The almost perfect roadtrip car (Miksfield's AB ITS)

[miksfield]

I've had my Apex Blue Integra Type S for a couple months now (thanks Acura of Ramsey) and I'm loving it more and more. After a couple mods, my car has proven to be the almost perfect roadtrip car.

A little background on me and why the ITS has proven such a good fit. I currently own an ND2 MX5 (ohlins, tomei exhaust, etc.) and until a couple months ago owned an Ariel Nomad. I've also previously owned a Porsche GT4, a '73 Corvette Stingray and an '85 Hachiroku (among others). This is all to say that when I bought the ITS, I wasn't looking for a sportscar because that itch is already being scratched. I was looking for a car that I could go on long drives comfortably and then still having some fun in the twisties.

This is what I think most of the naysayers don't understand about the ITS. The ITS has proven to be the perfect "5 hour drive on the highway and drive a fun twisty road on the same day" car. A quiet, comfortable cruiser, a fantastic manual shifter and power and suspension for when you want to have fun. I don't expect my ITS to be a sportscar and so I've modified it to become the perfect roadtrip/daily driver. I focused on trying to lower the road noise, improve the stance, and having it be as carefree of an experience as possible. Here are the list of mods that I've done so far and what I'm planning to do.

1. PPF
2. Ceramic window tint
3. Power folding mirrors
4. Dashcam
5. Power tailgate (writeup here)
6. Spoon rigid collars
7. Bonoss spacers
8. H&R springs
9. Alignment
10. Various viny overlays (tinted the orange in the front, tinted the third brakelight)
11. Acura roof rack and roof box
12. Rear wheel arch sound proofing (Resonix)
13. Carbon Fiber Center console overlay (might get the Overland Alcantara center console in the future)
14. Lloyd Ultimats Floor mats
15. Wrapped the cargo cover in "Velvet" - I'll have to do a writeup on this but it surprisingly helped with road noise
16. "winglet" attachments to front A pillar - I'm pretty sure this does nothing but it also didn't hurt so I left it on.
17. Pedal dance sticker

Mods left to do
1. Spare tire
2. All season tires
3. Maybe 18" wheels
4. Vanity license plate
5. Later I might consider changing the backseats into 3-people seats as well as adding rear vents and USB charging
6. Other possible mods include an intake, cooling mods, RMM, shifter bushings etc.

Why is the car "almost" perfect? Well no car is really perfect but there are two things that I found in the ITS that I really wish it had. Namely, no moonroof and the backseat height is a little lacking. Otherwise, I can't think of anything else.

Picture from last month's roadtrip to Pittsburgh

Roofbox and tinted orange front reflector

"Winglet" that may or may not be useful

CF overlay (and red vinyl S)

Power liftback and "velvet" covered cargo cover

 

[miksfield]

Bonus pic - my Ariel Nomad. This pic was from a photo session from last fall that I had in preparation to sell the car.

 

[LunaticSM]

I've taken my ITS on multiple long road trips since getting it back in February, including driving halfway across the country three times (Midwest to NYC). I already have close to 6,000 miles on it.

Getting Xpel double ceramic coated tint on all the windows is a must for comfort. I would also recommend the dealership optioned premium floor mats, trunk liner, and cargo net.

The fact that this manual transmission car has adaptive cruse control and lane keep assist is great. I wish the lane keep assist wasn't so active that it required you to move the wheel every 10 seconds, but on a long highway drive it's nice to have.

The sound system is also pretty clear for listening to podcasts and not having the to have the volume excessively loud to hear it clearly.

Less tire noise and better sound deadening would be welcomed, but it's not too bad stock.

Overall an excellent road trip car. I can even fit a pair of 170mm skis in the back by folding down the back right seat.

 

[ITSDAD]

I've had my Apex Blue Integra Type S for a couple months now (thanks Acura of Ramsey) and I'm loving it more and more. After a couple mods, my car has proven to be the almost perfect roadtrip car.

A little background on me and why the ITS has proven such a good fit. I currently own an ND2 MX5 (ohlins, tomei exhaust, etc.) and until a couple months ago owned an Ariel Nomad. I've also previously owned a Porsche GT4, a '73 Corvette Stingray and an '85 Hachiroku (among others). This is all to say that when I bought the ITS, I wasn't looking for a sportscar because that itch is already being scratched. I was looking for a car that I could go on long drives comfortably and then still having some fun in the twisties.

This is what I think most of the naysayers don't understand about the ITS. The ITS has proven to be the perfect "5 hour drive on the highway and drive a fun twisty road on the same day" car. A quiet, comfortable cruiser, a fantastic manual shifter and power and suspension for when you want to have fun. I don't expect my ITS to be a sportscar and so I've modified it to become the perfect roadtrip/daily driver. I focused on trying to lower the road noise, improve the stance, and having it be as carefree of an experience as possible. Here are the list of mods that I've done so far and what I'm planning to do.

1. PPF
2. Ceramic window tint
3. Power folding mirrors
4. Dashcam
5. Power tailgate (writeup here)
6. Spoon rigid collars
7. Bonoss spacers
8. H&R springs
9. Alignment
10. Various viny overlays (tinted the orange in the front, tinted the third brakelight)
11. Acura roof rack and roof box
12. Rear wheel arch sound proofing (Resonix)
13. Carbon Fiber Center console overlay (might get the Overland Alcantara center console in the future)
14. Lloyd Ultimats Floor mats
15. Wrapped the cargo cover in "Velvet" - I'll have to do a writeup on this but it surprisingly helped with road noise
16. "winglet" attachments to front A pillar - I'm pretty sure this does nothing but it also didn't hurt so I left it on.
17. Pedal dance sticker

Mods left to do
1. Spare tire
2. All season tires
3. Maybe 18" wheels
4. Vanity license plate
5. Later I might consider changing the backseats into 3-people seats as well as adding rear vents and USB charging
6. Other possible mods include an intake, cooling mods, RMM, shifter bushings etc.

Why is the car "almost" perfect? Well no car is really perfect but there are two things that I found in the ITS that I really wish it had. Namely, no moonroof and the backseat height is a little lacking. Otherwise, I can't think of anything else.

Picture from last month's roadtrip to Pittsburgh

Roofbox and tinted orange front reflector

"Winglet" that may or may not be useful

CF overlay (and red vinyl S)

Power liftback and "velvet" covered cargo cover

Always loved the look of cargo boxes/roof racks, this looks beautiful!!
Any concerns with the roof rack affecting the paint?

 

[grahm]

Nice writeup. How much did the added sound deadening help? Did you do it yourself or get someone to do it?

 

[miksfield]

Always loved the look of cargo boxes/roof racks, this looks beautiful!!
Any concerns with the roof rack affecting the paint?

I got a small portion of my roof ppfed as well because I was worried about scratching my paint. We'll see how well it holds up

 

[miksfield]

Nice writeup. How much did the added sound deadening help? Did you do it yourself or get someone to do it?

I did the sound deadening myself. Probably ended up adding around 10 pounds. I still haven't done the front fenders yet but I might get to that eventually.

I used the instructions here:
https://resonixsoundsolutions.com/how-to-sound-deaden-wheel-wells/

It was pretty easy. The hardest part for me was getting the wheels back on the car. Lol. They're basically just big stickers that you stick on your fender. I got resonix cld squares and resonix fibers.

 

[Krazydan19]

Starting my road trip tomorrow! Did a short up and back from austin to Dallas. Got me really excited for the trip from austin to Florida.

 

[nix6speed]

Bonus pic - my Ariel Nomad. This pic was from a photo session from last fall that I had in preparation to sell the car.

Tell us more about the Ariel. Was it street legal? How much yeeting can it handle?

 

[QUIKAG]

Interested in your 'velvet' sound deadening measures and the Resonix stuff. Can you give more details on how much Resonix for the rear wheel arches and where you bought the velvet and how it was installed on the cargo cover?

That is probably the most annoying (unrefined) thing so far is it's relative loudness on certain surfaces on the highway. Compares in start contrast to how quiet it is in my 5 Blackwing. Obviously different cars and price points, but I do wish my ITS was a touch quieter on the highway for long road trips which I'm going on a couple this summer. So, would be good to mitigate some of it for my wife, kids, and me.

 

[nix6speed]

If we are talking road trips my ITS has been on the following:

Columbus, Ohio to Houston with a stop in Nashville
Houston To Austin roundtrip twice
Houston to Dallas roundtrip twice
Houston to Charleston roundtrip with Tail of the Dragon and other stops along the way

Other than the fuel range being 280-300 miles depending on how much lead is in your foot it has proven to be excellent for eating highway miles. Short 5th and 6th gears mean less downshifting which isn't a bad thing.

Mine is stock and only disagreement is lowering springs improving the ride on road trips. I leave mine in individual mode with all Sport+ and suspension in comfort mode. Save the stiffer settings for fun roads.

 

[miksfield]

Tell us more about the Ariel. Was it street legal? How much yeeting can it handle?

I loved that car. First time I drove it, I laughed so hard I hurt one of my ribs. It was street legal and I took it to the track, I took it off roading, I took it to dinner. I drove it in the rain, snow and all kinds of weather. I put 10k miles on it over 3 years.

Manual steering, no abs, no traction control, no AC, no heating, no sun visors even. I had to wear ear protection when I drove it.

But the memories I made and the people I met were priceless. I joined a car club where the president owned an Ariel Atom, I made friends with the local shop, I got hollered at by little boys and retirees (rarely by any women). Haha. But all good things come to an end and I got married last year and once my girlfriend became my wife, she demanded that it had to go. :/

 

[miksfield]

Interested in your 'velvet' sound deadening measures and the Resonix stuff. Can you give more details on how much Resonix for the rear wheel arches and where you bought the velvet and how it was installed on the cargo cover?

That is probably the most annoying (unrefined) thing so far is it's relative loudness on certain surfaces on the highway. Compares in start contrast to how quiet it is in my 5 Blackwing. Obviously different cars and price points, but I do wish my ITS was a touch quieter on the highway for long road trips which I'm going on a couple this summer. So, would be good to mitigate some of it for my wife, kids, and me.

I'll make a separate post about modding the cargo cover but I basically bought some "velvet" from Amazon and covered the cargo cover.
https://a.co/d/fb88Noq

For the rear fenders, heres my receipt. I ended up having a little bit left over after doing just the rears.

 

[QUIKAG]

Thank you for the info! I'd presume about double the material for front and rear fender wells?

Thanks again!

 

[miksfield]

Thank you for the info! I'd presume about double the material for front and rear fender wells?

Thanks again!

Yea probably more like 1.5x what I ordered to cover the front and back but I'm not sure if you can purchase that amount.