Help Me Tastefully Mod My Kia

Knuckles

Newbie
Points
1
Location
Delaware
Car
Kia Spectra EX 09
Hey guys,

I want help tastefully modding my girlfriends 09 Kia Spectra. Were not selling the car since it isnt worth much and dont want a new car payment right now. Its running really well at this point, just over 60k miles with all maintenance done, no known issues. Upon realizing we had no intent on selling the car and the car actually being in good shape, I decided to do a few mods.

I dont have any goals other than learning to do stuff myself and to keep the car as classy/tasteful as possible. I like the logic of "I need to be comfortable enough driving this car to a funeral." I want to make the car run well and be as safe as possible. I want to balance the mods adding value with the doing them to do them sake.

Anything I finished has been done well. I wont claim I spent much so I may need to replace things but I wanted to confirm I could do some of these items.

Finished:
  • Rain guards
  • Dash Cam
  • Touchscreen headunit
  • Strut Bar ($40, literally best car mod I have ever seen, cost vs. value, night and day difference for this car)
  • Debadged
  • Heated seat pad (for bad back)
  • New Seat Covers
  • Floor mats
  • Under dash glow - Done for chuckles (Spliced the wires into the cigg outlet)
In-progress
  • Rearview Camera
  • New speakers
  • Speaker Amp
  • Fog lights
Under consideration
  • Window Tint
  • Suspension upgrades
  • Intake upgrade
  • Header/Exhaust upgrade
So my biggest questions related to whether some of these things are "worth" it or not. If I did suspension or intake/exhaust mods, I want to do them because it will make the car drive better, not because Im expecting to turn it into a track car or anything stupid like that. Its really all about taking what I currently have and getting the most out of it in a reasonable manner. I am only considering intake/exhaust since I know thats usually the best bang for the buck but if I did it, I would want the quietest exhaust that looks stock. I dont want it to look modified, I want it to look as clean as possible and run well.

Essentially, my goal from this thread is to find a group of people willing to talk out the pro/cons of the mods and help teach me the best way to do them. I want the brutal truth of "you will look foolish with a modified kia" if what I am doing starts to push that line. Honestly, outside of the window tint, there might not be other tasteful mods to do for this car. I cant imagine the effort of putting a good set of wheels on there but I am open to the idea.

Overall, just have the slight itch to mod the car. Im enjoying the effort and learning and just want to continue. That said, I dont want to turn it into a Autozone joke car.

I would appreciate any help or those willing to talk this out with me. For the record, I drive a 2017 WRX but I dont want to mod that without some practice. Thus the reason Im having fun with the girlfriends car.

Thanks
 
I have a 08 Spectra and the H&R lowering springs with new shocks have worked well. Just did the upgrade about 2 months ago
 
My Spectra is Black, I added 17 inch black rims, tinted the windows and looks decent. Just replaced my timing belt at 140k miles so i hope to do another.
 
My next upgrade is going to be Megan headers with a vibrant exhaust muffler and no resonators. Hard to find aftermarket support for this vehicle.
 
Currently working on the suspension and trying to get it as tight as possible to enjoy in the canyons and mountains.
 
Would not recommend deleting the midway exhaust resonator as that will cause a droning exhaust sound.
 

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