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Rio mods suggestions

22K views 27 replies 8 participants last post by  zion_89 
#1 ·
Hello people,

I'm new on the site, I hope all of you are enjoying your Rio's :).
I'm located in Costa Rica and just finished the process to get my own car, they will deliver it by Dec and I can't wait to drive it.

I'm getting the Kia Rio Sedan, Auto, In graphite color, in CR this model only comes in 1.4L at 107hp (white and silver cars are way too common here)

Here's a picture of it (not taken here but its exactly the same)



To be honest this will be my first car so I know nothing of it yet.

This is what I currently drive until I get my car:

I love it but it's very impractical for some aspects, very useful in others..

So anyways, I had a couple of questions about the car:

1. I want to change the rims but I'm very unsure if I should go for 15's or 17's (17's look awesome but the streets in here might make them more prone to flat tires,) which ones could you recommend? I'm planning to get dark ones but still unsure.

2. A friend tells me I can get up to 30hp extra by changing the exhaust and the air intake. Is it true?

3. What actual benefit do I get from changing internal lights for LEDS and external for xenon?

4. Any ideas about some easy mods I can do?

I like how the car looks stock, but I want to add a little something so it will stand out from any other Rio's near, people here tend not to mod new cars (which I think is boring).

Greetings.:lol:
 
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#2 ·
1. If you get proper tyres you wont have that problem as much as you would expect. You dont always have to go with low profile tyres when upgrading wheels. Also 18"s can fit on the Rio.

2. Haha.. No. Maybe if the Kia was a V8 you might see those numbers but its a small capacity 4cyl car. Exhaust and intake changes are very little hp wise. Exhaust and intake you get around 10-15hp on average. Many people then question the effort of it; why bother. You have have to understand smaller engines will give smaller results. With little cars its more about how they deliver over how much they put out.

What you can expect from changes to intake and exhaust on the Rio is big improvements in torque delivery in your lower and mid range RPM band. Depending on what style intake you go with you also see improvements in your upper RPM band.


3. Longer lasting bulbs??

4. Pinstriping, chrome black-outs, K badges etc. Everything else starts to cost money
 
#3 ·
Thanks TJ85,

1. I will then get 17's after I research some tires that aren't low profile for them, also I need to chose color.

2. Lol yes I figured those numbers he gave me where a little over the top, maybe ill do those changes later on to improve torque.

3. Cool

4. Wow pinstriping looks great, but I might need a pro to be able to do it right haha, I will definitely do it on the back but very subtle, thanks.

I think I won't change the badges though, the kia ones aren't so bad.


If anyone has some other suggestions or ideas please reply :lol:

Greetings
 
#7 ·
That looks great!, I will speak with the dealer to see if they can apply that as soon as it arrives (is that expensive?). thanks :)

How do those 17's feel when driving it? I also see the headlights have that orange tint, I think US versions have that, here they come without that tint.

Greetings, love your car btw
 
#9 ·
Thanks ocd_person but I only found these:

I'm not sure how is the process to bring them though.

Ok great!, so far I have this list:

- New rims 17's (glossy or matte black, or matte graphite, hard to chose:mellow:)
- Tint windows at 20%
- Exchange internal lights for LEDs
- Exchange headlights for xenon at 8000K
- Exchange reflector lights (if I get any here)
- Some kind of pinstriping (which I guess ill design later)

With this I'm sure it will look awesome.


Things I might add if the money is there:

- Veloster X band
- Better sound system (the one it has seems very good for me though)
- Improved exhaust
- Better air intake

If i'm missing something in the list please let me know

Also I found this spoiler


Has anyone tried or plans to try this?

Greetings people:)
 
#13 ·
Normal tint is usually cheaper than polarizing. Polarizing blocks out glare and reflects heat without losing visibility. Some polarized tints can have metallic look.

With wheels, you can always powder coat or get wheel mask for them if you find one you like but not in the colour you want.
 
#14 ·
There's Tinting, polarizing, and polarized tinting.
If you look up what polarizing does, you'll know the difference between the three just by their names.

I wouldn't know the difference in pricing, but tinting will give you privacy where pure polarizing would not. So just keep that in mind.
 
#16 ·
Thanks ocd_person, that site has lots of great options. I will use that.

Just a thought, It could be great to make a compilation of sites that offer Rio parts, I know there is a post about it but compile them in one single post could be more useful.
 
#20 ·
So I've been discussing about the rim sizes for the Rio, some people and also the kia dealership seller say that if I go for larger rims (16,17) the way the car drives will change a lot, the suspension might be affected, very common flat tires (our roads are bumpy), my dad also added that I will somehow lose torque 0_o, among other issues.

Will changing rims actually affect this much? I thought it wasn't a big deal but too many people pointed it out.


My dad told me it could be better to keep the tires it has and just change the r15 rims for better looking r15's.

I was also checking on the rim sizes and tire sizes and it seems there are a big array of differences. Friends say they need to have at least 60-70 profile to save me flat tires. So I guess they should be 195/65-R15?.

I thought it was as simple as "plug and play" haha.
 
#21 ·
Larger rims usually equate to larger moments of inertia which always results in larger amounts of rotational inertia to overcome for both accelerating and braking.

Think of a figure skater doing a spin, and how they can spin faster with their arms tucked in, and then when they extend their arms the spin slows down. The same amount of energy going into producing the spin results in a much faster spin for the lower moment of inertia case, which is when their mass, which doesn't change, is in closer to the point around which they are spinning.

In short, there's usually more energy spent to get the larger rims up to speed, and then more energy to get rid of to bring the larger rims to a stop. Since the tires themselves generally weigh little compared to the weight of the rim, they usually offer very little compensation to the effect of the rim diameter change.
 
#23 ·
Cool that explanation was perfect, I understand what my dad was trying to say now haha thanks.

So based on this, the lower the engine hp the more a bigger rim will affect the way the car drives. That added with the flat tire issue I will end up getting r15's, but if I can get r16's with a profile of 60 or more I'll go for it:)
 
#24 ·
You said "Will changing rims actually affect this much?"...
Yes it sure can and the suspension can be damaged from the "ride" which is NOT covered by the warranty.

We have two Spectras (one 2006 16" rims the other 2007 15" rims).
My 06 Spec came with 16" with low profie tires and my wife's 07 with 15" standard steel rims and conventional tires...

Her car is much quieter and handles bumps with less jarring.
My car has a much harsher ride but handles turns and curves better.

Going with larger rims and lower profile tires looks neat but you will pay with a
harder ride and more cabin noise and more tire damage from your roads.
Dave
 
#27 ·
I've also got a Graphite Rio, although it's the 5 door hatch, and was looking at wheels at Tire Rack's web site. Their web site puts up a graphic of your car, in the color of your choosing, and then you can see what any of the wheels they are selling will look like on your vehicle. After looking at over a dozen different wheels, I concluded that I preferred a silver or bare-metal wheel against the Graphite, but your taste may be different. On my yellow Avalanche, I painted its aftermarket wheels grey, so it isn't a case of just basically preferring non-painted wheels.
 
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