5 Ways to Mod Your 10th Gen Civic for Under $250

It's easy to see how you can sink paycheck sized amounts into your 10th gen Civic, no matter what size your paycheck is. If you've ever modified any car, this is not news to you. Although the sky is the limit for how much you can spend on yours, reality eventually sinks in and you settle for spending a more reasonable amount of money, at least one hopes. If you're looking to spend a "reasonable" amount of money on your new Civic, here are some ideas for you to go have some fun without breaking the bank. We'll stick with our own philosophy here and recommend things that actually make the car perform or feel better, as opposed to some mods which leave you questioning what the hell you bought that for.

By no means is this list conclusive. There are many other parts out there that fit in this price category.

As of right now, the only set of springs we have available for under $250 is Whiteline. This is great news because Whiteline is awesome! They make tons of chassis and suspension related parts and have been around for many years.

Lowering your car can be a game changer. It can completely change the stance and appearance of the car to be more aggressive and appealing. Sometimes the right wheel, tire, and ride height combo can give you an absolutely killer looking street car all by themselves.

There are many mounts available for the car. There's even a more simple upgrade of using polyurethane inserts to fill the voids of the factory mount, which we have done on Project FC3 in the past. We just wanted to try the inserts to see how effective they are and we were pleased with the performance, for sure.

Rear motor mount insert using the stock engine mount

But for those that care about ultimate performance, especially those putting the car through track abuse, you can upgrade the entire mount. Our favorite is the Hasport mount. The quality is unparalleled and Hasport has been in the Honda engine mount game forever. All of their mount kits are extremely well designed and manufactured from the best material. For those with OCD about part matching like myself, they offer a full set of 3 mounts if you want to complete the whole set.

Other mounts are available that work very well, too. Anything on our site is worthy of being put on your car.

You might be thinking, "I thought he said parts that you don't feel like you wasted money on?" Well, some knobs are a waste of money, in my opinion. But that doesn't mean all are. Acuity makes some awesome shifting hardware. They make 2 different shift knobs. One is going to be a more standard replacement but is heavier than stock, carrying more inertia as it slides into the next gear. Some enjoy the feeling of the extra weight assisting them with getting into the next gear.

The other knob they offer is called the POCO. This is counter sunk which means that the threads from the shifter rod go all the way to the top of the knob. This makes it feel like the shifter is shorter than before and provides a slight amount less distance to get into the next gear. It's a pretty easy and quick way to change your shifting experience. You might like like it, you might not. But it definitely has purpose (plus it looks good, IMO).

This is a great mod, especially for front wheel drive cars which tend to understeer. Although you don't see it or hear it, you can definitely feel a sway bar upgrade. The more aggressively you corner the car, the more you'll notice this improvement. When you're turning, the car is trying to rollover. The car itself is trying to go in a different direction than the gripping tires. It's physics. Making the car maintain a higher level of rigidity during that action makes better use of the tires and allows the car to stay pointed as intended. The reason why a rear sway bar is preferred over the front bar in most FWD cars, like the 10th gen Civic, is because you want to produce more oversteer than what the car does naturally. Eibach makes a great set of sway bar components for the 10th Gen but we recommend checking out all available brands on our site.

You'll notice by now we haven't really mentioned much about making more power. But you can argue that controlling the power is actually more important than making it. Again, it's not a sexy modification but function is in full force here (and remember, we're sticking to under $250). Cars come with that stupid rubber hosing for brake lines these days. When you apply brake pressure, the brake fluid in the rubber (liquid does NOT compress) pushes outward and some of the pressure being transferred through the fluid doesn't make it's way to the brake pad, where it's best used. It ends up expanding the rubber. That's just stupid. But I get it, rubber is cheap and frugality is a necessary part of building anything and making a profit. So it's one way manufacturers can cut costs. But we care about performance.

If you haven't driven a car with stainless steel brake lines, you're in for a treat. The pedal is much more predictable and straightforward. The car becomes much more predictable as it's braking. All I can say is you have to experience it to know how great it is. It's definitely a great upgrade, even if you're not ripping it up on the track. Street cars love this upgrade too.

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