What's up all,

New to the forum after just picking up my 2011 Honda Fit Sport MT in the new platinum metal metallic color. I must say, after driving my friend's 09 aggressively and moderately test driving new ones on the lot, I love the car. It reminds me of how nimble my track miata used to be. I never thought I'd be driving a front wheel drive and thought my first honda would've been an s2k, but I guess it all worked out.

I would consider this an upgrade from my 05 BMW 545i that i spent $70 of gas in every 4-5 days driving 300 miles......

What would you guys recommend is the first MUST have/do to the car? I'm thinking of de-badging the rear, tint (20 or 35%?), and picking up a NOICE I <3 my Fit or GE8 sticker lol. I'm not looking to lower the car yet but I know I probably will in due time.

 

It really depends on what you want. Tint is always good, and you'll be glad to have it when the summer comes. A non-obvious improvement is install the center arm rest (you'll have to do it yourself since you have a MT). Additionally, you'll probably want to adjust the headlights, which by default are aimed way too low.

 

Malruax= do you have any recommebation on how many turns on the horizontal adjustment screw for the headlights for best results? These stock headlights cut off at 20 feet its annoying coming from vw e codes

 

I just adjusted till it looked right to me.

 

1. cargo cover
2. all weather mats
3. window tint
4. upgrade horn

 

First thing I do to my MTs are intake short shifter and knob.

 

Get lamin-x film to protect your fog lights from being broken by rocks. I highly recommend this to anyone with fog lights since its pricey to replace one (160+ shipping for my '08) and you can't order it from Honda without the plastic housing (comes as an entire fog assembly in other words).

Other than that, it really depends on your preference for your vehicles. Since you have or had an E60 545I, Miata, and a WRX I'm going to guess that you're a performance oriented driver. I'd recommend getting lighter weight, lower than factory offset wheels as well as a set of 205/50R16 tires whenever your OEM set wear out.

With that said, welcome to the forum and congrats on your new purchase.

 

TINT! also agree with protecting your foglights. A week after i got my car new, a rock broke one of my fogs.

 

Amen on the film protection on the fogs. Had to replace a cracked fog ($130...ouch!) I went with headlight armor...some say it is too expensive, but I'd rather be sure!

Leather wrapped steering wheel is very nice ($45 from honda)...makes wheel a little thicker. Short shifter is nice too...

 

Order a s2000 exhaust tip. Looks great w/o all the noise. Also goes on in 5 minutes.

 

Your best bet is to find some place flat next to a wall, doesn't have to be level, just flat (smooth would be nice).

Drive up close to the wall, close as possible. Mark off how high the cutoff is on the wall.

Back up about 25 ft or so... Then adjust the aim to match. A hair lower is fine, but it CANNOT be higher. If it is higher, all you will succeed in doing, is blinding oncoming drivers. By aiming it slightly down, you will maximize road visibility.

 

thanks for the recommendation on the film. Where can i purchase it? I'm a fan of the yellow-film over the fog lights. It looked great on my Subi and it looks really good on the gd3. Anyone have pics of it on the 2nd gen?

Definitely like engine performance as well as superb handling. new rims/tires are definitely in consideration. Is 205 the biggest i can go? i want the car to be like a go-kart.

 

Brighter headlight bulbs (and NOT Silverstars-actually brighter bulbs) and brighter fog light bulbs (modded H-9's to replace the H-11s).

Nice improvement for night driving.

John

 

since you're not wanting to lower it right away (which from everything I read here makes a wonderful difference in the handling - and looks, obviously!) I'd say try to get some tint and all weather mats/cargo tray. I know DC summers can be pretty brutal, and the Fit does have a lot of glass, so the tint would do you good. OEM mats aren't good quality, so all weathers are your best bet.

congrats on the new fit!

 

Rubber all weather floor mats.
Tint I prefer darker to lighter.
Vent Visors I love mine.
Upgrade fog/headlight bulbs.
Cargo Cover is iffy, at its cost I don't see the value, I made my own with $6 worth of materials from lowes and some speaker grill cloth, once I add the final touches to it I will be making a DYI on it.
Horn swap to the 2009 Accord Horn, heck of a difference!
Audio system, no matter what kind of car I ride in from a $60000 car to the Fit the factory audio systems are junk, well I am kinda biased because Ive done car audio for so long, also if you are going to do this, might as well dynamat or some other sound deading material the entire car, doors, floor and even the roof if you can, the fit has a bit of road noise.
Some sort of Front End protection, the fit paint is soft and loves to get rock chips. I personally prefer a full front bra, which I have but others choose a 3M Clear bra or a visor that goes on the hood alone.
Clay, polish and wax the car, DO NOT let the dealer wash it, unless you like scratches and swirl marks. Just an FYI.

That's about it that I can think of off the top of my head.

 

Ask and you shall receive... Here is a pic of Mr. Bubbles' GE8 with yellow fog film and a D.I.Y. showing how to install them below the image.



https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...l-lamin-x.html

As for where, I think you can find some from Lamin-X, 3M, or maybe even find a precut or extra set from a member on here.

In terms of tire size, it depends on a combination of your wheel's width and offset. For example, a GE can easily run a 205/50R16 tire on a wheel with an offset between +45mm and +55mm with the width of either 6, 6.5, or 7 inches. In some cases you can dip a couple millimeters past +45 but typically once a wheel with a 205 goes near or past +40mm then tire rub could occur.

Now with that said and going back to you wondering if you can get a tire larger than a 205. I think ( ** don't hold me to it though, I'm not a wheel & tire setup guy nor 100% certain ** ) that a 215 could fit provided you find the correct offset, which I think should be around +48 to +50 mm. So if you want to stick a wider tire than a 205, I'd recommend doing a lot of measuring and homework before doing so.

 

hmm... looks easy enough! I shall do some online shopping and finally get my hands dirty. The 545i was WAY TOO expensive to mod.... and boring...

Last question: Where can I get good deals on....
- weather mats
- cargo tray
- witty FIT decals
- center console

 

Its only money! You know you secretly want some an assortment of Dinan, Alpina, Hamann parts for your E60. Maybe even retrofit it with active steering if you don't have it and get a Sprint electronic throttle controller. [/joking] Active steering is nice to have though.

But back on topic, check out either "Bernardi Parts", "College Hill Honda", "H and A Accessories", or maybe even Zeta Products. I'd put a link to their sites in this post but my internet is slow at the moment and sometimes College Hill Honda has some sort of discount due to overstock or shipping deal.

 

Well, as far as looks go I'd tint the windows. It really changes the look of the car so much because there's so many windows for one, two it keeps the temps down inside the car which is good because of how large the windshield is and finally just looks good in general, IMO.

Debadging or re-badging to the previous Fit's badge is cool, or getting the Jazz badge, again, depends on your tastes. I for one don't really like the 09'-to current badge, boring, unlike the previous one. This is relatively cheap and easy to do.

The stock tires SUCK, period! Upgrading to a better tire not only will give you a better ride quality, but be more quiet and handle better, especially when going to the 205/50 size, recommended by Honda when using Mugen wheels on your car, so that size is good for any aftermarket wheel. It maintains your stock height, well, almost but its so close that its not a problem. Speaking of wheels, upgrading to an inch wider wheel really helped out my Fit and when combined with the 205/50 tire, made a HUGE difference in handling, carved up the Dragon last Fall without a problem.

Finally, I'd address the sound the car makes, or lack of it by adding a K&N typhoon intake and by replacing the stock muffler with a universal Magnaflow or equivalent. IIRC the Magnaflow I used was part # 11132, bought a nice tip off of Ebay and had it installed, total price was about $160. The intake was brand new, from an Ebay seller and that set me back $250. The intake claims a 4.53 hp increase and even the "butt dyno" confirms this too. The sound from the intake is just enough to make you happy, IMO and I've had it on for over 17k w/o a problem, no CEL or anything. The muffler really makes a difference in the sound! This is NO "cannon" either, so noone is going to throw any Uncle Ben's on your car while driving around, just nice, deep tones coming out of the back. My buddy always comments on how good my car sounds under acceleration

I'm sure you'll find more things here at FF, welcome aboard!

 

Here's a good source for quality light bulbs:

Headlights

John