2013 Sonic LT Time to Customize

[CjCsonic]

Hello All,
My name is Cris I have been a Sonic enthusiast for some time now. I work for Napa Auto parts and ever since we got one as a delivery vehicle I myself have wanted one. I have been driving chevy's for some time started with a 89 Corsica and five chevrolets later I traded in my trailblazer for my new sonic.
It is the 1.4 turbo motor black and beautiful with so many future mods in my mind I can't wait to go nuts on this car. I plan on tinting it out, CAI, upgrade inter cooler, add some gauges, drop it down a lil, and well see from there. I'm no stranger to modding my last car was lifted and mildly modded. I've been working on cars and trucks since I could walk and been in the parts biz for almost 7 years.
I believe I have a lot to offer the Sonic community here and hope to take some notes and lend a helping hand if needed.
Well thanks all ahead of time for the greetings and what not. Here I go again new toy, new vision, and new friends!!!

 

[wingman]

Welcome aboard and congratulations on your new toy!

 

[juxt3r]

Greetings from one noob to another.

I've found this site to be very informative so far!

 

[CjCsonic]

Yeah no matter what car I purchase I always find a forum community to join, it's helpful and fun!

 

[Swordsmith]

An oft repeated mantra; if you plan on modding the car for anything but looks or sound, the first thing you need to get is a Tune, because the stock tune on the Sonic is deliberately set up to remove any improvement you make to power. This is true not only of actual mods, but of such things as making more power due to colder weather's denser air. It means the Sonic delivers consistent power; consistently the worst it is capable of.

Trifecta tune is well respected and has shown very good results, but there are alternatives, the main thing is that you need to do -something- to basically jailbreak the car. On the 1.4T, a tune will be the biggest power increase you'll see for any single mod, anyway, but is also needed to make anything else pay off.

You didn't mention a couple things; auto or manual, sedan or hatch.

And most importantly, Pics!

 

[CjCsonic]

LOL, yeah I forgot to mention she's a hatch and opted for the auto trans. I plan on getting a tune at a local shop I've used before, they say put your parts on and then get your tune which makes sense.

 

[CjCsonic]

Oh and pics coming soon, she's a lil dirty after the rains here in IL.

 

[Yosemite Sam]

Welcome to the family!! :banana:

 

[AndrewGS]

Welcome!

 

[CarrollComputing]

Welcome, what are some of the mods you plan on doing?

 

[sx sonic]

Welcome to the family and congrats on the purchase.

I've noticed alot of auto stores have switched over to Sonics. Maybe we'll get even more converts because of this.

Edit.

Like yourself I was going to get my Sonic tuned by a local shop that did my Truck but after reading on this forum I got the Trifecta Tune because of the features and number of people that have had good results, as well as the fact that they do ALOT of sonics. Whether you get Trifecta or have your local boys hook up your tune is of course up to you. I just feel obligated to atleast give you easy access to some material to help you make an educated decision (there's also VTuners doing custom tunes that appears to show good results)

link to Trifecta thread: http://www.sonicownersforum.com/forum/bad-news-racing/1063-official-trifecta-sonic-tune-thread.html

 

[Swordsmith]

Yeah for a long time the only Sonic I saw other than my own was my local Advance... then my local Nappa got one too. Oddly neither have put any logos on them, can't quite figure that out.

Take a good look at what Trifecta has to offer in their tunes before you go to your local shop; I think there's a lot to be said for having local people do your tuning for you but Trifecta is pretty feature-rich these days, they'll get you all the power available from your 1.4T and also monkey with your auto transmission to improve it's decision making process. Make sure your local guys are up to doing all that without charging you three times what Vince will.

He also is set up so you data log your car and he updates the tune each time you add a mod, rather than their recommended procedure of doing all mods and then doing the tune a single time... just a thought.

 

[CjCsonic]

I have looked into the trifecta tune probably will end up goin that direction since my local shop offers two dyno pulls and 2 hr shop tune for 450.

The future mod list is getting long already. I am currently fabbing up an intake and hope to get the inter cooler piping set up and away everything will go to powder coat. I will be making a custom gauge pod set for the tray on the upper center tray, well see how that works out. One of my customers from napa does the best custom exhaust in the area looking to go 3 inch.

The hardest thing right now is trying to decide the accent or offset color for this black beauty.... I've been thinking green.... Maybe red.... But blue is my favorite color.... Can't decide lol!

Oh and sx sonic I noticed one of ur pix was maybe at best buy in Joliet? Behind Ashley furniture? If so my stores the one on Jefferson st if you ever need any thing.

 

[sx sonic]

I have looked into the trifecta tune probably will end up goin that direction since my local shop offers two dyno pulls and 2 hr shop tune for 450.


Oh and sx sonic I noticed one of ur pix was maybe at best buy in Joliet? Behind Ashley furniture? If so my stores the one on Jefferson st if you ever need any thing.

Sounds like you're going to have a sick build when its all done!

Yea that was the best buy In joliet. I'll deffinetely swing by the store if I'm in the area, maybe let you drive a tuned sonic