are not always "expensive". 19's will definitely help and going with a tire with a large sidewall will help also as long as you like how it looks.

I'm interested to see how your light work comes out. Good luck with the research.

[AlexN09]

Thanks Alex, I really like your new suspension and wheels btw. good work.

I just spent a few minutes playing around with some exterior vinyl and my oem grille and here was the result:


Not sure how much I like it but I think it's better than before. Foglights won't be here until wednesday it looks like.

[AlexM.]

Thanks Alex. What color are those HIDs? Are your fogs gonna match them?

[AlexN09]

They're 6k from ddm tuning, they looked too blue at first but they either burned in or I got used to them. I'm thinking that the fogs are either going to math or be 5k. For some reason I have always like the look of hid lowbeams and slightly more yellow foglights but maybe I'm crazy. I would rather order two sets of 5k hids and do both fogs and low beams the same.

Unfortunately I have to wait for all my parts to come in one at a time before I order the next component because I'm not sure what to get next until I have the part in my hand. Maybe in a couple weeks I'll have fogs installed.

[AlexN09]

Alright the fog light finisher pieces finally came and they look great. Next I have to order my actual fog lights and then I'll be good to go. I have looked at many topics involving foglight installation but I still have questions regarding which lights to choose. There are several on ebay and I really cant decide what would be best. I'm thinking that I'm going to go with projector halos and if I hate the halos I'll just disconnect them. idk yet



part no. left: 62257-ZX10B
part no. right: 62256-ZX10B

[AlexN09]

$6.00 matte black rims lol



One down, three to go...

[mattyfo0z]

Plastidip or paint? If the former, welcome to the club! Hahah..

[AlexN09]

Oh yeah definitely plasti dip : )! I really dig the flat black finish I saw your thread and just wanted to copy you

[mattyfo0z]

Sweet! Glad you like them man. Can't wait for full pics of the whole car now, I know it looks good!

[AlexN09]

Here's one side done.. still have two silver wheels

[J Russ]

Black wheels = You have to drop that sh*t!!! If I ever get black wheels, I'll drop it!! haha looks good though no doubt

[AlexN09]

Hopefully I'm about to get a hold of some eibachs very soon,

[dangeris]

Welcome to NICO!

Car's looking good..now drop it and it'll look really good

[mattyfo0z]

Looks good man! 4x4 status just like me

I'm ordering Teins on Friday though, can't wait!

[AlexN09]

I finished the plastidip process!! For anyone who wants to do this there is a much easier way of going about this than I've seen lots of people do on youtube and what not. There really is no need to tape off your tire at all. Just take the wheel off of the car, clean it very well, removing all oil, and spray directly onto the wheel and the tire. This will ensure 100% visible coverage of the wheel and when it dries you just peel it right off of the tire and it looks great.

Here are the final shots:





And I have got to do something soon about this wheel gap because it drives me crazy



Hopefully getting eibachs real soon

Overall I like the black wheels, I want to tint my front windows to help tie the whole look together and maybe consider some other black elements such as the side-view mirrors

[AlexN09]

Here's a rough photoshop of the car with black side-view mirrors:



I don't think it makes a huge difference and it really looks fine either way, what do you think?

[mattyfo0z]

I think color-matched mirrors look way better, just my opinion. Good job, btw

[AlexN09]

Yeah I was kinda thinking that too, once I tint the front windows as well I think that it will all look better to me.

Thanks, your thread really encouraged me to actually do it.

[mattyfo0z]

Good to hear bud! A friend of mine actually just got a Mustang about a month ago, white with OEM chrome wheels (just like mine).

After seeing my wheels in person, the next day he picked up four cans of Plastidip and painted his wheels too! Hahah... best mod I've done so far!