Kia Optima Forums banner
Cancel
Create thread New Garage Forums

► JasonS Spicy Red EX Turbo Showroom

Tags
&#9658 jasons red showroom spicy turbo
Jump to Latest
61 - 80 of 165 Posts
Discussion starter · #61 ·
So over the weekend I decided to paint my calipers. Went down to the local auto store and picked up some red caliper paint. Boy does this paint have some fumes! Good thing I had a fan in my garage! I ended up with three coats per caliper and I have plenty of paint left over so I saved it in case of a chip or something. These were hand painted while on the car jacked up with the jack it comes with. I will say it took a while. I pretty much did one tire a night. The first coat dries quickly so you can immediately come back with the second coat. I waited about a half hour after to put on the third. I did go out any purchase better brushed though as the one it comes with sucks! And I did use a wire brush to clean off the calipers before I painted em; there was a decent amount of dust. Here are some pictures.... about $20 bucks and a couple hours for 4 nights! They look amazing on the car now.
 
Discussion starter · #64 ·
juanye86 said:
I need to paint mine, hopefully I do as a good a job as you did. What did you use? Did you tape anything off?
Click to expand...
Thanks guys. This isn't hard but it is time consuming. The brush the kit comes with is junk, just toss it. You can buy some better brushes at Walmart in their craft section. The paint goes on thick and the first coat will dry pretty quickly, fyi. I did use some masking tape to tape off the back of the brake pads, the bolts of the calipers, the bleeder valve and there are some thin metal plates that I taped off as well. Mostly I was just careful and took my time with the brush. I loved the paint as it seems to be auto-leveling and it turned out of so well after 3 coats. Make sure you clean the calipers first though, mine had a decent amount of brake dust I had to brush off. Good luck, take your time, and perhaps plan to do a wheel or two a night like I did! :)
 
#65 ·
Love all the stuffs coming from your car man, time is fast or your car is just changing too fast :lol: good job on the detailed pics too man :thumbsup:
 
Discussion starter · #66 ·
Ok so I decided on a rainy and over cast day here to head over to Discount Tire and have my new tires and rims put on my car. I finally decided upon some fkwheels. I got their RT7m's. They are 18" rims with a 40 offset and a 8 inch width (18x8x40). I also got new Yokohama YK580 18" tires with them. 235mm wide by 45mm tall by 18" round. I love the stance these have over my 215's. Very pretty! :)

I paid $16 dollars a tire for spin balance ($64), $5 bucks a tire for TPS rebuild labor ($20) and an extra $12.50 a tire for computer ride matching (road balancing) ($50) for a total of $134. Probably a bit more than I should, but it's done and they guys took care of my OEM tires but putting them back together, bagging em, installing a valve stem in each and airing them up.

Here's some pictures your guys! Like I said, very rainy day and the car couldn't be dirtier. My next purchase will be some tire shine! LOL But I love the stance as with the wider rim and the 40 offset of the rim, these tires appear flush with the fender. What do you think?
 
Discussion starter · #67 ·
Time to install my front strut bar today! I got this off of TaTaTaylor for a good deal one day as he passed through town. Its the white Ultra Racing bar you can find here: Ultra Racing - 2pt Front Strut Tower Brace - 2011+ Optima 2.0T [UR-TW2-1906] - $159.00 : High Performance Auto Parts Accessories | Ultra Racing | Unorthodox Racing | P2R

I don't like the color white under my hood so I got myself some self-etching primer and sprayed the bar with a couple coats. After that dried, I hit it 2 or 3 times with brushed aluminum color spray paint and viola, a brushed aluminum looking front strut bar. It turned out real nice and it matches the charge pipe and intake I already have under the hood. Let me know what you think!


As for "how the car feels" after installing the FSTB, I can indeed say you can feel a difference. I didn't whole-heartedly believe it but you can. It feels more firm, more planted when going over cracks, bumps, and what not. Certainly a difference there. It just feels more planted on the road. Glad I got one!
 
Discussion starter · #70 ·
Discussion starter · #71 ·
The other week I bought some lowering springs off Julian. He's on coils for his car shows but after much debate I decided on springs for now. So I got his H&R Springs K5 Optima Store - Kia Optima/Hyundai Sonata H&R Lowering Springs The drop is 1.2" front and 1.3" rear and its pretty solid on the mark. I think mine settled a bit lower imo. Took it to a local shop to put these on. The ride is more firm as you'd expect, like a European sports car, but certainly not bad. It closed up the fender gap on my 18" tires nicely too. What do you think?
 
Discussion starter · #74 ·
Discussion starter · #76 ·
SR11SX said:
Good show sir.
Click to expand...
Thanks! For my next trick I got my nameless performance downpipe put on by a local shop. It looks great and matches up well. It's a 3" downpipe and very solid. The bolts from NP could have been a half inch longer as the guy putting on the DP said they were just long enough for the nut to fit. Boo on NP for providing short bolts. Here are some pics. I don't know what next as it's pretty cold out and tough to get anything done in this winter weather. Enjoy! 2011+ T-GDi Downpipe - Nameless Performance
 
Discussion starter · #78 ·
Julio Kia said:
I see an MP and Cat-back in your future !!!
Click to expand...
LOL, mid certainly coming soon. Almost pulled the trigger on a Depo Racing HFC mid until I read the reviews here and on the Sonata forums. Gonna stay away from it. I'm waiting for a gently used Nameless or CP-E with HFC mid! :D
 
Discussion starter · #79 ·
61 - 80 of 165 Posts
About this Discussion
164 Replies
38 Participants
Last post:
Dubbayoo
Kia Optima Forums
posts
528K
members
49K
Since
2010
Optima Forums is the community to discuss the Kia Optima as well as custom Kias and all the accessories to personalize your Kia!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
3rd Generation Optima (2011 - 2015) New Member Introductions Engine and Technical Discussion Entertainment: Audio, Navigation, and Electronics 4th Generation Optima (2016 - 2020)