09 Civic VTI and new to Honda's

Hi all, we here are just 6 hours old Honda owners, the car is mechanically very good (Country car) but a little worn inside for age IMO. It's my wife's car after she wrote the last vehicle off in an 80km//h zone, no-one hurt and not her fault...a Getz pulled out on her from a give way sign.

Anyway time for an all round nicer and safer vehicle than the old faithful 10 year old Lancer that is now a write off.

Just a few questions on the Honda....

1. the spare key seems to have a flat battery...how does it come apart?

2. The vehicle has cheap 65 profile tyre's fitted, plan to fit good high performance 60s all round very soon (Saturday possibly)...any ideas whats good today and well priced in this size...or just whats good at least.

3. The vehicle has an air con pollen filter....where is it and how do i change it?

4. I will service the car myself, I am reasonably versed in most things mechanical,....are there any parts in general servicing I will be forced to buy only genuine...or really just should?

5. Car has no tint.. if anyone knows the name of the best tint available today in the darkest black looking shade considered legal...I have heard that there is a lot of cheap and nasty available today.....we want to be happy forever with the tint.

6. This is probably enough questions already..sorry.......got a few more that can wait....but the last one and it might be the hardest is I plan to use a very high quality Castrol boron based gearbox oil that I have used on all my vehicles for years...does the 09 VTI manual have any metal inside the gearbox that means I shouldn't use it?? off hand I forget the type of metal but anyone up on these things might know.

Thanks and cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nice!

Just a few questions on the Honda....

1. the spare key seems to have a flat battery...how does it come apart?

2. The vehicle has cheap 65 profile tyre's fitted, plan to fit good high performance 60s all round very soon (Saturday possibly)...any ideas whats good today and well priced in this size...or just whats good at least.

3. The vehicle has an air con pollen filter....where is it and how do i change it?

4. I will service the car myself, I am reasonably versed in most things mechanical,....are there any parts in general servicing I will be forced to buy only genuine...or really just should?

5. Car has no tint.. if anyone knows the name of the best tint available today in the darkest black looking shade considered legal...I have heard that there is a lot of cheap and nasty available today.....we want to be happy forever with the tint.

6. This is probably enough questions already..sorry.......got a few more that can wait....but the last one and it might be the hardest is I plan to use a very high quality Castrol boron based gearbox oil that I have used on all my vehicles for years...does the 09 VTI manual have any metal inside the gearbox that means I shouldn't use it?? off hand I forget the type of metal but anyone up on these things might know.

Thanks and cheers

---

Hi! Welcome to the Forums!

1) There should be a small screw behind the key just above the Honda Logo

2) Im not good with tyre brands. As i only use cheap China Tyres. No point of High Performance tyres on a low car that needs new tyres every 6 months

3) Answer should be in the User Manual Book

4) I have a 2010 Honda Civic Sports and I dont use any genuine parts. The car is due for a Major Service soon
And im thinking about using Genuine Belts, Transmission fluid, Power Steering Fluid and Everything else is going to be Aftermarket

5) Depends on your location and what deals they have. Im from Victoria/Melbourne and I got mine done at Tint Professional. 35% Tint (Darkest legal tint depending on your state) and Life Time Warranty even if the vehicle gets sold. Warranty still continues with new owner. Never had any problems. Paid $350 but was 2 years ago.

I hope thats helped you lol

Thanks Honda_FD for all that...yes it did help..I found that tiny screw (I looked didn't see it before, thought it was just a molding, eyesight is getting worse) and removed it to find inside the most slimline battery I have ever seen...so that's getting sorted.

Tyre's are still a hard case....trying not to buy the standard 65 profile as I know from experience the all-round driving experience/safety gained from just dropping a profile to a more responsive tyre design is quite large on virtually any vehicle. dunno what to do there given insurance...which sucks.....it's getting sorted slowly.

Tinting yeah Ok forgot about it being a state regulation...one of the cars we looked at had quite dark black tint, I assume the car yard was not going to remove it to pass rego....will keep researching, price seems ok too for good quality film.

Thanks for the understanding that we may only need to buy aftermarket...the manual doesn't show the pollen filter and strictly I dont need an aftermarket manual as a car is still just a car except for peculiarities like this and electronics...when I start looking for it's location and if I find it it will be out pretty quick I expect...its probably behind the glove box.

Nice little car and I want to bring it up to a bit better spec than manufacturer like I do for all my cars asap.

Still cannot remember the composition of yellow metals in the gearbox this oil doesn't perfectly suit...think I will just do it anyway.

Thanks again for the replies.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nice!

Hi all, we here are just 6 hours old Honda owners, the car is mechanically very good (Country car) but a little worn inside for age IMO. It's my wife's car after she wrote the last vehicle off in an 80km//h zone, no-one hurt and not her fault...a Getz pulled out on her from a give way sign.

Anyway time for an all round nicer and safer vehicle than the old faithful 10 year old Lancer that is now a write off.

Just a few questions on the Honda....

1. the spare key seems to have a flat battery...how does it come apart?

2. The vehicle has cheap 65 profile tyre's fitted, plan to fit good high performance 60s all round very soon (Saturday possibly)...any ideas whats good today and well priced in this size...or just whats good at least.

3. The vehicle has an air con pollen filter....where is it and how do i change it?

4. I will service the car myself, I am reasonably versed in most things mechanical,....are there any parts in general servicing I will be forced to buy only genuine...or really just should?

5. Car has no tint.. if anyone knows the name of the best tint available today in the darkest black looking shade considered legal...I have heard that there is a lot of cheap and nasty available today.....we want to be happy forever with the tint.

6. This is probably enough questions already..sorry.......got a few more that can wait....but the last one and it might be the hardest is I plan to use a very high quality Castrol boron based gearbox oil that I have used on all my vehicles for years...does the 09 VTI manual have any metal inside the gearbox that means I shouldn't use it?? off hand I forget the type of metal but anyone up on these things might know.

Thanks and cheers

---

2. Bridgestone RE002 ... well that's what I'm considering getting. The Dunlop 300's aren't bad, I've done 40,000KM and they're almost worn out.



3. Its behind the glove compartment, you have to squeeze in the sides of the glove box to get to it (see the video and the link bellow)
http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/diy-h...placement.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhDF2tJWVkQ



5. Tint-a-car? ... they offer a lifetime warranty with their tints.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nice!

2. The vehicle has cheap 65 profile tyre's fitted, plan to fit good high performance 60s all round very soon (Saturday possibly)...any ideas whats good today and well priced in this size...or just whats good at least.

3. The vehicle has an air con pollen filter....where is it and how do i change it?

4. I will service the car myself, I am reasonably versed in most things mechanical,....are there any parts in general servicing I will be forced to buy only genuine...or really just should?

5. Car has no tint.. if anyone knows the name of the best tint available today in the darkest black looking shade considered legal...I have heard that there is a lot of cheap and nasty available today.....we want to be happy forever with the tint.

---

Hi and welcome to ozhonda! I've got a 2010 Civic VTI, so I've got a few answers for you.

2. Dunlop Sport 300. Really good tyres in my opinion. I have 195/60/15 on my 2003 Corolla and they are fantastic... 20,000KM and barely even worn. Holds out well in the wet but don't expect to take the racing circuit with them.

3. I don't think it has an air con pollen filter. This was an option for ALL civics and is listed in the accesory brochure as an option. I am planning to get one installed when I have time. Cost is $45 from the dealership and it's behind the glove compartment, just squish and pull the compartment down and remove the cartridge hosuing thing right behind it. Make sure the arrows match up when you install the pollen filter.

4. The only thing I use genuine is the oil filter. As for oil, 10-40W works fine. I buy some cheapo oil at my friend's mechanic workshop in a 300L drum and haven't had any problems in the last 26,000KMs.

5. I went through my dealer to get ints done when I got the caer. Turns out they got a solartint dude out to do it. I got the darkest legal tint with UV filtering or whatever it is. Came with a lifetime warranty as well! No problems for the last 3 years and I am happy compared to the tint I got done professionally on my Corolla which hasn't bubbled or changed colour, but the texture isn't as good.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nice!

Hi all, we here are just 6 hours old Honda owners, the car is mechanically very good (Country car) but a little worn inside for age IMO. It's my wife's car after she wrote the last vehicle off in an 80km//h zone, no-one hurt and not her fault...a Getz pulled out on her from a give way sign.

Anyway time for an all round nicer and safer vehicle than the old faithful 10 year old Lancer that is now a write off.

Just a few questions on the Honda....

1. the spare key seems to have a flat battery...how does it come apart?

2. The vehicle has cheap 65 profile tyre's fitted, plan to fit good high performance 60s all round very soon (Saturday possibly)...any ideas whats good today and well priced in this size...or just whats good at least.

3. The vehicle has an air con pollen filter....where is it and how do i change it?

4. I will service the car myself, I am reasonably versed in most things mechanical,....are there any parts in general servicing I will be forced to buy only genuine...or really just should?

5. Car has no tint.. if anyone knows the name of the best tint available today in the darkest black looking shade considered legal...I have heard that there is a lot of cheap and nasty available today.....we want to be happy forever with the tint.

6. This is probably enough questions already..sorry.......got a few more that can wait....but the last one and it might be the hardest is I plan to use a very high quality Castrol boron based gearbox oil that I have used on all my vehicles for years...does the 09 VTI manual have any metal inside the gearbox that means I shouldn't use it?? off hand I forget the type of metal but anyone up on these things might know.

Thanks and cheers

---

Thanks for the good suggestions.

1. sorted!

2. I live regional so I need a couple days notice to get tyres shipped in usually, gee places are slack here for range so I already did a deal on 4 of these, $600 if anyone is interested, largely to just to keep to the Honda car up-spec things ticking along.

http://www.yokohama.com.au/Tyres/C-Drive-2.aspx. 205 x15 60's

I have always been a Yoko buyer from way back and had massive fatty's fitted to my V8 panel van, sizes only seen on super cars today... ,last set which was on the Lancer that got crashed was the A -Drive and the older model A -Drive than sold today (no way will I allow 'eco earth' or like to be printed on any of my tyres, unless they give them to me free)...seriously I hated to drive that car with the GT branded standard sized tyres it came with second hand.....so after my first highway drive I bought the a-drive's and it fixed the car up massively in comparison (the GT's where still near new too, and this new car has GT's fitted...go figure that probability)....my wife who drove the old car all the time said she kept trying to steer into round about's until she got used to the new a-drives and the cross wind stopped pushing the car around at speed....gotta love that.....never discount the awesome difference decent tyre's make to any vehicle imo.

3. Ok thanks stevo and lilmclol will keep all that in mind and search the links.....the car may not even own one then...dunno good or bad ...certainly cheaper if none fitted.

4. I will buy everything aftermarket then, think I found out the genuine filters are actually Fram brand (at least in the USA)...if so any other brand will do just as decent job. Saturday is the day to source it all, Sunday the day to fit it all.

5. tint-a-car, I think that it's the only large tinting company I have distance related access to will see how that goes. Seems from my research only crappy 35% tint is legal unless elite enough to own a new and expensive car with special privacy tint or the like...gotta love the legal comparisons our government is happy to make between every person. Found out my Nissan patrol is illegal here qld because I did the rear wagon windows in Limo tint myself 6 years ago....so hypocritical are the regs....even the Limo tint is easy to see out of at all times.

A new question please...thinking of mag wheels to replace the steel 15x6 inchers, I have roped myself into a corner ordering the 15 inch tyre's so they will need to be 15x6.5 mags and for me to justify them the need to be physically lighter than the standard steel rim's so they pay us back over time with economy gains..and cheapish too 200$ absolute max!

Am I wasting my time trying to find cheapish light mag sin this size for the 09 Civic VTI.

cheers and thanks again.

Are you thinking of aftermarket or factory alloys? I used to have the hubcaps but then took the plunge and got the 15 inch 5 spoke factory alloys for $400 at the time from a friend... now only 200 to 250 a set on ebay with tyres. These wheels are made by enkei and seem pretty light to me... i prefer factory wheels as they dont have to have a hub centric ring etc required for most aftermarket wheels. But if you spend like 200 on aftermarket wheels... they will be pretty crap quality and possibly heavier than the steel wheels... i reckon alloys are more aestetic than economy!
If however you favour light wheels over aestetics... get the 15 inch civic hybrid aluminium wheels, dont look the best but definitely lightweight and cheap!

"If however you favour light wheels over aestetics... get the 15 inch civic hybrid aluminium wheels, dont look the best but definitely lightweight and cheap! "

That's what I am talking about.....great intel thanks stevo...will see if I can find some around the place.

Little update on 'our' new Civic...got the new tyre's fitted yesterday, transformed the car into something much much nicer...nothing was wrong with the old ones legally and they where near new but they where relatively cheap....one only needs to use 1/3 of that part of the brain now to drive above 60km/h....massively less busy to just drive in comparison.

Tried to get a fuel filter and an air cleaner but had no luck at Repco then ran out of time, did source an oil filter from them. Drained the sump but kept the old filter in and added some quality oil to the sump to replace the horrible domestic vehicle stuff the dealers sell and most people buy of the shelf as a replacement...going to do 600km like this as a flush then refill with the quality oil again and the new filter. (the filter is in an unusually tight spot in this car too)

This morning I took a run back into town to another parts place and sourced an aftermarket fuel filter and a new air cleaner which I threw in the moment I got out the shop.....the old air cleaner is what prompted my drive in today....never seen one so dirty (suspected villan is the pollution control recirc system) but it was not all that...simply 40k or more since last replaced.

Car now has torque straight from idle, half the throttle and clutch control necessary now to take of in traffic....beautiful.

Car is turning into a Nice! drivers car....it was a relative dog earlier, now it's just great.

Afternoon jobs include the fuel filter fitting, manual transmission oil change and I might if I can be bothered pull the plugs just to see whats up there......I find working on cars a bit of a chore because I have done so much of it in the past and now I am getting older...but this one has been gratifying so far the change made from3 days ago when we first drove it away from the wholesalers.

The fuel filter, when these are at about 2/3rd's the way toward overdue they play constant havoc with all things nice in power and torque delivery, with no service history that shows it's last replacement I am looking forward to see what the replacement might do...the car is already and now a fairly lovely general drive around.

cheers

I am sure you will LOVE the Civic compared to the old Lancer as its a much better car.

What car do YOU drive ???

Hi antony, I am not going to say the family's proper good car because it's not where i need to go here but I also have a 96 Nissan patrol 4.2 diesel that pulls the reef boat all over the place...absolutely love that car.

Yeah the Honda certainly does drive better than the lancer...even more so now because of the small fix it's.....for such a cheap car in the real world it actually does have a lot going for it...our first ever Honda....we have a few company cars to choose from and a couple are modern Lancers and they are good too....everything's pretty good today...one needs to drive a car much closer to the top shelf to really get a feel for what modern motoring is capable of....still the everyday vehicles don't loose out for everyday.

Another update...took the car out with the GPS as we always do to something new and the honda is way out, not the worst I have seen but it was a worthy exercise, here are the numbers....only 1% of the total error might be a tributed to the new 205 60 tyre's.

To travel across the earth at 100km/h the Honda speedo needs to read 107Km/h, 90 - 96, 80 - 85, 70 - 73.5 (if it could) etc etc

Also got comprehensive insurance on it today if anyone is interested for 316$ AAMI...all drivers over 40 with clean history stuff, excess for younger drivers, 1 excess free windscreen and a discounted car hire for a couple weeks.

Closest anywhere else was well over 450$.

I didn't end up fitting the aftermarket fuel filter because I should disconnect the battery to accomplish it......and we dont know the radio code...spewing actually because it's all so daft this radio code thing.

Plan now for when I can be bothered to pull the radio out and either replace with a double din or get the serial number and ask for the code....at this time I will also do the fuel filter.

Do Honda charge for this code? if anyone knows.

That's about it the car can now just be a car...I will let this thread die now as the car has caught up to where it should be and my Honda basic knowledge of our model is now much higher than the nothing I had when I started the thread.

cheers all and thanks for the help and comment.