Not a ricer boi

Hey. So, I have an 09 Civic and am possibly 16. My dad doesn't want me to mod my car, but I really want to. If there are any cheap mods that I can do in my driveway (or have done at the Honda dealership I work at), hmu. I'm talking small stuff, not engine swaps, body kits, etc. Must be inconspicuous and easy to get away with. Thanks.

mcnoople

If you are 16 it is much better to leave the car alone and learn about life. I would suggest you do lots of research about the cars and the issues that they have. It is a lot easier to make a mistake when modding a car than most people realize. I would focus all of the attention to making sure the car is in good operating condition and how to keep it like that.

There are just as many DONT DO's as there are things you should do.

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

I'd say learn how to work on it yourself first. Sure, you work at a dealership, but that doesn't mean that you're doing the work. Preventive maintenance, replacement of wear and tear parts, figuring out the cause of abnormal noises and vibrations. I just realized that I'm basically reiterating what @mcnoople said in different words, but yeah, it all holds true. When you mod a car and inevitably f- up (we all do, thus is life), if you have all that actual experience working on a car, you'll know how to troubleshoot, diagnose, and fix whatever it is that you messed up.
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edit:
If you absolutely must start modding your car, there are way too many ways to go for us to answer the, "what should I do with my car that my dad won't notice?" question. What are your goals -- looks or performance? What's your budget? However, to answer your initial question, here's a list.

LED lighting all around is a good, cheap, (relatively) easy mod you can do that 1) you can do without much notice and 2) if you get "caught," almost 95% sure your dad won't give 2 ***** about. Now, I say relatively easy because LED turn signals require a bit more effort or money to make work properly. Slap on any pair of turn signals, you get hyperflash and just live with it. You can get bulbs with built in load resistors, but they're more money. You can splice in load resistors, but you have to splice into your existing wiring (which can go bad real fast out of nowhere if done half-assed) and find a suitable place to mount the load resistor itself (since they can get extremely hot). LED lighting for your headlights can also be tricky. Beam pattern on many bulbs out there sucks and produces a lot of glare, and the ones that do emulate traditional halogen light output tend to be expensive (>$100/pair). Not only that, beam "throw" for LED lighting tends to suck, despite the high localized brightness. HID is another route you can take, great light output, but are also expensive for quality components. Furthermore, If you install HIDs in reflector housings or projectors not designed for HIDs, you'll get obscene amounts of glare that can blind oncoming drivers and attract police attention.

Wheels and tires are also another mod you can probably get away with. That is, however, a costly investment. If I were 16 and blew a couple grand on wheels and tires, my dad would flip his ****.

Upgraded brakes and rotors would be one you can justify, if asked why you did it. You can always say it's for safety reasons. Full big brake kits can be expensive. Upgraded pad and rotor combos can be more cost effective and still deliver better than OEM performance. I'd personally stay away from cross drilled rotors, despite how cool they look.

Suspension upgrades might not be a bad choice. You tend to get better bang for buck out of suspension upgrades with Hondas.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

RiceBoy pretty much covered it all. Like mcnoople said learn about the basics of the car to and how to maintain it. That being said I started "modding" my 88 Accord and learned by doing it. Yes I made mistakes but I learn better when I do things myself and with my own hands. It had a set of rims and banging audio system worth 3x what the car was but I didn't care. If your dad sees how much you enjoy it then he may come around to the idea. I got my love of cars and modding things from my dad so its his fault lol.

• Wheels and tires (especially tires)
• LED lighting
• Intake and exhaust for better sound
• lowering springs/coil overs
• poly bushings

Many upgrades I do as they are needed. Brakes are upgraded when they need replacing, bushings and other wear items.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

huh...

your age shows as 38...

not a good way to start a conversation...

Not a ricer boi

Well, maybe I am maybe I'm not, let's just leave it there. Lol.

Anyways, when I say that my dad won't notice, what I mean is he told me no modding, as in like body kits and stuff. I doubt he'd care if I change out the radio head unit and speakers, or put LEDs in, heck he'd help me with the LEDs he was an electrical engineer for years, so he knows this stuff. I could get away with a cold air intake, probably. Also, in response to the whole don't spend money and stuff, I would do it very cheap. I save a little bit every month for stuff like this that I want, and put every other penny in a bank account. My friend owns two junkyards, so its easy for me to get stuff like rims, mufflers, andareally any other oem parts I would need, even if I need to Bondo and repaint the rims or something. Thanks for your concern, but I just want to spice it up a bit, I don't wanna make it a project cars, just have a bit of fun.

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

I think it's more of a fact that, if i recall correctly, you need to be 18 to join the forum. I look the other way when **** like that comes up.

Depending on your location, an actual CAI may or may not be a good idea. I live in Vegas, and when it rains, we invariably get flash flood warnings. That said, I've always had a small fear of hydrolock, and since intakes don't do much, an SRI suffices for me. It's a sound maker, if anything.

Colin42

Don't buy parts that are too cheap it will just give you headaches and make car look/sound/drive/whatever like crap

mac25

If you're hunting sleeper performance without going for the engine swap route, then the only other options are, nitrous oxide or camshafts.