Hey everybody I'm new to the forum so I was hoping to get some opinions and suggestions as the title suggests.

I have a rather unique taste in modifications I believe but hopefully you all will have some good info for me. I own a 1998 civic LX and love the stock look but want to invest in some minor modifications to boost the appearance. While I respect more intense mods I want to keep mine more low key. no intense body kits or spoilers. Suggestions for rims, light tint, minor lowering, grills, etc. etc?

I'm hoping to have pics up soon so you all can see what it looks like now. It's all stock with the exception of a slim plate frame, audio deck, and hubcaps (old ones were smashed from minor collision). Also whats a good polish and wax brand?

 

Welcome to the forums

Pictures will definitely help, but until then, we'll make due. You've definitely come to a good forum as far as your taste; I don't believe we have any members with body kits or spoilers actually.

Off the top of my head, here's what I'd do to it on a low budget:
-EK4 SiR front lip
-Type-R grille
-Type-R rear lip
-Tein S-tech springs (~1.7" drop; enough to eliminate fender gap, but not enough to tuck tire)
-Tokico "blues" (HP) struts
-16" Rota Grid Racing wheels (Volk TE-37 knockoffs)
-Type-R headlights
-oem 1999/2000 tail lights


Here's a picture of a civic with the EK4 SiR front lip and Type-R grille:


Type-R rear lip & 99/00 tail lights:


16" Rota Grids (on a 99/00 civic):



As for polishes, I can't really recommend any as I have yet to polish a car, but for waxes, Meguiar's NXT Tech Wax 2.0 is an amazing wax.

 

welcome to HCF, you'll definitely fit in with the forum with your taste of mods so stick around

Reaper hit it spot on, thats what i would do and recommend. post up the pics, let us see what you are working with

 

dito. clean vehicles are alot more pleasing on the eyes with just settle mods. heres my old civic.




o how i miss the old girl.....
if only it was a 5speed id still have it. i just got tired of the automatic.
one day ill get another cheap project and hopefully a black civic.
and my old civic i found out the girl already traded it in for another car. sucks knowing something you worked on so much got traded off.

 

Thank you all very much. I've started researching and hopefully I'll be able to start upgrading a few things soon. It's gonna be a long project because moneys so tight these days but i look forward to seeing how this will all play out. addiction2bass- that is a gorgeous car and is exactly the kind of style I had in mind for my car. Here are some pics and hopefully now there will be better suited/more specific mods you all would suggest. Thanks again for making me feel welcome to the forum!

ps-after seeing the pics could anyone suggest a good window tint percentage if any?

 

Ahh, sedan. That throws the tail lights idea out.

Fortunately, you can still find everything else I posted for the sedan


For reference, my old civic:

 

i love these taillights on a 4dr, get them, clean looking taillights

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DEPO-...ht_6639wt_1017

my suggestion, a lip kit, wheels, and a drop, maybe a type r grill and a basic intake, header, exhaust mod if you want, but yours is an auto so not sure if you want to do engine mods at all. also, try to paint the license plate area, don't know why Honda made it like that. paint match the black trims if you want, it will look a lot cleaner

as for tints, it really depends on your state law for window tints. where do you live? my current tint set up is 5% in the back windows and 35% on the front windows and also a 5% tint strip on the front windshield. thats about the max i can do in California. except the front window, i don't think i can have tints up there.

 

LOVE those taillights. Definitely am gonna put those on the shopping list. And yeah I'm from nor cal too. Sacramento suburbs. Ok I think I have a rough idea of how im gonna approach all this but I still have a few question. This is what I'm planning..

Need to replace my stock front 6.5s (best buy said they are shorting out my deck) with alpine type s

jdm grill (diy install anywhere?)

Finish debadge (final rear honda logo.. filler, primer, paint)

jdm red/clear taillights (diy install anywhere?)

Front lip with fogs (not sure what I want yet..further suggestions?)

Rear three 5% tint (should I even attempt this myself or leave for the pros? I want it done right)

Exhaust up to headers, possibly cai or sai (brands? worth it with auto tranny?)

And finally a slight lower to eliminate fender gap and low key rims

Thanks again everyone!

 

oh crap you live in sacramento? i go to school in sacramento. I stay here in the weekdays and every 2 weeks go back home in san francisco.

did you get those taillights?

jdm grill? you mean a type r grill? they are pretty easy to install. just remove your front bumper and there's screw holding your stock grill in place. remove those and pop those grill on

red/ clear taillights? are you talking about the ones i posted? with taillights they are hold on by bolts inside the trunks. remove the bolts, pop the taillights out. pop your taillights in and bolt it back on. also, obviously remove the bulbs before you pop them out. just twist the bulbs

get oem style fog lights, a lot cleaner look to them

pretty much tint law in california is you can go as dark as you want in the back windshield, and back windows. i dont believe you can have anything in the front windows all i know is 70% of lights needs to pass through and you can have up to a 4" tint strip on the front windshield.

cai and sri aren't worth it on civics, no performance gain. i have a AEM SRI on mines

 

Yeah i live outside of sac about 20 minutes northeast in the roseville suburbs

Yeah i meant type r grill and I didn't get those taillights just yet but I'm planning to get some in the semi near future. Thanks for the install tips I hate having to install anything in the shop I could do myself (I go to a specialty japan import mechanic shop and it's pricey for labor).

I can swap my front lip for a 99-00 and itll have housing for fogs right? I dont particulary want a real beefy lookin front lip

And yeah I'm thinkin I'll leave the front three alone tintwise. Hopefully the contrast from my car (white with black trim) will complement the contrast of tint (back tint, no front tint and dark window to white body)

And I'm not particularly lookin for a big power increase from a better breathing system but rather a good hearty sound that is just completely lacking from stock everything