My 08 SES w/ Easy to Do Mods

[burton560]

Hi Everyone! I finally found the time of day to post photos of my car and the mods I have already put it and the ones I plan on completing in the future.

Have done: License plate LEDs, LED back up lights, front upper stress bar, red locking lug nuts

In the works: Rear Upper Stress Bar, Red LED Tail Brake Lights w/ fixed hyperflashing without those ugly transistor bricks, custom amp and sub installation, LED switchbacks without ugly transistors, LED trunk lighting, and hopefully gonna get my calipers painted red.

Here she is, all washed and waxed



I know, shes just a baby



My new motor mount at 38,500 miles



Red Ionized Locking Lug Nuts. They were way under $30, on sale at Advanced Auto Parts. Mechanic said my stock nuts were getting rough around the edges, so I replaced them with these. The look pink really close up, but far away they blend with the rest of the car. The ionized painting is slowly chipping off anyways, so soon they will all be chrome.



My stress bars showed up on Friday! Thanks Central Florida Motorsports!
FRONT /// REAR





Before!



After!



The bar went on fine, though there is some close chaffing from a line hitting the bar. There is some wiggle space on the line. Should I be worried or is it alright like that? I used a piece of cardboard and electric tape to prevent more stress on the two and any severe rubbing.



License plate bulbs from 42 Designs.



Changed my back up lights to 921 5W CREE LEDs. Backfiring LEDs are awesome for this!
$9.36 shipped for the pair on ebay! Here!

LED bulb on the left, stock bulb on the right.



Close up of one in the socket



Both installed, lighting up the garage door



Got 4 of these guys to fix the hyperflashing. I searched around for awhile, and they had the best price including shipping. They are still on sale too!



And of course the socket doesn't fit :'(



So I found fellow FocusFanatic, zetecDon, that had a few old spares :)





Time to bust out the wire strippers, soldering iron, heatshrink, and electrical tape



Wrapped the wires with electrical tape for extra protection.



And the finished product for the rear LED brake lights

[Sponsor]

[matmatician]

Stress bar looks great! I want to get one for my 06...

[burton560]

CFM shipped incredibly fast too. I have felt a huge difference in taking turns with the front bar installed.

I'm hoping Thursday afternoon I can get the red tail light LEDs in.

[cmmike1]

your license plate leds don't flicker do they? i heard they sometimes do thats why i haven't bought any yet.

[Snyper]

Other than the difference in feel when turning, can you describe what the stress bar does? I've seen them, they look cool, if they do what I think they do, I may be interested in one.

[Slammed_2.0]

The upper stress bar doesn't really function because of our strut mounts are on the firewall. I can tell you the lower will make a slight difference.

[08ses]

How are those lug nuts cut? From what I hear its a big no-no to use aftermarket lug nuts on stock rims and the other way around because the taper of stock lugs tend to be more rounded while aftermarkets have a straight chamfer making them not seat properly.

[crice8]

Originally Posted by cmmike1

your license plate leds don't flicker do they? i heard they sometimes do thats why i haven't bought any yet.

The 42 draft design ones do NOT flicker. They are the correct wattage thus no flicker. the other led sites have lower wattage ones that cause the flicker and premature failure.

[Miller88]

Originally Posted by 08ses

How are those lug nuts cut? From what I hear its a big no-no to use aftermarket lug nuts on stock rims and the other way around because the taper of stock lugs tend to be more rounded while aftermarkets have a straight chamfer making them not seat properly.

Those look like painted stock

[burton560]

Originally Posted by Miller88

Those look like painted stock

nope!, they are these but in red