Hey everyone!

I bought a new 2010 Civic LX a week ago. I'm loving it. Came from a 2001 Cavalier. Fair warning: I know almost nothing about cars in general. I know to change my oil every 3-5k miles and that is about it. Long post incoming!

I got the LX because there are some upgrades that I want that I think will be less expensive, and more satisfying in the long run to buy the parts myself, and either install myself, or hire local guys.

Easy things first: I want to tint my windows. I've got a guy that will do the tinting on all 5 for less than $150.00. Think this is fair?

Secondly, I want to get some rims. I heard from a friend I could get these second hand for around 250.00 for all 4 tires. Honestly, no idea on these. Any thoughts on what I should look for/pricing?

Time to get a bit more expensive. I want a touch screen in-dash stereo. All I care about is being able to control my iPhone 3gs with the stereo.

Finally, and possibly most difficult/expensive, I want to re-upholster my interior in leather. I've done a bit of research online, but any suggestions for who I should go to for this would be appreciated.

And that covers it! I've probably got quite the road in front of me as far as these upgrades go, but it should be worth it.

Thanks for reading!

Phil

 

welcome to hcf!
1. yes that tinting price sounds fair, i paid 200 for mine so it sounds like ur getting a good deal
2. get a decent set of rota's, slipstreams look nice
3. i got the dual 7.5 inch touch screen from walmart, idk about the capabilities with iphones but i know it works great for burning music videos onto a dvd and bumpin around town with
4. dont re-upholster, just get integra leathers for the front, im not sure about the backs, you might have to end up reupholstering those.

it sounds like you have good plans but i never seen any decent modded 2010's, people usually get 5th or 6th gens to mod, their more common. anyhow, welcome to the forum!

 

150 for tint is very fair. What type of rims are you looking for? Mine cost about 750 for the rims and tires, it all depends on what size rims you want (or rarity; brands like Work rims, Volks, Mugens, etc are uber-expensive). Pioneer makes a great touch-screen deck, I think Alpine does too. Katzkin does OE seat re-covering in leather, your local custom interior store might carry their products. Their stuff is made specifically for your seat, so it's all modular with no real custom work. Welcome to the forums, I hope you enjoy your Honda as much as I enjoy mine!

 

Ummmmmm...... I doubt seats from 94-01 Integra will look decent, not to mention the nightmare of fitting them in a 2010 Civic.

As both have said, $150 is a fair price for tinting. Check out the warranty information before you buy it though. Lifetime warranties are always great. My bro paid $140 for all of his windows. If he ever has a problem with it, he takes it back to the place, and they re-tint the window for free.

This doesn't seem right (too cheap). Yea, $250.00 for all tires seems right, but not for tires and rims. I would figure you're looking at least $600 for a decent set of wheels and tires. In my opinion, figure out how much money you have to spend, what color you want, what size you want, and then start shopping.

I have a Pioneer double DIN headunit that came with GPS and an Ipod interface cable to play music off of. However, I began to develop battery issues since the phone was constantly on and off the charger.

For the leather seating, you could either find someone locally that'll re-cover your seats in leather, or you could try and get lucky and find an OEM set on ebay/craigslist/etc.

 

congrats on the purchase.

150 is a good price for 5 windows, make sure they do decent work and use quality tint. Look at the work they do, you don't want to end up with bubbles later on. Lifetime warranty is a plus. I would find a place that offers that.

250 for a set of rims is too low. I think some 16" rims would look good on your civic, and some knockoffs would run about $400 + used maybe $350 if your lucky.

For In-dash DVD units, i recommend Pioneer they make quality stuff, so does Alpine. Stay away from brands like Jensen. They don't last too long. For the ipod/ iphone connector you may need to get a separate charging adapter since they apple switched up the connector/ charging pins for the 3g and 3gs. I'm thinking the newer models of the in-dash DVD units would be able to charge and play the 3gs.

for re-upholster to leather you can go get some seats of another trim level that has them, I think the certain Ex has them. Or you can get some leather and DIY or bring it to a local shop to do them.

 

yes! make sure you get the lifetime warrenty, if you tell us the general area where your from, i can look up some shops for you. or just google it, like Pittsburgh Window Tinting, i got mine done at auto image, they do alot of details and tinting so their good at what they do, they also sell rims and other bolt ons and cosmetic stuff. 1 tip tho, always get a recipt because they tend not to give them to you and when you bring it back, they say wheres your recipt and your beat...

 

Little bit of an update. I actually found a guy that'l do my tints for $100.00, lifetime warranty. So awesome deal there.

I'm looking at getting a AVH-P5100DVD from Pioneer. 7" touchscreen DVD/iPod functionality. Question on this one though. I've found that iPhone 3g will work with this stereo, so can I assume that the iPhone 3gs will work as well?

I've got a friend that will help me install my leather seats. I've found a few spots online that will sell me Katzkins for around $750.00. Question on this one though. Should I try and match the color of my new leather to my old fabric color? My exterior is the polished metal metallic (dark gray). Interior cloth is also gray. Or can I get away with choosing black? I would definitely like to do black, but I'm not sure if this would clash with my other interior colors.

On the rims, I saw a few brands and sizes thrown around. As far as sizes go, a guy said 16s would look good on mine. Does this mean that I can get any set of rims that are 16 inches and they will fit? Or is there more to fitting rims to cars than just the base size?

Thanks for all your guys' input so far. Definitely appreciated.

 

if you want to do a full black interior, read a DIY about how to paint your dash. they make vynal paints for stuff like that, its alot of work but the results are nice.. or you can just goto a junkyard and pull a factory black dash and swap em. again, alot of work involved. it would look nice tho

 

I doubt he's going to find a 2010 Civic in a junkyard...

 

people dont wreck 2010 civics? sure, there wont be that many but if you call around, im sure you will find one. not to mention i think dash's from other years will still work on it.