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Acura Integra GSR Customizing and Modifying
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'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Given the fact that this air would leak thru the BPV from the engine compartment, one could conclude that this air would be hot, thus reducing the CAI effect.
If the BPV gives you peace of mind, then it's good that you have it. Personally, I'm more converned about sucking grit into my engine than worrying about hydrolocking it. The trick is to not drive thru standing water that is higher than the centerline of your front wheels.
Read the last 8-10 posts. This guy also claims that he's tuned B18C5s and has built Honda racecars, but his profile says he's building an old RX7. He 's clearly a Honda hater or anti-Honda person.
Anyway, I let him have it the last 2-3 posts after he called me a liar and that I 'm full of it. I think they might remove some posts or lock it up tonight as it's getting heated. This guy wouldn't believe that I beat all the Type-Rs in a NASA event a few weeks ago so I gave him the link. Then he doesn't believe my CAI hp gains and asked me for the dyno. Then he says TRD Celicas and MR2s can outhandle anything.. even Z06s (the Z06s I 've seen with just Konis, handle awesomely and almost like gokarts). I was getting annoyed and told him off. I thought you guys might want to read some of those posts.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
A Visit from Racer Nicholas
'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the valley,
Not a sports car was stirring, not even a Ferrari.
The stockings were hung on the garage door with care,
In hopes that Hot Nick soon would be there.
The kiddies were nestled all snug in their beds,
While Integras and Bimmers raced in their heads;
Mom in her goggles and I in my helmet,
laid there in bed cuddled together..
When out on the road there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Expecting to see an NSX roar by,
We raced to the window, my dear wife and I.
The moon on the chrome of her baby 3000,
Gave the brightness of midday to objects around it.
When what should my wondering eyes betray,
But eight hatchback Civics, pulling a sleigh.
With a small hero driver so steady and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be Hot Nick!
More rapid than an S2000 his little fleet came,
And he poured on the Nitrus as he called them by name.
Now K&N, now TODA, Apexi and Spoon,
On VTEC, on DOHC, Koni and June.
To the top of the turn, keep away from the wall,
Now dash away, dig out, and downshift all!"
Like autocrossers fighting a slalom,
They broadslid the driveway and gave it some throttle;
Up to the garage where they ABS'd to a stop,
The sleigh full of goodies with Santa on top.
The sleigh was aluminum - Mugen design;
In Honda Racing Green, it really looked fine.
The Honda badge up front stood out clear and bold,
The collection of race stickers, a sight to behold.
He was dressed up all in Italian Race Red,
From the tip of his toes to top of his head;
A bundle of speed parts he had on his back,
And he chuckled with glee as he opened his pack.
His eyes, how they sparkled, like a Volk Racing wheel,
His beard was the silver of machine-tooled steel;
With a little round face and a chubby waist line
That shook when he laughed like that Nissan of mine.
He started his task without saying a word,
The idling exhausts were all that was heard.
Wire wheels for Junior, to fit his toy Capri,
polyurethane bushings for my Acura and me.
Some paint for the Integra, marked "championship white",
and GC coilovers to adjust the height.
The last thing he left was the best that could be,
A JR Supercharger for my Honda and me.
He jumped to the sleigh and gave his commands,
Then away they all flew like we do for Topeka or Le Mans,
And I heard him exclaim as he quickened the pace,
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good race!
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
btw, nice job on the poem. :thumbup:
sway bars were my next project too, but may have to sneak in new tires first since i'm still riding on stocks. what could would a beefier sway bar be if my tires are crap. please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong (sway bar first before tires).
as for that guy in that other forum, we all know that no matter what he says, no one will end up trading our cars in for whatever he thinks is better anyway.
A day or 2 after I upgraded the rear sway bar, I was keeping up with a Honda motorcycle on the freeway doing 120-130mph (I know stupid - haven't done that in a couple of years) with the stock Michelins. The car was just flatter on the highway turns and when changing lanes while going fast, so it gave me much more confidence and the stockers actually performed well at those speeds. Before the sway bar, I was afraid to go over 100mph unless it was in a straight line.
Getting some good 205-50 summer tires will also give you the same results or better. Doing both will really impress you. Don't wait. You 're missing out on some really fun driving.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Anyway, the course layout was a 180 degree skid pad, then to a 6-cone slalom, then a 180 degree sweeping right turn going into a set of offset gates, a tight pivot, then back through the gates. From there, there are three more offset gates, then a tight left into a three-cone slalom, and then a set of two offset gates, a four cone slalom, and then three offset gates, then the finish of the course, but then there was a box that you had to stop in, or else you gained time.
So, I went with instructors for my first 4 runs. My first run was pretty good, and after the first slalom, I turned into the sweeper and I lifted the throttle and started to fishtail like a mofo. Then, after the pivot and slalom, I demolished two cones going into the three cone slalom. 86 seconds
The next run was better because I stayed on the throttle and didn't fishtail going into the sweeper, but I did hit the two cones again. 72 seconds
The third one was pretty cool. Coming out of the first slalom, I got on the throttle again, but started to skid ALOT, so I got off, and then spun out ^_^ It was fun, but I freaked out because I couldn't get the car started again, but eventually it did. 98 seconds
My fourth run was the best. I went through the course flawlessly, but I wasn't going that fast. Oh well. 75 seconds
My fifth run felt like the fastest, but it wasn't. I went through with tires screetching and I burned the inside front tire through every turn.
All in all, I had a blast. It was so much fun. I'm probably going to go to the next race this weekend. I can't wait ^_^ Oh yeah, out of the 9 novices, I placed 6th. I beat a wrx, an rx7, and an Altima.
I guess driving my wife's new BMW has made the Integra's handling more noticeable. (Yeah, the Integra is hers, too).
The one I have now seems to be the most prevelant and that most are using. It's made by Comptech and it's 22mm. It also comes with a rear lower tie bar that serves as subframe reinforcement so the bigger bar doesn't rip the subframe. Go to www.comptechusa.com for prices. You can get their parts for about 10-15% cheaper from other vendors which are actually a little hard to find. The Neuspeed bar is also as expensive as Comptech because they 've improved it and have gone with some expensive metal, etc. but with Comptech you get more for your money and really good quality stuff too.
The cheapest way is to buy a Type-R sway bar and special kit (reinforcment kit for your subframe) from BSQ. Casey would have his e-mail and details how to buy his kit which I think runs for $30-35. So all in all the Type-R solution is about 1/2 the price of the Comptech one, but you don't have the billet aluminum lower tie bar which connects the rear lower control arms together and gives you greater stiffness (that comes with the Comptech sway bar).
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I got killed Sunday in DSP by the same usual GSR that has about $4K more stuff in it than my car. Over a whole second too, which would 've bothered me a little a couple of months ago but not anymore. I just have fun and have accepted the fact that I will not spend $3-4K on my GSR just to get a $2 mug or some other cheap trophy or for the satisfaction of beating someone. I 'm done modding the car and I 'm trying to buy my brother's Type-R right now to race in DS.
That guy with the well modded GSR just got his Konis revalved to match his 525lb GCs and he said that made a huge difference. He noticed the improvement right away and said he couldn't be happier with the handling. He came very close to Pat Salerno's times (2 time National Champ, won ES this year)
If I can't get my brother's Type-R, then the first (and hopefully the last) thing I 'll do is get my Konis revalved before the next season.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Oh yeah, the all-season 16" tires from the WRX. How are they? I can get some for free, so that's why I'm asking.
Final question. For your autocrosses, how much is it and how many runs do you usually get? The one I just went to was $35 for 4 runs, but we got 5 runs and, afterwards, 1 free run. Oh, during the free runs, a Z06 bit the dust and ran into a fence post and got stuck =| That was the worst thing to happen during the day.
If they're free, what the heck -- take 'em. Maybe you can sell them to someone or trade them for some better rubber.
But enough is enough. When is Bridgestone going to decomission this tire that came out in the '80's? I 'm sure it costs very little to make it which is why all the car manufacturers are buying them and saving millions.. They are the only ones buying this tire. The Dunlop D60 A2 (HR rated) killed the RE92 private sales in the early-mid '90s when tirerack and other mags kept voting the D60A2 the best all season HR tire for a few years in a row.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Probably I should start doing some autocross stuff like you guys do to take "IT" out of the system!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Btw RE730's are superb..the only mod i have done so far to my 99 GSR sedan.
A question of mine now. Should I go to the next local autox or save my money and go to a car clinic in 2 months? The autocross is $50 for maybe 10 minutes of track time, while the car clinic is $150 for a few hours of track time with an instructor. Thanks.
First time by unmarked trooper car. Second time by a cop who didn't have anything better to do ...(visiting a new place and driving back to my hotel...going downhill in a curvy road allegdly doing 45 in a 35 zone!!!!) He let me go when I said I was using cruise control....Looks like its a favourte place for the local cops to catch tourists. I think both these could have been avoided if I had a good detector.
Keep in mind that traffic cops are creatures of habit. If they find a good spot to nab speeders, they tend to stay with it, making their efforts somewhat predictable to someone who knows where to look for 'em. I've learned that if you see a cop tucked away off the shoulder, you should expect to see him/her there everytime you drive that stretch of road, and drive accordingly.
garados -- that sounds like a fair price for your tires. If you aren't already getting it, ask if they'll throw in lifetime balancing for $10 extra per tire.
So you 're going to stick with the 16" wheels for auto-x? Don't you have a set of 15"?
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Looks like my brother is going to hold off on selling his Type-R till next year. I think I 'll look for some used 13x8" or 14x8" and get some 225 or 235 Kumhos like my most of my competition has..
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
He has a 1999 Volvo S70 (non-turbo) that has held up pretty well. He also has a 1999 Ford Escort for a company car which he is being given the chance to buy for $3,500. It is an SE model with 74,000 miles. Edmunds says that the trade-in value is around $3,200. He fortunately was the first person to get a hold of this car upon being added to their company's fleet so he has taken care of it (so he says) from the beginning.
My suggestion was for him to grab it at that price, then trade it in for either an older Civic or Accord. Though he may finance another $2-3k on top of the trade he'll have, I'm pretty sure that an older Honda will last longer than his Escort. My mom still has his '88 Civic with 125k miles and still keeps on ticking. He does know about Honda's reliability, however does not also want to be in debt too long as he is close to retiring.
Do you guys think that he'll be ok with his Volvo and Escort or should he grab a more reliable Honda for longer-term peace of mind? Sorry about going off topic with this.....
Like you said he 'd have to spend at least another $2-3K to get a Honda with only around 100k.
A co-worker just traded in his '95 Accord with 120k mi. for a new CRV. He got $4500 from the dealer because it was in pretty good shape and clean. That dealer I 'm sure will ask at least $6K for it, or whoever buys it at the auction and resells it.
My advice is to buy the Escort and keep it for a couple of years. $3500 is a very good deal and 74,000 mi. is not a lot for an Escort. I 've actually been impressed with some Escorts I 've seen lately at the auto-x events. They 're early & mid-90's Escorts with 150k+ mi. and have been raced for 2-3 seasons and they 're still kicking. One has 180k mi. on it and the guy races it at many different clubs.
So if I were him I 'd buy it and keep it for a few years. You really can't find a car out there with 74k mi for $3500.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Anyway, the guy that bought it from me, put some coilover springs, Koni shocks, a rear sway bar, and a roll cage in it and kept it for 8-9mos. Just FYI, he won his class at NASA several times with my (ex) Civic. He sold it for $4200 to another aquintance of mine. This other guy now put some Civic Si rims on it, GSR brakes in the front, and a race steering wheel (I guess some people don't like the protection of air bags) and kept it for about 4-5 mos. He just sold it a few days ago for exactly $5K and about 150k mi. on it. I saw it 2 weeks ago when he came to a NASA event to watch and was asking me if I knew any prospective buyers. The car still had the same dent & scratch all along the passenger side.
They say mods don't increase the price of your car but it doesn't seem true in this case. I know I could 've gotten around $4K for it when I sold it but I wanted to sell it fast. Still $5K over a year later is pretty good I think. Both of those people almost got most of their money back they put into mods..
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Enough of Ford talk. Back to the GSR. Tried to get my oil changed last July with only 1,000 miles used since the last oil change. Service tech told me that there is no need still even if I approached the 3 month mark and that I should follow the mileage marker (3000 mi.) more. Since I gotta do a 7,500 mile checkup soon (wherein the oil and filter gets changed too), is it ok to wait for my mileage to reach 7,500 (5 mos. may have gone by by then) and get the oil changed? I will still be below the 3000 mile point, but have gone over the 3 month mark. Average about 20 miles a day, 3/4 times a week, mostly on side streets. On weekends I do go on the highways for a good 50 miles and get to exercise the VTEC mode.
Your motor is pretty new and much less abused than mine, so I 'm sure the oil won't turn pretty dark after 4mos, but you should change it after the 4th month is completed, at least now that it's still new. I don't go passed 4mos anymore. Don't listen to anyone but Integra owners when it comes to stuff like this. Most mechanics don't own Integras and don't get to see what the oil looks like at 1k, 2k, 3k, 4k mi, or after 5mos, or what the mileage is like after several mos without an oil change, etc.
My GSR just turned 31k mi. and it's already burning 1/2 Qt. every 2500 mi. I noticed oil consuption when the car had about 25k mi. on it. That's normal for Integras from what other Integra owners tell me, plus I race a lot where the motor sees much redlining and high RPMs.
Bottom line, DO NOT wait till 7500 mi. and do NOT wait another 5mos to change the oil. This is the most important thing you can do for your car. $20-25 every 3-4mos is nothing to keep your car running in top shape.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
they also for some reason fill it up over the upper mark (about 1/4 inch over). is this acceptable? i put the dipstick all the way in when checking the level. is this the correct way to check? think i've asked them once to remove some (though they claimed it was fine). then on my last visit (july) the filled it up the same way again.
Since I have to change the air filter, is it a good idea to go with a dropin K&N filter?
(U2820??)
I noticed the same thing as you when I got my first oil change and told the shop exactly how many Qts to put in according to the manual. I checked the oil level and it was high. After a couple more oil changes I realized that the FULL mark on the dipstick only represents about 3.8-3.9 qts. So when you put the proper amount of oil which is over 4qts it's always going to show over the full mark.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I 've changed the brake fluid, Manual Trans. Fluid (MTF) & radiator fluid, etc. Of course I don't have to change my air filter because I have a CAI with a K&B cone filter which I clean my self.
The only thing I haven't done is the valve cover gasket which I won't do that unless I develop a leak. Most dealers don't do this at 30k mi. but sometimes they 'll charge you for it without having done any work. Make sure you don't get ripped off. Put a piece of tape on the back of the valve cover gasket so it's not visible from the front. Place it so it goes over the valve cover and the head (so it crosses the gasket). Do this when the engine is not too hot or after you get to the dealer, or if the dealer is not too far, do it just before you go there. Always ask for the old parts back. Tell them you want them as spares in case something happens.
If I were you I 'd call that shop and ask them how much it 'd be if they didn't do the valve cover gasket. It should be at least $50 less (more if they were going to install new O rings).
So it looks like they 're doing a brake fluid job ($80-100), tranny fluid ($40-45) and oil change ($20-25). These 3 should cost you around $170 in the worst case. You can call the dealer and see how much they charge for the 3 services above and compare the price the other shop is giving you.
It doesn't really matter what filter you go with. The K&N drop-in will not really give you any power gains though.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Harry, for 30K service anyway I will have to change the air filter. Probably I should go for an AEM? I might get some discount also from the mechanic on the 30 K service if I don't want to change the air filter
They also sell the short AEM intake whose K&N filter is inside the engine bay. Those go for around $110-120 I believe. The power gains are a lot less because it takes in warmer air, but you 'll have peace of mind if it rains a lot where you live. I have the AEM Cold Air Intake (CAI) because I only drive the car on the weekends and to the racing events, but many drive their Integras daily with the CAI, including Casey here (cjhannan).
There 's no difference in performance with the silver, polished, or whatever have you. That's just a finish on the outside and for better looks. When I bought my AEM CAI 2.5yrs ago, we had no color choices. They only came in a silver-gray color. Now that it's dirty it's more gray than silver..
$172 is a good deal. I paid $189 shipped back then.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Thanks ^_^
Steve Colletti told me that Axxis makes the Metal Masters for my '01 Civic when all the other vendors told me that there is no MM for '01+ Civics. I asked him many times to double & triple check and he assured me they make them. He sends me some generic pads that said Metal Masters on them that were not made by Axxis and when I went to the shop to have them installed, they didn't fit in the calipers! I was PO's because #1 they weren't Axxis and #2 they were the wrong size/fit. I had to send them back and then he wanted to send me another pair that he "thought" would fit! I told him to forget it and send me some HP+ pads which I know are made for the '01+ Civics. I paid $80 too but later found out that I could 've gotten them for around $70-72. Call Cobalt Friction or go to www.cobaltfriction.com. They sell Axxis Ultimates and many different HP pads. Andy has good prices. If he doesn't have the HP+ listed give them a call. They can get them, plus they usually give 10-15% discount to honda-tech members. I got my Axxis Ultimates from Cobalt and they came out to about low to mid $50's with the H-T discount.
HP+ is a little more aggressive pad than the Ultimates but the Ultimates are better than HPS. You won't regret it with either one. Make sure you get your brake fluid replaced otherwise you won't notice as big a difference.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)