My family was always a Ford family. I've driven a 1992 Thunderbird, a 1996 Taurus, and most recently a 2000 Ranger that got about 16 miles to the gallon highway.
I finally traded the old girl in and bought my first non Ford -- a 2008 Corolla LE with 17k miles (paid about $10,500).
I love it so far.
Now, you can probably tell by the LE designation that I'm no street racer. I'm not a chrome whore. I'm not looking for any kind of super-charging scams on ebay.
But I do want to tinker a bit with my new toy, so I figured I'm come here for advice!
I've made a list and would love some feedback!
Definitely doing: Tinting the windows. Black tint I think? Any recommendations there? Definitely don't want something peely and cheap.
Replacing the stock headlights. Again I need a lot of help here. Should I even bother? Xenon? Projector? What's all this about?
Replacing the cabin filter:It's a (slightly) used car, so I figured that's a cheap but useful DIY.
Have questions:
Are K&N Filters and the K&N Intake system really all it's cracked up to be? They boast about saving MPGs and adding horses. What do you think?
My car doesn't have a spoiler, but the thin spoiler on this generation Corolla looks pretty good. Is it only for eye candy?
I am kind of a gadget guy -- what about the Scan Guage II?
Want to do/cost will determine:
I have hub caps... What do you guys recommend I do with my 15" wheels? Should I go for 16" alloys? I'd want something very clean and classic looking -- 5 spoke maybe?
From my research, I have found K&N to be a gimmick and often people often over oil the filter causing the MAF to get dirty. It supposedly allows more air in but at what cost? I would bet if you would use it during the winter in boston and do a used oil analysis after the winter you would see elevated sodium in your oil from the road salt.
Spoiler is eye candy.
I have a SGII, and I love it, it is so cool.
Probably want to get a new serpentine belt, they suck on our cars and put it in when it squeaks. Goodyear and Gates make good belts.
Tranny fluid tends to darken early. Some on here change it every 30k miles.
Welcome John. It sounds like you and I have very similar tastes. I have an '07 LE also, and have made some "tasteful" changes to it.
Tint: the tint was there when I bought it, and I'm glad it was because I've never been one to tint a car aftermarket, but I really like the tint on the Corolla. It's not very dark -- I'd estimate 50% or less. It looks exactly like the factory dark tint on a Prius or similar. Not quite as dark as the rear privacy glass on my wife's Town & Country van, but certainly noticeable. Here's a picture of what it looks like (the day I brought it home):
As for the lights, I really like the stock housings. I wouldn't bother changing the housings, in my opinion, they provide very good optics and a beam pattern. I've read a lot of folks complaining about lack of light after they do eBay projectors, etc. I'd just leave the housings alone. But I have replaced the bulbs in mine. I've used 9006 Nighthawk bulbs from GE (and now I have those in the fog lights). I also used Toshiba HIR 9012 bulbs. Currently, I've got 9005 XtraVision bulbs in there (low beams). The bulb required a slight modification to make it fit. That's what I like best so far. The light is very white (not ghetto blue, but much more striking than a standard 9006 bulb) and the beam pattern remains correct. And so far, no problems with the wiring. The current isn't that much more than stock.
I'd skip the K&N filter. Lots of evidence out there that shows more dirt passed compared with stock. Nothing really to gain there. I did relocate the intake snorkel on mine, click the link in my sig for the DIY "cold air" modification. I also added OE fog lights.
For the wheels, I wanted to keep the same size wheels (15x6), but wanted out of the hubcaps. I found a set of Prius wheels, and removed the trim rings. I love 'em.
I picked up a 2008 CE new and I'm quite happy with it. As far as mods, Toyota engineered it pretty well, I wouldn't bother with air filters and other engine mods, it's efficient and reliable as is.
On the cabin air filter, I just took a look at mine yesterday. All you need to do is squeeze the sides of the glovebox to pull it off and the cabin air filter is right behind it, secured by a couple tabs above the heater blower housing. Mine is 18 months old, it was clogged up by dirt and starting to tear at the top. I found 4 on ebay for about $25 shipped, so I can have about 2-3 years of spares for it.
On the Scanguage II, I bought one, and it's a neat little tool. It has every guage you'd ever want in it. For fuel mileage, it's a great, you have to tune it for the car over the first two tanks, then it's a pretty accurate fuel gauge and MPG tracker, It is usually within 1-2 MPG of manually tracked numbers. On my 32 mile one way commute, I use it to try and hit 40 mpg for the trip, in summer it's easy to hit 40-45 mpg, but cold winter days drops my mpg to about 36-38.
On rims, I live in the Boston area and I've had 3 cars with aluminum rims. Aluminum is softer than steel, and I've bent three aluminum ones over the past ten years. Steel is much more durable on the pothole obstacle courses we have for roads.
Glad I/we helped you out. And thank you for the accreditation .
Wheels: You metioned you wanted something like a 16in alloy five spoke. I have a XRS with the stock 16in alloys from the factory. I think they're the same wheels you find on the 1st gen Toyota Matrix (Non XRS models). I think they look really good on the Corolla.
yeah the spoiler is pretty much for looks unless ur doing 75+ on the highway
also look into projector headlamps they look really nice
i was thinking of diy sometime this summer, but also im going to throw in a CAI at the same time to take out of some of the confusion its easier to take off the bumper and do both at the same time.
im not sure if u ahve to take off the bumper to get the headlights out but im doing it to save time when i put the CIA in
If yours has the silly looking body moulding on the door, I'd shave that, too. The car just looks much cleaner without it.
As for the K&N Filter, I like mine, and TRD makes a K&N clone, too (at least they used to). The amount of oil that will get on your MAF sensor is negligible, and can be easily cleaned off with an alcohol swab if you're that picky about it. It's not a huge difference, we gained maybe 1 or 2 MPG (never really checked, because I'm not a hypermiler like some of the people on here), but it definitely helped. Just remember to clean it about once a year. The cleaning kits are a bit more than a cheap paper filter from a big box auto parts store (autozone, pep boys, Canadian Tire, NAPA), but if you go to some places, you can get a "bulk kit" that's got 4x as much cleaner and filter oil for $10 more. I got mine at a local speed shop.
Headlights: For me, the most tasteful headlamps are the ones with the black inside. Since your car has a black grille, black handles and black mirror bases, it goes well with the exterior scheme already. Then if you wanted to add a CF hood/trunk combo later, it would set it of very well.
Wheels: Iirc, bolt pattern and offset is the same as the celica, so if you want to go big , GT-S wheels are a good choice, or you could do the GT wheels. They both look good, and shouldn't be too expensive. The aftermarket is always there for wheels, and 16" is a popular size, so there are tons of options. The other option I've thought of was Beretta GT wheels done in the colour of your choice (though traditionally, it's the GM guys that switch around OEM wheels from other manufacturers).
I think it would look good if you cleaned them up and maybe painted them bright silver or even chrome, then swapped out the center caps for Toyota ones.
Spoiler: the Toyota lip spoiler is all for looks, but it does a good job. I had originally planned to get it, too, but as you can tell by my username, it's a long way away.
Scangauge II: Probably a good error code reader, the rest of it is useless.
I'm really thinking of scouring a junkyard for some Matrix wheels. What sucks -- correct me if I'm wrong -- is that 16" wheels = have to buy new tires too. And the tires on my car are brand new.
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New Corolla owner looking to make a few changes
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