What are the best mods you've made @<100, <500, and >500? And why?
I'm interested mostly in Suspension, Tightening up body/cowl movement with top down. My car is mostly stock with Cooper Tires, and KYB front shocks. 2002 SC430,64,000 miles. Street/Comfort driving.
Thank you

 

<100 = poly steering rack bushings & poly swaybar bushings.
<500 = rear ISF swaybar upgrade & front strut tower bar (Cusco)
>500 = good set of coilovers (meisterR) but since you have new shocks, then forget about this.
why? you said it yourself: "Suspension, Tightening up body/cowl movement with top down" & "Street/Comfort driving."

 

Thank you for the helpful response! Anyone else?

 

Hoping to see more here.

 

I'll second this, but add All4Swap ECU to <500.

It's not performance related, but swapping the OE Nav unit for an Android really improved the car experience for me. I also could not stand how quiet the car was stock, so I did a muffler delete and am really pleased with how it sounds now.

 

Thank you for your input!

 

I am hoping for more suggestions on this topic. Anyone else?

 

New owner here so I'm speaking from very limited experience. So far my best bangs for the buck have been:

<$50: Cabin refinishing. I pulled seats, panels and trim pieces out of the cabin, thoroughly cleaned everything and refinished most of it with the SEM Color Coat product. It was a lot of work but the transformation is amazing. The cabin looks and even smells much better.

<$500: Adding Bluetooth. I used the GTA Car Kits Pure Bluetooth kit. Playing music from my iPhone is a nice to have but taking calls over the stereo system is something I've really gotten used to in previous cars. I routed the mic into the map light assembly so the car looks and functions like something built 10+ years later.

>$500: Coilovers are my 'big' project for this car. Still waiting on MeisterR to restock so it will be a few weeks before I have results.

 

Where did you get the bluetooth kit from?

Thank you for replying!

 

https://www.gtacarkits.com/product/l...phone-aux-kit/

I have an 03. They thought it would work based on the photos I sent them but I ended up having to find an 05 radio. I swapped the doors so my dash looks exactly the same.

 

Thank you.

 

Full suspension refresh is next on my list too. I ordered my meisters in December and Jerrick was supposed to air mail me a set from the production facility months ago, but I'm unfortunately still waiting. He says they've arrived in the UK this week, so hopefully you'll get your set soon.

 

Well, thank you to the folk's that responded. But , I have to say, this was completely underwhelming. If we want to attract new member's we need to be more understanding of the needs they have.
I searched and needed help. This was a tepid response. Can't some of the senior members chime in and educate us?

I am not trying to be difficult, I asked what I thought was a good newbie question.

Thank you all!

 

I'm actually pretty amazed by how good the suggestions were, especially by Digitatc. Given the extremely limiting cost parameters of the original question and characteristics to be improved in that price range, I racked my brain and came up empty. Pretty good suggestions by Digitatc to come up with some useful things.

Primarily interested in puts almost everything actually helpful well above $500 range.

It's almost like saying one is primarily interested in purchasing a house and ask for suggestions in the <$5000, <$10000, and >$10000 range. The parameters suggest you can't actually buy a house and it's nearly miraculous someone came up with things for those cost ranges.

This forum is also quite different from most other forums in that old information and threads are highly valued instead of being treated as old, useless data. Typical forums punish you for resurrecting an old thread and encourage creation of new ones. In this realm, older threads continue to be of value and act as important reference material to be searched within. Not many of the experienced folks are into re-writing and re-posting the same information into a new thread. So, a generic request for inherently un-meetable cost and effect parameters isn't going to get a lot of people reposting.

Google search for suspension, cowl shake against this forum and you will get a treasure-trove of information. Nearly everything is going to be >$2000 to improve what you're asking about.
It's an amazing forum with a lot of experience, but the query needs to be specific.

 

How were my parameters as far as cost EXTREMELY LIMITED? Please explain that comment. I appreciate input, but totally disagree with your content. I specifically asked for information on a specific topic in a specific price range. I asked for help with basic modifications that could be accomplished in obviously broad parameters. I wanted data on an area that made sense to me, and you turned it into something else. Digitac did a great job of helping myself and many others, but you seem to be upset .A few others agreed that that was a good topic. We are are awaiting a coherent response. Not this drivel .