'06 Eclipse... what to mod...
 

Alright, I just bought my first brand new car... an '06 Mitsu Eclipse GS. It's a beauty, and I love her to death, but I'm sure there are some improvements I could make. I'm looking to you fine folks here at the TFP to help me out. Things I KNOW I'll be doing:

* Once parts are available, I'll replace the plastic "matching" gas cap with the alloy one available in the GT.

* Not that it's a mod, but the first brake job will include changing to ceramic pads (and possibly changing out the rotors and maybe calipers, any suggestions?)


What other _small_ changes could make it look spiffy without going overboard or destroying my car?


~X

sweeeeeeeeeeet, i didn't know they were already on sale!

a cold air intake is always a pretty cheap way to a little more "spiffiness"
antisway bar
suspension? (don't know exactly what it comes with)
(tasteful) wheels

a nice sound system is always a plus too ;)

the door is usually wide open on eclipses to do as much or as little as you want. good luck!


p.s. this thread is useless without pics! :D

http://www.rsportscars.com/foto/08/eclipsegt06_05.jpg

Soon I'll have actual pics of my own car, but this is what they look like. Oddly enough, the alloy wheels that came stock are pretty nice, and the sound system is sweet... though I may retrofit it later with their deluxe sound system (that includes a nice Fosgate system).

Otherwise, yeah... I just want those little touches to make it the sweetest car I can... and they just went on sale nation-wide last Thursday, though no dealership got more than 2 to sell up front. w00t!

are you willing to do mods that void your warranty?

probably not... but Mitsubishi is fairly lenient when it comes to such things... what did you have in mind?

me nothing was just wondering...on my plan for purchase for a 2007 model in the future I'm considering mods that do not inadvertantly void the warranty.

changing calipers and rotors would definitely void the warranty unless it was done ala MINI with the JCW brake kits.

check and double check. you don't want to make a mod, then find out later when you make a warranty claim that they point to your mod and say, "Sorry bro... you invaldidated it."

Wow, really? Changing calipers and rotors does not appear to void my warranty at all (though I'd talk to the Mitsu service dept. first).

looking at the warranty on the website it does not look like it does, as the same as the MINI website. But from being in the MINI forums for the past year or two, I know for a fact that people are surprised when they find out that their mods did in fact void their warranty.

Mitsubishi is KNOWN for voiding warranties.......

Nice looking car, I like it a lot better than the current/now soon to be previous version. I owned a '90 GS-T from new back when they came out and it was fun.

From that nice pic, I would have to lower the car to reduce that huge gap between the top of the tires and the wheel arch. Of course you could do that with lowering springs and suffer ride comfort, or go with adjustable coilovers at much greater expense. The wheels look OK, but to make it personal and more unique, I always like a nice aftermarket wheel. If you are not going to seriously hammer on the car on a road course, I would stay away from aftermarket brakes for a while till you feel out what you have. The brakes are adequate for normal applications. While some like the looks of drilled rotors, they are notorious for cracking when used hard.

When the warranty runs out, hopefully by then somebody will have a turbo or supercharger kit developed for this car ;)

Lower it and slap some nice 17 or 18 inch rims on her:D

I couldnt agree more, First thing I thought when I saw it was "gotta fix them wheels"

has 17 stock... and it can't get too much lower... mine is not exactly the same as the pictured model...

I don't think that there's anything visually wrong with it. I like the wheels, and think that they work well with the body design of the car (that is, after all, why the engineers put them together, dont ya think?).

If anything, she'll probably need power and engine mods. My question, though, is why would you buy a new car if you weren't 110% happy with how it looked and/or performed?

I love how it looks, and I love how it performs... I also loved how much it cost. Doesn't mean it can't be better... Frankly, it's by far the best car I've ever owned on almost every level. *shrug* Never hurts to add those little touches to make it more mine than the same car that the guy down the street owns...

People modify Vipers and Ferraris.

It's part of the hobby. Take what they give you and make it better. I mean people are modifying Prius(es?).

:lol: Seriously? I thought those were only bought by people who didn't care about performance or looks.

As for the Eclipse, I think you should leave it alone looks-wise (except for maybe changing the tail-lights). Don't change the brakes unless you're managing to fade them. You'd be compromising something else. I'd go for engine mods, although that would probably invalidate your warrantee.

How much is this car?

My personal favorite is the Nissan 350Z, and the new Eclipse has a few resemblances to that, but I'm curious about the price difference.

Regarding the car itself.. I would prefer darker tinted tailights that weren't so obvious, and chrome rims that had a non-spoked design. Also, tinted windows might look nice depending on the car's color.

Warranty
Warranty
Warranty...


Sorry. Improper spelling is a little bit of a pet peeve of mine.

lol...


Well, I paid roughly 22k with 10y/100k full bumper to bumper warranty (worth it), and mine is a GS auto (w/ Sporttronic... which I thought was lame, but actually love). It's a dark, deep red (almost like candy apple) and yes, tinted windows would be perfect...

It does have some resemblance to the 350Z and also to the TT (the curves and slopes) which is why I liked it... it drives VERY smoothly. Actually, better than most sports cars I've tested that were more expensive. The ONLY downside to it is it's turn radius... it sucks... Otherwise, it's WAY more car than you pay for... even if you go for the GT fully loaded (at roughly 28-30k)

A nice little hula girl for the dash.

Well to be honest they are modding them to get better fuel economy. But the same spirit is there. Take a stock car and change it to make it better.
There isn't a car made that somebody probably hasn't done something to at some point.

Oh and the warranty thing...the law is here in the states they can't void your warranty based a mod. They have to prove whatever mod you did caused the damage.
If you switch out your brake rotors for example and let's say...you crack a piston. They can't kill your wararnty and they will HAVE to fix your engine under warranty.

Do you have links to any of those laws? I think others here might be interested as well...

Wel gets some pics of your wheels up in here, it would be easier,

It's called the Magnunson/Moss act.

http://www.lumenique.com/Cars/cargen...arrantygen.htm

There's more indepth info there.

Well, I finally have a few pics of MY car:


http://www.xepherys.net/gallery/sear...chstring=mitsu

those things look a hellava lot like a Mercury Cougar.

great looking car though.....but those side mirrors stick out like a sore thumb. they seem so out of place being so far from the door hindge.

You missed this section

"However, this does not apply to aftermarket performance parts, that are not OEM-like direct replacement parts"

If the aftermarket part is suspect to causing the damage then yes they can refuse to honor the warranty. However if the part is an OEM replacement part made to OEM tolerance then they must honor the warranty, if the part is subpar and not made to tolerance you have to seek out the part maker for damages because the car manufacturer does not have to honor the warranty for the affected system.

Key thing there being affected system. No matter what if you put a performance intake on and develop brake troubles they can't say we aren't going to fix your brakes.

They can make some pretty circuitous excuses if the system that fails is in any way related to the system you modded though. I wouldn't be above getting something in writing from Joe Mitsubishiguy stating that whatever mod you asked him about will not void your warranty.
Whether Mitsubishi is going to be around to fix anything by the time your warranty expires is another issue.

What else did you look at before buying this thing? Why'd you pick it over any of those? I'm just asking because this is the only thing I've read about that car so far, and it isn't exactly encouraging.

Odds are the brakes aren't gonna be the problem, if your brakes fail while using your upgraded performance you probably have other broken things to worry about. :-)

Yea I used to work for mitsubishi, they really have a non-caring attitude about things and they don't have much of an eye for quality. Basically as long as it works it's good, doesn't matter how terribly it works just that it works. I don't just say this about the lower employees, the attitude is passed down from management. At the facility I worked at they celebrated the company's birthday/anniversary every month, then they had other parties that I won't bother going in to.

Man, eclipse really took a giant step forward as compared to the step they took from their 99-2000. I have a really old school 93 and I personally thought the previous model to this looked like shit, but man, this one is gorgeous, reminds me of the Z, which is definitely a good thing. Congrats on it man, aside from rims and tints, and a few minor interior details like those mentioned, I wouldn't touch it.

interesting... it's not too far off from the concept...

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...hlight=eclipse

I've looked at a few other cars, and frankly I liked this one the best. As I've mentioned before, it's only downfall so far has been a large turning radius. The complaints in the article regarding handling are either elitist, or misguided. I drove frmo Phoenix to San Diego over Memorial Day, which take a few hundred twisty, turny, mountainous miles on I-8. Not only was it speedy, it handled beautifully, took corners with ease and was the nicest ride I've had in a car in a long time.

The interior spacing is decent. The front is extremely comfortable. The back can be provided those in front move their seats up (to a still comfortable position). I wouldn't stick someone over 6' tall in the back, but since I'm 5'8", I could care less about that. *shrug* It is, after all, MY car.

The trunk offers more than ample space for groceries, luggage, a small body... whatever one might need it for. Again, it's a sporty car, not an SUV. It isn't supposed to be designed for spaciousness. The back end being a copy of the "Audi TT" is both true and auspicious. The fastback design is common is several cars today (the TT and the Nissan 350Z most notably). I can't seem to fault Mitsu for going along with a popular trend. Personally, I like the front end. I think it looks sporty and chic. The overall look of the car, to me, is one of speed coupled closely with elegance. It's not a Mustang or any other sporty car. It comes in colors not the norm for many similary cars (like fire engine red that tends to be popular, or sport yellow).

For all the complaints of size and weight, it gets decent mileage (I average 30mpg). Frankly, I'm not sure the author of the article actually DROVE one of these cars. Maybe some assumptions were made based on concept models or statistical data?


Did you work at a factory? Dealership? Design Center? Having worked for many years at a General Motors Deisgn and R&D center (in Warren, MI), I can say the same goes, to some extent, for pretty much all auto manufacturers (GM, Toyota (a close GM partner) and others). Warranty repairs have two facets... those which the manufacturer deem acceptable, and those which the dealership and insurance underwriter will accept so as not to get sued (it happens). I pay an small additional fee to go to 10year/100k miles full bumper to bumper coverage. The underwriter gaurantees any repair (with a $100 deductible) that does not involve a wearable part (brake pads, oil filters, etc.). I'd be interested to hear what specific concerns anyone might be able to offer me. Having read over the warranty documentation, there's no way they could get out of any reapir I can currently conceive of ... at least not without me suing them (and winning). *shrug*

That reminds me.. I saw a prius wit hracing seats with wha looked like a 5 point saftey belt... and I saw a minivan with a set of those wheels that spin, and the classic coffee can exhaust pipe. People are insane :crazy: .

I would do suspension and wheels, maybe a few interior mods, don't waste your money doing I/H/E, if you wanted power you shoulda gotten the GT, and don't plan on doing too much racing in that thing if you like having your warranty, if they have any inclination to think you've been racing it, they'll drop you like a sack of potatoes. Nice car otherwise, they're new gen is really good minus the rear end IMHO, they're gettin back to their 2nd gen roots which is a good thing. Enjoy.

- Dave

I don't plan on racing it at all... I didn't care to get the GT either. I'm not looking to put rice-burner spoilers and can-sized muffler tips... I just want to put a touch here and there to makes it LOOK nice... inside, outside... Tinted windows, MAYBE new wheels. I appreciate all the opinions, but I'm not so much an enthusiast of auto-modding as I am enthusiastic about having a new car and looking to add a touch or two of personalization.

If you put a wing on that thing I will drive to your house and slap you...:)

Yeah, I'd never... I'd never no matter what car I had, but...