Upgrades / Mods recommendation
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Intermediate
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 46
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From: NY
Upgrades / Mods recommendation
Myself being a Car/Corvette noob, I wanted to get some opinons on getting upgrades to the vette. I just bought a 2003 Coupe black/black with 11kmiles, pretty much everything stock. I have about 2k to drop on this car and I was wondering what upgrades / mods do you think would be wise purchasing?
I was looking to get rims, intake and having the windows tinted, anything else that I should look into?
Thanks
-ITVetteGuy
I was looking to get rims, intake and having the windows tinted, anything else that I should look into?
Thanks
-ITVetteGuy
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I would do it in this order....
1. Exhaust with an X-pipe
2. Intake
3. Tint the windows
You won't have a lot leftover for wheels, but keep an eye in the C5 Parts section. There are lots of guys migrating over to C6's that have C5's looking to recoup some of their money on their mods....you could find some real bargains there. It really all depends on what kind of wheels you want, if you stay with the stock sizes, you'll be able to keep your tires.
Assuming that you are still running the OEM Goodyears, (at 11k I would think so) you find that an aftermarket tire will make the care much more pleasant to drive, quieter and will ride better. But if you are going to upgrade one, why not wait until you can upgrade both the wheels and tires.
1. Exhaust with an X-pipe
2. Intake
3. Tint the windows
You won't have a lot leftover for wheels, but keep an eye in the C5 Parts section. There are lots of guys migrating over to C6's that have C5's looking to recoup some of their money on their mods....you could find some real bargains there. It really all depends on what kind of wheels you want, if you stay with the stock sizes, you'll be able to keep your tires.
Assuming that you are still running the OEM Goodyears, (at 11k I would think so) you find that an aftermarket tire will make the care much more pleasant to drive, quieter and will ride better. But if you are going to upgrade one, why not wait until you can upgrade both the wheels and tires.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 2,847
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From: Sleepy Hollow- NJ
Unless looks are more important to you than performance and sound. I changed the rims on my '99 to the thinner stock spokes in chrome, found on '01 and up, after I had done the entire exhaust system. I like performance 1st.
The stock rims, look better...than the stock exhaust sounds. You could hear me coming way before you could see what my rims look like.
I too had a budget every month/year. I used the rest of my money in the following order, over the course of 3 years:
1)Exhaust with x-pipe
2)Headers and high flow cats
3)'01 chrome rims and Eagle GDS3's
4)Blackwing intake
5)SLP mass air flow and ported throttle body
6)Z06 intake manifold (which comes stock on the '01 and up)
7)B&M shorty shifter
8)stage 3 heads,crank and 224 cam
9)Dyno tune
If you plan on changing the rims, you may as well wait to change the skins too. This way you can change the rim size and go with a lower profiled tire with bigger rims, if that is what you like.
I never tinted the windows on my C5. I have been pulled over twice for tint on my C4 and had to peel it off both times. I'm over wasting my cash on tint, plus, why would I want to mask who the owner of this bad A#$ ride is.
Have fun!
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Joined: May 2006
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From: Wilmington NC
*tint's cool, if you like it. i happen to 
BUT if you get it done, and you don't ever want to get hassled... look up your state's laws on tint. i moved from NY to NC, and wow - you can get away with a LOT more tint legally here than in NY.
but look up your laws, tint to the max, and keep the papers in your glovebox to back you up if you have any issues. shouldn't be as long as they have a light meter. i've never had any issues since i was 16 (25 now) in all my cars, b/c i just went by state tint laws.
BUT if you get it done, and you don't ever want to get hassled... look up your state's laws on tint. i moved from NY to NC, and wow - you can get away with a LOT more tint legally here than in NY.but look up your laws, tint to the max, and keep the papers in your glovebox to back you up if you have any issues. shouldn't be as long as they have a light meter. i've never had any issues since i was 16 (25 now) in all my cars, b/c i just went by state tint laws.
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For the $2K you have, what you listed will just about take up that total. Next on the list would be a new cat back exhaust IMO.
Burning Brakes
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