So I just bought a used '09 Scion tC to replace my Vibe that was totaled about a month ago and I'm wanting to get into the modding scene. I would prefer to do everything myself, but I have no background in cars whatsoever, so where should I start? I do plan on keeping this car for quite some time (hopefully til it dies) so I'm not worried about spending money on it.

It's a '09 charcoal colored tC with 38k miles on it. It's paid off and all that.

I did have a local shop install an aftermarket muffler on it, was $92.65 total and I believe the brand was Glass something. Not sure if it was a good brand, but it does sound fairly nice, not as good as those $500+ ones would I wouldn't think, but it's ok for a starter mod I think.

Also, I think the headunit is aftermarket from when I bought it, but it has the Scion logo show up when you start the car.

So where should a new person start with car modding? Something simple like a new headunit and speaker systems with a sub and amp or what?

Also, it's an automatic before anyone calls that out, I have no clue how to drive a manual and didn't want to buy a new (used) car with one and not know how to drive it). Plus I live in the city so lots of start and stop traffic from time to time.

 

You can do anything you want first. Ultimately it depends on what you're going for? Example, I have a lifted jeep and so I decided the first thing I wanted was to lower my xB. Stereo systems are a good start too. It's all up to you, just enjoy your car and choose the mods based on what you want to out of your ride.

 

slap on a short ram intake...its simple you can turn a few nuts and bolts and they are hard to mess up, its a good place to start and build confidence. i run injen, check the intake sticky for options and brands available https://www.scionlife.com/forums/scion-tc-1g-drivetrain-power-1637/buyers-guide-scion-tc-intakes-55693/

 

If you have money to blow then there are tons of mods that can be done. Just keep in mind this is not a car to mod for performance. I say that because the ratio between money vs performance isn't worth it. I know in the end its "to each their own" just giving you a heads up.

 

Just so you know that is actually the factory navigation unit. It looks like the previous owner just didn't install the brackets it comes with to make it sit flush.

 

First of all, congrats on the new car! It looks really clean!
The first mods i did were intake / catback exhaust, mine is an auto trans. too, because i couldn't find a clean manual. For future references, the color of your car is called "Flint Mica". All the mods you do to it depend on your personal preferences as well as the amount of money you're willing to put into it. Some of the more popular mods are tints, lowering springs, sound system, front grilles, and HID's. I say go on Google Images or on tC forums and look up pictures of modified/tuned flint mica tC's, so you can get ideas for mods and see how it looks on your color car. Good luck!

 

First thing i would do is take the horrific glass pack out of your car that you just paid some shop to "put it" and put an actual quality exhaust on it.

After that, lower, wheels, grills, CAI/SRI...this list goes on. Search some build threads and see what you like.

 

Agreed^^^. The sky is the limit, although with an automatic tc and knowing how slow they are, I would just keep it as a comfortable daily driver. Here is my build thread that you can use for reference, I'm always happy to answer questions if you have any specific ones:

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=222850

 

That's not a decent one for cheap then? Rather $90 then spending $500 to find out its a crap exhaust I guess. I guess I learned from that one lol. Any suggestions then? I can't put no super expensive $500+ exhaust on it at my pay.

And I just decided to mount my Nexus 7 over the headunit, just got to find a way to mount it so it doesn't fall during driving and such.

Also, I'm not a mechanic by any means so I don't have any of the tools, etc needed to do these things myself =/. So I do kinda have to pay shops to do it.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tsudo-2005-2...0b74f8&vxp=mtr tsudo makes a pretty decent catback for around $220-240...i would search the classifieds first and try to find a cheap used one but its not very likely there will be one that somebody is willing to ship...a small shop will likely charge 50 to 100 bucks for installing, make friends with someone that has tools exhasts are stupid easy to put on.

 

This shop did fine putting it on I think, what about buying one and taking to them to install it? This is like the only shop around here that does anything with exhausts though so that's the problem lol.

 

If you ever decide you don't like the exhaust go with the Megan Drift Spec. OMG this exhaust sounds so amazing. I loved it on mine. Its a good price at around 300-350 too. Intake wont do much but look used if you want one. I was gonna say short shifter but since its auto no dice there. I say get some VRD fogs a VRD grille and lower it with some H&R sport springs some tokico blue shocks and get some wheels. Oh and tint as well. That's is where I would start. Oh and not sure if you can still find VRD products new but look for used ones or similar. If you want I can get you pics of the grille and fogs on my old tC to see the look and stance on some H&R sport springs.