Just purchased a 2020 SI Sedan

letsgoMINAJE

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I have no clue where to start. I assume I should start with intake and maybe exhaust. I am not sure though. I haven't had any type of sport performance car like this since having my Evo 8 11 years ago. Although it's my car and my decision on what I want to do to it, a little direction or pointers or simply information never hurts.
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marcopolo

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Congrats! I just picked up one two weeks ago. Previously had a 2018 Civic Sport MT. I had a ktuner on it and was very happy with the results. Just received one for the Si yesterday. Since you are asking about intakes and exhaust, I'd suggest either a ktuner or hondata first.
 

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Congrats! What color did you buy?

As @marcopolo noted, Ktuner/Hondata are the best “bang for the buck” performance mods you can make. Very popular around here. They do put your warranty at a (slight) risk, though, so you may want to wait a bit before tuning. Which is what I’m doing.

Tire upgrades are another popular choice. Good tires can make a world of difference. No warranty issues there.
 

marcopolo

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@MaxPower is absolutely right about the tires. They are horrible. I've been researching new tires for the past few days.
 


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letsgoMINAJE

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Thanks everybody! I will look into tires. Any insight as to why the stock tires are bad?
Congrats! What color did you buy?

As @marcopolo noted, Ktuner/Hondata are the best “bang for the buck” performance mods you can make. Very popular around here. They do put your warranty at a (slight) risk, though, so you may want to wait a bit before tuning. Which is what I’m doing.

Tire upgrades are another popular choice. Good tires can make a world of difference. No warranty issues there.
Is it affecting the warranty simply because it's modifying the stock settings that the car was built to function with?
 

2020MSMcivicSI

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I have no clue where to start. I assume I should start with intake and maybe exhaust.
I've been drinking so forgive the long post but....

Both of those mods are really for sound only. Intake lets you hear the turbo more and the exhaust lets you hear the motor more. They are both minimal hp/torque additions on a stock car.

If you want the best "bang for the buck" for this platform, I would follow this list:
1) Tires/wheels
2) Tuner and TSP stage 1 tune
3) Rear sway bar/endlinks
4) Intake (for sound)
5) Clutch and RMM (needed for stuff below)
6) Flex-fuel and TSP stage 2 tune
7) Inter-cooler
8) More suspension (FSB, bracing, lowering, etc)
9) Brakes
10) Turbo-back exhaust, custom tune
11) Now you're looking at replacing the stock turbo

At point 6 you can be at 270 hp and 320 torque with an OTS map.... from here on out you start to get diminishing returns for the $$$ on a FWD platform and need to focus back on suspension but hey, if you got the $$$... go crazy. There is a bunch of tiny stuff you can do in between these steps and if you prefer handling over power, the list changes as well.... I tried to present a balanced setup.

Really its all up to you... there is no real order to everything other than after full bolt-ons, get a custom tune. If you do not want to invent in a custom tune, I would keep the exhaust stock.

Right now, I'm at step 5 and need to get a clutch (already got the RMM), but to be honest, I got my intake first just cause I wanted to hear more turbo even though it does little for performance.
 
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letsgoMINAJE

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I've been drinking so forgive the long post but....

Both of those mods are really for sound only. Intake lets you hear the turbo more and the exhaust lets you hear the motor more. They are both minimal hp/torque additions on a stock car.

If you want the best "bang for the buck" for this platform, I would follow this list:
1) Tires/wheels
2) Tuner and TSP stage 1 tune
3) Rear sway bar/endlinks
4) Intake (for sound)
5) Clutch and RMM (needed for stuff below)
6) Flex-fuel and TSP stage 2 tune
7) Inter-cooler
8) More suspension (FSB, bracing, lowering, etc)
9) Brakes
10) Turbo-back exhaust, custom tune
11) Now you're looking at replacing the stock turbo

At point 6 you can be at 270 hp and 320 torque with an OTS map.... from here on out you start to get diminishing returns for the $$$ on a FWD platform and need to focus back on suspension but hey, if you got the $$$... go crazy. There is a bunch of tiny stuff you can do in between these steps and if you prefer handling over power, the list changes as well.... I tried to present a balanced setup.

Really its all up to you... there is no real order to everything other than after full bolt-ons, get a custom tune. If you do not want to invent in a custom tune, I would keep the exhaust stock.

Right now, I'm at step 5 and need to get a clutch (already got the RMM), but to be honest, I got my intake first just cause I wanted to hear more turbo even though it does little for performance.

I appreciate the long post as this is basically what I was looking for. It didn't even need to be as detailed lol. Thank you.

Point 2: Tuner and TSP Stage 1 tune.
Ktuner/Hondata and TSP Stage 1 tune or pick one? lol
Sorry for my lack of knowledge all around. I don't know shit.
 

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I appreciate the long post as this is basically what I was looking for. It didn't even need to be as detailed lol. Thank you.

Point 2: Tuner and TSP Stage 1 tune.
Ktuner/Hondata and TSP Stage 1 tune or pick one? lol
Sorry for my lack of knowledge all around. I don't know shit.
If you purchase a ktuner from TSP you'll get their stage 1 tune for free. I think most people prefer the TSP tune to any of the ktuner basemaps
 

2020MSMcivicSI

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Point 2: Tuner and TSP Stage 1 tune.
Ktuner/Hondata and TSP Stage 1 tune or pick one? lol
They are both ice cream... just pick which flavor you like most.... lol
I like KTuner more.

Which flavor you choose will affect the shop that tunes your car and flex fuel setup but that's getting way down the list.... What matters most is which your tuner likes really.
 

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Is it affecting the warranty simply because it's modifying the stock settings that the car was built to function with?
In a sense, yes. Hypothetically: let's say you choose a super aggressive tune with unreasonably high peak boost. As a result, one of your rods decides it's had enough, snaps, and then escapes explosively through your engine block. That's a catastrophic failure (obviously) which is a direct result of the tune. If you bring in the car for service, the dealer detects the tune, and connects the dots - they'll void your warranty and you'd be stuck with a bill for thousands of dollars.

Now, that's the absolute worst-case/extreme scenario. The base Ktuner/Hondata tunes are fairly safe/mild, and aren't likely to result in that sort of failure. And you can flash back to stock at any time, so the dealer probably won't be able to detect the tune (this is debatable, but it's safer to assume it's a possibility). If they do detect it: they're supposed to prove that the modification resulted in the failure. And this doesn't mean your entire warranty is null and void, i.e. if your sunroof fails, they can't blame that on a tune.

tl;dr - engine tuning carries a certain element of risk. If you're smart about it, you can minimize (effectively eliminate) that risk. Even so, I think it's something you should be aware of before diving in.
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