[ctzuihlin]

Hey guys i have a 2003 silver element. i want to mod it and make it look nice and differnt from all the other one haha. but i dont know where to start? any ideas. this is my first car

 

[kg4gyv]

roof rack!

http://www.handa-accessories.com/elementext.html $226

fog lamps!

http://www.handa-accessories.com/elementext.html $246

Yakima's roof rack system looks better than the factory system, and for about the same price. Something else to check out.

www.yakima.com

None of it is exactly budget minded, but they sure look good! May be able to find this stuff for sale on the forums. Just keep an eye out! I'm saving up for the fog lamps now.

 

[ApriliaGuy]

Gutter Guard grill/condensor cover. About $5-$10

Aftermarket fogs or some sort of small lights stiffed in the foglight holes. Less than $50, and you can prolly come up with something decent for $25 and a few hours of your time. Maybe some small "running" or indicator lights that are wired in with the parking lights or headlights.

Filling in your profile/location: priceless

 

[ctzuihlin]

Thanks

well im going to get my windows tinted for sure on friday for about 160 for all the back windows 5% then the front 20% then ill get a rack after that.. haha kinda broke these days

 

[ApriliaGuy]

kinda broke these days

fillin' out your profile is free. :wink:

 

[2009 ELE]

fillin' out your profile is free. :wink:

LOL :lol:

 

[Generation "X" Dad]

Wheels, spoiler (the Honda match-painted one), tint (which you are doing), some tastefully placed decals, PIAA headlight bulbs, fog lights (Honda ones of course), PIAA fog light bulbs, and such will do nicely for the outside.

IMO, if you want an accessory and Honda makes one for the Element, then Honda is the way to go. Roof rack, fog lights, etc. And if you're on a budget, this just means you have to be patient and save. Honda might be a bit more for some things but coming from a guy who has installed both aftermarket and OEM on Hondas at work, Honda has good stuff. Perfect fit, awesome quality and designed specifically for your Element by the people who made it .

Just my $0.02

 

[NV_05_AWD]

Get the Roku foglights on ebay for about $80.00... They mount just like the $250.00 OEM's...

 

[ieatflux]

hey,
all these guys here have jobs, the're crazy. I, on the other hand, dont. bout 50% of my E modded via chump change from scholarship money.

first off, the cheapest mods you can do on your E first are the
cleared headlight mod: where the orange inside your headlight is removed via baking
eyelids: by the way i just did it with automotive tape.
rear wiper delete mod: which for ten bucks, you get the 95 civic wiper delete plug and just use it in place of your wiper to make the back smooth.
stickers: careful what they say
lowering springs: used go for about 150
speakers: used, you can find Alpine R coaxials for 50 bucks a pair on craigslist. its fun to learn to wire it yourself too. the element is built like legos. everything can be disassembled
amplifiers and head units: craigslist. you can trade, you can buy, you can barter.
Grilleguy.com: cheap but professional looking grill mods. i got the denali grill on. for 25 bucks
Shift knob mod: remove the shift knob and make your own. i used a munny monkey for a shift knob.
nerf bars: on a lucky day on ebay, you will find them for 100. brand new.
smoked lights: get a 10 dollar can of smoke spray you get at a super autobacs or some import autosports store.

 

[paulj]

How about a hand painted Econoline look? That would be different than anyone else. As for 'nice', that depends on your tastes and skills.

The grill guard, while cheap, doesn't do much for looks. Roof rack - unless you make your own, it won't be unique. Stripping off the emblem or headlight color - others have done that. Bigger rims - big bucks. Meaty tires - there are dozens of threads on the topic.

 

[EL-MT]

EOC Stickers.

 

[GaryS]

To me the best way to make your car look unique is with a set of aftermarket wheels (painting your stock wheels can also work).

Tinting your windows just makes it look like about 50% of the cars on the road.

 

[Generation "X" Dad]

hey,
all these guys here have jobs, the're crazy. I, on the other hand, dont. bout 50% of my E modded via chump change from scholarship money.

first off, the cheapest mods you can do on your E first are the
cleared headlight mod: where the orange inside your headlight is removed via baking
eyelids: by the way i just did it with automotive tape.
rear wiper delete mod: which for ten bucks, you get the 95 civic wiper delete plug and just use it in place of your wiper to make the back smooth.
stickers: careful what they say
lowering springs: used go for about 150
speakers: used, you can find Alpine R coaxials for 50 bucks a pair on craigslist. its fun to learn to wire it yourself too. the element is built like legos. everything can be disassembled
amplifiers and head units: craigslist. you can trade, you can buy, you can barter.
Grilleguy.com: cheap but professional looking grill mods. i got the denali grill on. for 25 bucks
Shift knob mod: remove the shift knob and make your own. i used a munny monkey for a shift knob.
nerf bars: on a lucky day on ebay, you will find them for 100. brand new.
smoked lights: get a 10 dollar can of smoke spray you get at a super autobacs or some import autosports store.

I beg to differ and find this comment mildly prejudicial. Simply because we have jobs does not make things any different. Some of us with jobs STILL have to save up to do even the cheapest of mods, of which I am one of them. I spray painted my wheels at work on my own time, got a discount on tinted windows through the dealership and bought a black emblem from the parts dept. The only items I spent alot of money on were my PIAA headlight and foglight bulbs but even then I had to save up.

While some of your suggestions are good, I say caveat emptor with the others. As the saying goes..."Good things are seldom cheap, and cheap things seldom good.". Sure, you can do some of those mods for next to nothing, but 9 times out of 10 they look like they cost next to nothing OR they are done so half ass and rushed that you either A) makes things worse or B) have to do it over again to do it right. Clearing the headlights for example is a cool mod but I see WAY too many situations where people perform this VERY sloppily and the headlights almost always leak water or look like my three-and-a-half year old daughter could do a better job of re-sealing them. I'm sorry but clear headlights look like **** when they're fogged up all to hell, and I see it a lot both with Elements and other modified vehicles.

Automotive tape for eyelids looks ok from a distance but cheap from up close. And taillight spray wears over time and may be illegal in some states.

I'm sorry to sound harsh here but I've been in the Honda performance/show car scene since 1998 and I have seen both "cheap" mods and "expensive" mods and in the end, it's not about the price but rather how your vehicle looks when you are done. If something costs $100 and looks nice, but there is another way to do the same modification for 1/4 the price and have it look just as nice, then I say go for it 100%. But there are lots of things I see people do in a hurry or to simply try and be different and things just end up looking like crap.

Moral of my long-winded story...don't rush things or do them half-ass to simply show off, stand out or be different. It's fine to want to be different and I am the same way with my vehicles, but take your time, think things through and just know it's better to save for an extra month or two to get something nice.

The grill guard, while cheap, doesn't do much for looks. Roof rack - unless you make your own, it won't be unique. Stripping off the emblem or headlight color - others have done that. Bigger rims - big bucks. Meaty tires - there are dozens of threads on the topic.

I did the SC "Element" emblem swap (it's black coloured) and it looks awesome on my NBP hatch. Thinking of spray painting the rear emblem to match now so there's no chrome at the back other than the exhaust tip .

Grillcraft has a really nice upper and lower grille for the Element. They are a bit pricey but cheaper than Cloud Riders and they come in a wicked silver or black mesh. I have a set on my '95 Civic and love them.

To me the best way to make your car look unique is with a set of aftermarket wheels (painting your stock wheels can also work).

Tinting your windows just makes it look like about 50% of the cars on the road.

I agree with the wheels comment. I painted mine myself with flat black shop paint and they look nice. I got tire shine on the wheels one time and for fun I sprayed some on a cloth and gave them a nice wipe over. Turned out awesome and makes them look a bit shinier so now when I shine the tires I let it overspray onto the wheel and give it a wipe too.

As for tint, some like it, some don't. On the whole, having the front windows tinted to match the rest gives the Element a nice look and flows with the rest of the windows. Leaving the untinted fronts to me just looks weird, but I guess according to your statistic, 50% of the people out there feel the same way and tint them like I did ;-)

 

[ieatflux]

Automotive tape for eyelids looks ok from a distance but cheap from up close. And taillight spray wears over time and may be illegal in some states.

I'm sorry to sound harsh here but I've been in the Honda performance/show car scene since 1998 and I have seen both "cheap" mods and "expensive" mods and in the end, it's not about the price but rather how your vehicle looks when you are done. If something costs $100 and looks nice, but there is another way to do the same modification for 1/4 the price and have it look just as nice, then I say go for it 100%. But there are lots of things I see people do in a hurry or to simply try and be different and things just end up looking like crap.

Moral of my long-winded story...don't rush things or do them half-ass to simply show off, stand out or be different. It's fine to want to be different and I am the same way with my vehicles, but take your time, think things through and just know it's better to save for an extra month or two to get something nice.

whoa, i didnt say rush it or make it look like crap. just take your time and hound ebay and craigslist until something turns up. its all screws or tape, any automotive parts are interchangeable. just look here and there and do what works best for you. and yea, the term "you get what you pay for" is more than true. but that doesnt mean it should stop you from saving a few bucks when you see you can do it. what you cant make up in money, your gonna have to make up in your own craftsmanship and time. like all my audio equipment, i think i spent 3 months just hounding audioshops that are going out of business and looking for lightly used equipment on craigslist. some guy going to iraq gave me his JLw6v2 12 inch woofer for 100 bucks cause he just wanted some fast cash. i spent another 3 figuring out how to disassemble my E so i can wire it and how electricity works. smoked lights, if you buy the spray, yea, they go out in like half a year. but if you havnt got the money for a proper smoke, too bad, just spray it on, wipe it off with goof off in 6 months and spray again. the headlight mod.make sure you take the proper steps and seal it well. my headlights are still dry after 3 years.

sometimes, some cheap things are perfectly fine cause its kinda hard to screw them up. the no-name nerf bars i got on ebay are no different from oems bars. they stick inwards a bit more and sling a tiny bit lower but beyond that, i mean, its just a bar its hard to screw that up. it supports two people just fine. other times, they are cheap cause the situation; i took my mud guards from a totaled E i found at a collision center next to my parents shop, they said i can just have them.

btw, make friends with EVERYBODY. bridges are great when you need cheap things.

 

[Generation "X" Dad]

No worries my friend, I know and please don't think I was trying to crawl all over you or that I thought you were telling people to do things quickly or cheap. I've just seen things done like tape for eyelids, spray smoke for taillights and clearing of headlights at many car shows in the last decade and you'd be amazed at how much stuff people try to pull off thinking it looks good . The results I saw 90% of the time always left something to be desired and in many cases, no matter how much you tried, it was still a two dollar mod and looked like a two dollar mod. If you are able to pull those mods off with attention to detail and quality craftsmanship, then much respect to you because a lot of people don't.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm all about saving money. I refuse to pay $100 for an item that I can get for $50 online or through local sales and classified ads. But at the end of the day, I want to be sure that I'm getting my money's worth, it looks good and flows well with the lines of the vehicle and will last me. Several years ago I used to sell aftermarket performance and aesthetic parts for imports and sport compacts through my home-based business and I am a firm believer in the phrase You get what you pay for. Sometimes I'd much rather leave a part of my Element stock than modify it with something I can only get from some ching chong company in China which will leak/break/fail/wreck something else on the vehicle.

So far, I've been able to modify my Element with minimal investment and it looks good. Took advantage of Honda's deals on accessories to get my NBP rear spoiler, picked up Honda all-weather mats, painted my wheels myself, bought PIAA bulbs for my headlights and foglights, installed a black ELEMENT emblem from an SC on the back, tinted the windows and added some decals to the back window. While I may not have a lot done to the Element, it is definitely the most unique one in my area and you will notice it driving down the road for what little I have done to it. In many cases, it comes down to QUALITY, not QUANTITY. Two mods can have the same effect as five.

In the end, I realize it comes down to the tried and true "Do what makes you happy". All things being equal and within reason, if you modify your Element to make it your own and you like it, then nothing I or anyone else say should matter .

 

[Blank]

$20 worth of Krylon Fusion (Your choice of color), $10 worth of sanding material, some of your personal time, and viola!

 

[ctzuihlin]

Wow

Those are more replies then i expected Thanks everyone. soo lowering springs are only 150$ used? what would the brand be. and does anyone know where i can buy the sidesteps for cheap? thanks alot everyone ill post up before and after pics soon