Ready to spend the money next week. Buying an 06 super white manual tC. Suggestions on cheaper parts, better parts, or addtional parts appreciated:

- Enkei 18" Wheels/tires (factory upgrade) 1033$
- HKS Exhaust 390$
- Hotchkis Springs & Sway Bars 355$ (do I NEED TRD shocks and/or struts?)
- Injen Cold Air Intake 230$
- B&M Sport Shifter 120$ or TRD Qucik Shifter 240$ ???

Also what parts color (coils, brakes, intake) to you think looks best to compliment super white?
- red
- blue
- black
- polished

 

1. The hotchkis set you picked out should be fine. You don't absolutely need the struts... but there's a likelyhood of them giving out sooner than they normally would. So plan on it eventually. Koni makes a set as well.

2. Injen Intake is about $219 shipped from www.showstoppersusa.com - try there first.

3. Short shifter - toss up here. The TRD one does also come with the $60 TRD leather **** (part of high price). There's a thread in one of the forums right now with a few comparisons. I have the Creative Compacts one... it's like $70 or so and most of us that have it, love it. But you'll hear that about just about any of them.

4. Colors - whatever you get - stick with it. I've seen a SW with a really good red theme and there are a few that are just whatever they have and still look nice. The intake is only polished or black - limited there.

 

Thanks fo rsaving me some cash. I was voting red myself. Make the intereior all black with red highlights. Come to think of it a nice feature I want to add is some red/black leather bucket seats, I need to search on that. Also some nice gauges.

 

Leather seats: Katzkin (or however you spell it) makes some nice seat covers... I'd look into those before you get all new seats.

Gauges: Creative Compacts makes a nice a-pillar 3 gauge pod. I think there's also one made by ATI that sits in the center of the dash that's also a 3 guage pod.

 

Thanks again, found some pics of the katzkin here:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/693703/2

 

Check around on the exhaust. I have the HKS and I think i got it on a GB her for alot cheaper than that. I dont rememeber for sure tho.

Congrats on the purchse.

 

In creative compacts I found the katzkins also for 571$. I want to get two tone black/red...but what do they mean by "two tone inserts" vs "two tone centers"?

I also noticed headers run only about 300$, are these only worth getting if you have a supercharger?

 

If you have the supercharger, I'd look at getting a new pulley from ZPI or NST first - that'll give you a couple more PSI of boost.

If you're looking at headers, you might want to think big picture and consider a full exhaust... though I hear the MMW header/spipe combo is supposed to give about 20hp to the wheels.

 

Man, I would put alot of those on hold and get the S/C, or see about financing the S/C with your purchase... Just ask, they will probably do it..

 

My advice would be to start from the ground and go up.

 

I would look at other options for wheels and tires. You can spend less than what you're going to and still get awesome wheels and tires, plus you have a lot more options!

 

I just intalled an Injen CAI, first major puchase for me. I love it the engine really comes to life

 

wylietc: Thanks for those pics of the Injen...looking nice!

GT4Dreams: I've price alot of wheels/tires and everything I like ends up being about 1k anyhow (mounted, balanced, aligned). I like the factory enkei's as much as any of them and they are designed to be hub-centric for the tC..but your right, there are better deals..I'm still looking!

My main concern about getting a T/C or S/C is maintenance expenses and basically shortening the life of the car. I would rather spend 2k on a few nice upgrades now, and get a phase 3 T/C about 3 or 4 years down the road. I need this car to be reliable =P Of course i'm still reading up on S/C's T/C's so I may be wrong. Scionspeed.com has phase 1-3, but i'm not finding any reviews sofar.

 

IMO if you buy anything stop by www.showstoppersusa.com they have great prices on everything and they have FREE SHIPPING on everything on the site, they are cool guys too and have awesome customer service

 

Be careful with the a-pillar gauge pods if you have the side curtain air bags in your car. Your gauge pod could turn into a harmful projectile if you get in an accident.

Regarding car reliability with a turbo or supercharger, both seem to be running well with few problems on our tC's. The supercharger comes with a warrenty if put on by the dealership. Plus, if it is an option, you know the car's engine is built for boost. I am a fan of turbos myself and ZPI has had pretty good reviews with their Stage 0 kit. They are running the same amount of boost as the TRD supercharger so it can't be too bad for your engine.

Good luck with the car and remember...don't fight the addiction, enjoy it.

 

hmmm i see what kinda route you are taking, and let me help you out if i can:
- the wheels you selected are fine, i like them...but you wont really stand out from the crowd per say.
-the exhaust, i would suggest a universal muffler w/ a perforated core instead. you can still get a similar style, but it willl be 1/4 the price/
-hotckis makes good swaybars, but i have a friend with their springs, and he has alot of dead coils, i would suggest goldlines, or even eibach sportlines
-with the money that you would save on the exhaust get a Fujita CAI...the best one on the market
-for the shifter, its up to you..but think about installation costs, because im pretty sure that the dealer wont charge you for the short shifter. and its from TRD so you know its good.

about the colors, i think that red looks nice on a white car.