solara birthday! product reviews.....

[tito53]

So exactly a year ago 8/7/06 I got the car and so far no complaints!
Only thing I almost regreted was getting an i4. But the gas prices this summer
made me forget all about it. Heres a short review of most the products I've
purchased for the car in case someone might be looking to get any of the
same or something very similar.


Jensen VM9311 Touch Screen InDash DVD
http://www.audiovox.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... &langId=-1
Great touch screen dvd headunit for the price and its easy to do the dvd
bypass. doesn't even need to be grounded, its just a code you enter with
the remote. great video quality. decent equalizer. ton of aux support. i would
deff. recommend this product if you're looking for a flip up under $350...
the next best thing starts around $600+
things i don't like but dont really mind....
Ipod interface is a little slow, but thats typical for lot of head units.... you
cant fast forward mp3s... no moving graphics when listening to radio or cds.
nonremovable face plate... Other than that everything is great.


Infinity Reference 1242w 12" Subs
http://www.infinitysystems.com/car/prod ... Region=USA
smooth bass. i have these on a nonported box and it hits loud enough to
almost knock all the mirrors off... thats loud enough for me. they're running
on a Profile AP2000 amp.... never heard of it before but it was recommended
by crutchfield and i trust them and I'm glad i did... no problems with that
either.


%20 tint
If you're getting tint I suggest you don't go lower or higher. 20% is dark
enough to give you privacy and light enough to still be able to see at night.
remember to check your state laws though.... i wouldn't suggest to ignore them
cops enforce it most of the time... its easy money for them!



Navman N40i GPS/Camera
http://www.navmanstores.com/eu/product_ ... GPS&id=756
Great gps device with a handy add on (camera). I prob could've gotten
a similar item for a better price but i got impatient. maps have been about
95% accurate and connection to the satellites is pretty fast compared to
other gps devices that i've seen. great tool to help you save on gas or
when you're lost. great shortcut buttons for gas and parking. easy to use
touch screen doesnt hurt either. good amount of points of interests with
a bunch of categories. also includes the locations phone number to call ahead.
proved itself useful on my trip to Florida when trying to book a hotel room
in the middle of the night. one little glitch I've had has been that it might take
up to 5 minutes to turn on after the battery has been completely drained out.
fasttrack is very useful. if you get out of route it will redirect you quickly
camera is neat but low resolution.. not much better than a cell
phone's. it does record the location of where the picture was taken and it's
saved under favorite locations. i would suggest to go with the tomtom...
more recognizable brand and ive seen them go for about $200 now.
way cheaper than when i was shopping around for a portable gps.



AutoPage RS 1000 2-way Alarm with 1 mile range
http://www.autopageusa.com/t_inside.cfm ... e9de1a12be
You might not be able to run a mile under 5 mins but at least
you get the warning that something is going on and thats the key.
This alarm will page your remote if .... the hood/doors/trunk are opened,
windows are shattered, car is tilted (being towed, or rims being stolen),
or if the car is turned on. the part i loved the most was the remote start.
great for those cold winters, just leave the heat on the ON position and
remote start the car.... 5 mins later the car is all ready for you and defrosted
remote has a color screen and a bunch of addons: countdown timer,
car temperature, status check, driver pager, silent arm/disarm, vibration,
key lock, different languages, car jacking mode, and a bunch of extra aux
outputs you could use for trunk release, or anything else you might want to
activate using a remote. it also supports up to 4 diff cars. about 6 months
with the alarm and ive only had to charge the remote once. great batt. life




Clear Corners from ebay
ehh cheapest mod and not really worth it. quality isnt great at all and
its a little ricy. now that ive added HID's I'm thinking about switching
back to stock corners. would've liked it a lot more if they matched the
headlights better. the black rubber eventually falls off and you have to
use superglue to put it back on. embarrassing moment lol ... you also
have to seal them properly otherwise they will start to build up moisture
on the inside.... if you do get them remember to get the silver bulbs...
the yellow bulbs look horrible inside the clear corners.



Shaved Emblems
wait thats not a product... but it was fun to do! too many badges on the back
of the car... i did the bikini wax.. just left the toyota logo in the middle lol



4500K H4 BI-XENON HID
got those from a member here in a group buy at a great price. completely
changes the look of the car from the outside and the inside. actually fun
to install and you can do it on your own. deff recommend it but nothing beats
a real retrofit. If you're worried about having a crazy color just go for the
4500k.... the closest to white. it really improves visibility.
I suggest you turn your DRL feature off to not have the HID's on all the time.
I really want to put HID's in the fogs now!



so yea thats about it.... its all cosmetic... no real under the hood mods
but i do see a new intake, rims and exhaust in the near future.
either way im happy with my toyota! and it'll always be sexier than any
ricy farty civic out there (about half the ppl on the road) and thats good
enough for me...

you can find pics of most of the stuff mentioned above on my cardomain
page

[woa_its_j3ff]

nice list there bro.
yeah honestly i had clearcorners.
took them out.
main reasons being. aside from the riceyness (imho now) I think they diamond cut of the stock corners look a lot better and with HIDs, it's just a lot cleaner.
I dont regret switchin back. I coulda just saved myself like 60 bucks when I bought 2 pairs over a year ago
hope to see more mods coming!

[RDKamikaze]

Glad to see you finally finished your list. On a good note for me as well, I just finished packing for Cali! San Diego, here I come!

[aleki2424]

also about year since i bought mine. no complaints,,,, but not alot of mods done. good deal though

[Chinky420]

for me, about a year and a half since i purchased mine.

clear corners from jeff - yeah, these have moisture issues too, but i'm still working on it

jim's torque rod - cheap, quick install, noticeable on hard launches. good bang for the buck

custom intake - i fabricated an air intake... it's alright, i need to go back and re-do the hose attachments before it get's any more ghetto looking. otherwise, the 3" pipe and massive filter suck much harder (in the good way) than the stock airbox

plugs/wires - denso ik20's, and i forget what brand of wires....it was "fun" learning how to change the rear bank spark plugs. nuff said.

(2) pioneer subs - these have actually been with more through 3 cars now. first, my 90 honda accord lx, then my 00 mazda 626, now my lara. RMS is 300w a peice, and my amp is 980w peak (~250w RMS when bridged)

SP performance rotors - slotted and dimpled, they look better and feel the same. which is exactly what i was going for

Axxis organic brake pads - noticably less brake dust and virtually no squeaking to a stop anymore. they're only about 6k miles in, so i dont konw yet if they stand the test of time. there's only a slight amount of brake fade that i've felt, and it happened to be when it was raining like crazy for two weeks. it's been fine since it has dried out.

shaved emblems - check
painted calipers - check
cleaned throttle body - check

and i'm thinking about doing the throttle body coolant bypass this weekend (i'm in texas, and dont need more heat w/ my air intake...and it freezes for like, a day or two in the winter, so no worries).

oh yeah, and i need to pull and inspect my rear bank o2 sensor (since i just got CEL P0135 this past month), and probably replace w/ OEM parts.

oh, and i'm actually on my third set of rubbers for the whip. it came with sumitumo tires (the cheaper ones, not the baller ones) and those were pretty much bald when i got them. then i got falken ziex tires, and those apparently were too soft for my driving habits, as i balded the front two out in like, 8 months (forgot to rotate....as i reasoned that they were new tires), then recently (~5 months ago) got michelin pilot exalo tires, which seem to be holding up to the wear and tear much better. which reminds me, i should rotate my tires this weekend too.

oh yeah, and i fixed my a/c pressure switch and dehydrator unit.

it's been fun so far though...i cant decide if i want to tint my car next, or get a trd rsb. decisions decisions decisions...