[OG SX]

I was thinking of getting that same diffuser in SWP. Looks great man!

 

[Triple-K.Hybrid]

Car is becoming nicer and nicer Sir :thumbsup: Nice rear diffuser too

 

[JasonS]

I was thinking of getting that same diffuser in SWP. Looks great man!

Car is becoming nicer and nicer Sir :thumbsup: Nice rear diffuser too

Thanks guys. I love that rear lip diffuser. Easy to put on as well. I have some DRL's and horns coming up next!

 

[K5 Optima Store]

Alright fellas, I just completed several mods this past week. Phew I have been busy but it has been fun, at least that is what I keep telling myself! Here is implementation of the Auto Folding Mirror Module from here K5 Optima Store - Auto Folding Mirror Module with directions from found lower on the linked page above. Pretty easy actually if you follow both of the videos. Enjoy!
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Next up was the Katzkin Custom Leather Headrest Covers. My car is a two-tone interior so I called David K5 Optima Store - Kia Optima - Katzkin Custom Leather Headrest Covers and he hooked me up with the right product that matched my interior perfectly. The look OEM with a the K5 embroidered beautifully. I had to take these to an auto upholster shop In Indy (Kent Auto Upholstery) and Kevin charged me $25 bucks total to install these covers for me. There was no way I could do these by myself. They look amazing! Enjoy.
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So for my next mod I added stickers! Yep that's right stickers. Everyone knows they make your car go fast. haha
View attachment 123137

With all the mods I thought it was time to add some accent colors with dress up bolts from K5 Optima Store - Engine Bay Dress Up Bolts. Simple mod to pull the 10mm black bolts and replace with these. Here are a few pics but I got em all over, look close!
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Next up was some more performance parts under the hood. I picked up a polished Injen intake from here: K5 Optima Store - Kia Optima/ Hyundai Sonata Injen Intake Systems, a brushed metal charge pipe and synapse blow off value from here: 2011+ T-GDi Charge Pipe - Nameless Performance and set up for the evening removing major factory components and replacing them. The charge pipe was an easy swap, the accompanying blow off value was easy to integrate into the factory solenoid as well, but the Injen intake, what a pain in the rear!!!! There are lots of other threads about reaching a couple clamps way down low to remove the darn thing and then putting the new one in and tightening clamps again. That was probably half my job right there. But engine compartment looks great, everything works, no spare parts left over and got that turbo sucking sound when I step on the gas now. Have a look!
View attachment 125737 Nameless Charge Pipe in brushed aluminum.
View attachment 125745 Synapse BOV hooked to factory solenoid and recirculation hose on
View attachment 125753 Injen intake of course
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For my next trick its really a multi - part mod. I went out an got an SX bumper and had it color matched to my car as you probably saw in previous posts. So with that "extra" bumper sitting around I went ahead and hooked up some Camily rear LED bumper lights. The K5 Optima Store sells them in addition to several other places. Get the Camily ones though. K5 Optima Store - Kia Optima Rear LED Bumper Lights I also took the time to mount a Rear Bumper Lip Diffuser I had purchased from overseas. I got it color matched as well. The Lx/EX models need some help with bumper lips and the issue is all the after market stuff uses the small indentation the SX bumper covers have to hold or bolt on. So that part of my reason for swapping out my LX/EX bumper for a SX version. Here's some pictures of what I did.

View attachment 126409 the Camily Rear LED lights drop right in, replacing the factory reflectors

View attachment 126417 On the underside I drilled a larger hole for the 3 wires. Notice the light strip is secured on their side by factory screws

View attachment 126425 rear LED lights done, now to figure out the rear bumper lip diffuser

View attachment 126433 There is some 3M tape that attaches it along with some small screws as you can see in the picture

View attachment 126441 finished shots View attachment 126449

WOW Jason, you are seriously moving so fast! I love what you've done with your build man. Congrats on getting so much done in such a little amount f time. You're now ready for ROTM!!! :grin:

Thank you so much for all of your business and support.

 

[JasonS]

Thanks David. I am getting close and will nominate my car soon. Just a few last things and I am indeed getting excited! I have a couple more mods to post but I'll do that another day. And my rubber for my wheels was dropped off by UPS today. Ahhhh the smell of fresh tire in the garage!

 

[K5 Optima Store]

Thanks David. I am getting close and will nominate my car soon. Just a few last things and I am indeed getting excited! I have a couple more mods to post but I'll do that another day. And my rubber for my wheels was dropped off by UPS today. Ahhhh the smell of fresh tire in the garage!

Well you definitely will have my vote! :thumbsup:

 

[JasonS]

And since I mentioned it above, I cut my bumper today to make room for some DRL's I was also installing. Took a bit. I did the angle cut so I preserved part of the OE sides of my bumper. To get the cut correct, this is what I did... I measured two finger widths down from top and drew that as angle into the middle of the first (from the outside) large vertical bend mark and cut down from there. I first used a dremmel to dig into the metal and basically draw my lines, giving my rip saw a guide of sorts. I didn't have any metal cutting blades (swore I did) so I used hybrid blades, the ones that are made for wood but also cut thin metal. I managed to go through two blades and it took longer but it did work.
Note to self, don't assume you have the part, double check first.

 

[Eric@K5OptimaStore]

And since I mentioned it above, I cut my bumper today to make room for some DRL's I was also installing. Took a bit. I did the angle cut so I preserved part of the OE sides of my bumper. To get the cut correct, this is what I did... I measured two finger widths down from top and drew that as angle into the middle of the first (from the outside) large vertical bend mark and cut down from there. I first used a dremmel to dig into the metal and basically draw my lines, giving my rip saw a guide of sorts. I didn't have any metal cutting blades (swore I did) so I used hybrid blades, the ones that are made for wood but also cut thin metal. I managed to go through two blades and it took longer but it did work.
Note to self, don't assume you have the part, double check first.
View attachment 128394

I like how you did the angle cuts. Looks good. I go back and forth on the drls because of the cutting. But it would give me a reason to buy the tools. lol

 

[JasonS]

I like how you did the angle cuts. Looks good. I go back and forth on the drls because of the cutting. But it would give me a reason to buy the tools. lol

Wear safety glasses and ear plugs when you do it. And get a few metal cutting rip saw blades, you'll burn through a couple. Make sure you get 6" blades or longer though. And I took the time to use a dremel tool to "score" my cut line which made it easier when using the rip saw.

From the top of the bumper is two finger widths down. When looking the bumper there are two vertical humps/lines on each side of the bumper where it goes from being straight to curving back. The outermost hump/line is where you want to cut up from the bottom. You will only need to cut half way up because you will be coming in diagonally from your two finger widths down position.

Once you cut out a piece of your bumper, put some spray paint on the edges to seal them up and give it that stock look. Takes a bit and its loud but its not difficult by any means. I can post more cutting pictures if you or anyone needs, just let me know. Good luck

 

[SR11SX]

Dude again nice progression.

 

[Optimaniac]

Ok guys the plastidip is off. (thanks god!) It was put on for effect to see if I would like the black panels, and I very much did, all the way down through the rocker panels. Well I had always planned to wrap in vinyl so now with the help of my buddy Brad over at b-wrapped.com I have vinyl replacing the plastidip. Not only it is gloss now, but it looks oh so good! See for yourself! This is some premium 2mm gloss black vinyl and I am very happy!
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Nice!

---------- Post added at 11:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:42 AM ----------

Well thanks to folks like you and others, I have good advise to work from. And a long list of mods to do!
Well here are some fished pictures of the SX bumper on my EX-T with the brake LED lights, rear lip diffuser, black bumper protector with silver K5 lettering, and color matched red splash guards. Took some time but looks great!

View attachment 127001 View attachment 127009 View attachment 127017 View attachment 127033

The turbo EX has the same rear bumper/diffuser as the non turbo EX yes? I saw your link in another post where you said the guy color matches yes? The $148.99 is the "painted" price? Also how is it mounted? Have to remove the bumper? Looks really good.

Dave

 

[JasonS]

The turbo EX has the same rear bumper/diffuser as the non turbo EX yes? I saw your link in another post where you said the guy color matches yes? The $148.99 is the "painted" price? Also how is it mounted? Have to remove the bumper? Looks really good.

Dave

Hey Optimaniac thanks for the comments. I have an EX-T model and I swapped out bumpers to get the SX bumper as it has a lip in that the diffusers use to "hang on." the rear SX bumpers are pretty cheap to buy online but then you need to get it color matched. I know a local auto paint guy so he hooked me up for a good price.

Yeah that diffuser was that price painted from south Korea. Its a steal. But to answer your question of how the diffuser attaches it is thus.... the upper part of the diffuser was 3m tape, just peel and stick, while the bottom attached with 4 small screws that ship with the diffuser. All in all, real quick and easy, just make sure you are attaching to a clean surface.

And no, you do NOT have to remove your bumper to add the diffuser. Hope this helps!

 

[Izzy]

JasonS your Optima looks awesome you've done a great job.

 

[JasonS]

Thanks everyone. I have a few more mods to post here. I was able to get a great deal done this past weekend. So this past weekend I took off my front bumper again because I had some DRL's to install, horns (above), color matched fog surrounds, hids, and wanted to wire my angle eyes as drl's as well. Well here are pics from my drl install. As you can see they are 3-wire drl's and the fog surrounds are color matched. Plenty of DIY on the forums on removing the bumper cover and installing drl's I don't need to link em. Enjoy!

Removing the OE fog surround. Handy note: you need to loosen up the lower plastic grill to remove or insert new surrounds.

Color matched fog surrounds.

Install onto the bumper cover one piece at a time. Install the surround, then the drl, then the fog lap. Trust me, you want to do it in these three steps.

Here it is all together. And wiring the two together.

Here is how it looks when turned on and from the front.

 

[JasonS]

A few of you have wanted some more pictures of my headlights. They are amazing! So here they are, by popular demand...

 

[Triple-K.Hybrid]

Love check your showroom brotha! so much pics and updates, keep it up :thumbsup:

 

[JasonS]

So last weekend with my front bumper off the car I decided to switch out my low beams for HIDs. I bought some Tempest Sportiva 35W 6000K hids based on feedback from others and I must say I am pretty impressed with kit thus far. Its a relay kit, came with good wiring, some wiring shrouds and plenty of length and solid connectors. The color appears to be spot on and the brightness, omg, these are bright. There was two issues though. Sometimes the lights struggled to ignite and once ignited, there was the famous hid flicker and a decently loud humming coming from the relay.

I fixed the ignition issue buy installing a larger fuse than what came with the kit. I just went from 20a to 25a and made a large difference.

The flickering and relay hum was fixed after some good research here and elsewhere on the web. The issue is in how modern cars handle headlight electricity. They pulse the current to the lights which is why the relay hums and the lights flicker. Once I understood this I found the solution in capacitors that can be bought locally at Radio Shack. For $5 I got myself a 4300uF capacitor which I wired across the positive and negative of the relay input from the car headlight harness and flicker and relay hum disappeared. Good to know. I was about to spend a lot more on cancelers and it turns out I wouldn't have needed that part, so yeah for me! So here are some hid build pictures. enjoy!

How the relay is wired

ballast mounting and wiring on the passenger side

The 4300uF capacitor I added across the positive and negative of the car headlight relay input to knock down relay hum and headlight flicker.

I added identical capacitors right before each ballast to ensure a stable and even supply of power.

 

[JPness57]

Dude your car is look phucking phat and I'm jelly as a mofo!!!!

 

[JasonS]

Next trick up for this pony is the Korean Center Console. I loved how classy the cup holder was and it sold me. If there is one thing I don't like about our Optimas, the cup holder area is just plain ugly, and that's being nice. The Korean version is more refined and has a classy sliding cover to top it all off. You can pick one up at several places if you are willing to wait about 4 to 5 weeks, or from David @ K5 Optima Store - K5 Optima Korean Spec Center Console Keep in mind you will also need this: Center Console Box Tray Utility Box Fit Hyundai 2011 2013 Optima K5 | eBay as the American center console box tray does not fit.

Here are some directions to removing your center console which is quite easy I must say. I didn't need to remove my shift knob, I just left it in the neutral position and was able to remove everything with zero issues. http://www.optimaforums.com/forum/64-diy-appearance-body-modifications/24705-center-console-sliding-door-over-cup-holders.html

Now my cup holder lights are separate and I got from some Korean website a while back (sorry don't remember). I painted the edges of them black to minimize any light bleed and drilled holes in the bottom of the center console cup holder to feed the wires. There are many places to ground a wire so the black lead was easy. For positive 12 volts when the headlights are on, I tapped a blue wire from the harness which supplies power to the two power outlets. its easy to find and confirm with a multi meter.

This mod made a huge difference to me in how it looks and with cup holder lighting is subtle and looks amazing as well. I can still fit my phone and bottles/cups of water in the holders just fine too despite the smaller size.

Korean CC on the bottom and our "American" version on top.

Removing the center console. Notice in the neutral position, you do not need to remove the shift knob.

Wiring up the cup holder led plates.

Assembled, ready to be installed in the car

This is how it looks in the car. You also see my K5 mats I own.

This is how it looks with lights out (I had dim light from the house shining in).

 

[K5 Optima Store]

I love it Jason. Not only the mods, but your attention to detail when posting them up. Great work and I seriously cannot wait to see your finished build. :thumbsup: (Well then again, is it ever finished?) :lol: