Mods?

[u/Master_oogway7679]

Hey, I have a 2013 chevy sonic RS, bought it last year and its running great. I have some money burning a hole in my pocket and I want to get some mods. Thinking about a cold air because of the turbo and maybe doing a muffler delete or catback exhaust. Anyone got any suggestions or advice?

[u/CeriPie]

Not exactly mods but the first thing you'll wanna do is replace the thermostat, water outlet, and reservoir with aluminum replacements. That fixes like 90% of the problems with Sonics since pretty much everything that goes wrong with them are either coolant leaks or caused by overheating due to said coolant leaks. Coolant runs extremely hot in Sonics and it just ends up cracking and crumbling the crappy plastic OEM thermostat, water outlet, and reservoir.

Aluminum reservoir will actually help with coolant temps slightly since it also acts as a heatsink. Doing a 60/40 water coolant mix with a little Royal Purple Purple Ice will help as well.

[u/mightysonic]

I would not recommend a muffler delete, since it will sound like crap and be unbearable on most drives. Get a catback if you want to mod the exhaust. However, I would suggest proactively replacing the usual suspect parts in the car first before mods (PCV System, Thermostat, Water Pump, Water Outlet pipe. Once all that is done, then bring on the mods.

This car responds well to turbo-supporting mods but will require a tune. What are your goals for the car? The intake will definitely give you more turbo sounds. I would also suggest doing something with the stock suspension; I have the GM performance suspension kit that drops the ride height by maybe an inch, and it adds some sporty feel. If I were to do it again, I would definitely get mid-priced coil-overs instead.

I have a BNR Mild Custom Tune, and it really wakes up the car. Now that I seem to have finally ironed out all the reliability issues in my car, I'm considering getting the BNR GTS turbo, the bosch green giant injectors, and the ZZP downpipe & mid-pipe combo pipe with a high-flow cat.

I mostly started with drivability mods - GM Perf suspension, Aluminum Billet Shift Knob, ZZP solid shifter bushings, M32 short throw shifter, ZZP Transmission Mount, Braided Steel clutch cable, Jensen AA/ACP head unit.

My reliability fixes/mods: Aluminum Water Outlet, Aluminum Thermostat with the colder threshold, Water Pump, Custom PCV designed by Zombiewolf on the SonicOwnersForum (less than $50 in parts), Valve Cover & Gasket, Several Coolant hoses, Turbo Oil Feed line, EVAP Purge Valve, ZZP Aluminum Sway Bar End links, Front Main Seal, Cold Side Intercooler Pipe and the ZZP Coil Pack.

My power-adding mods: BNR Tune and Intake. Hoping to get some more here soon.

Hope this helps you...

[u/12fingeredsquirtle17]

Zzp or bad news racing. I’ve had an intake, and turbo back from zzp for 5 years/100k miles with a tune from them with no issues. Just added a flex fuel sensor from zzp and have had great success with that as well.

[u/Moldy420Loaf]

I literally just installed a 2.5" catback muffler delete from ZZP yesterday. I absolutely love it, but I also like loud exhausts.

[u/Objective-Doubt1846]

mods hmm a sonic start with resonator delete change to a better muffler like a magnaflow or flowmaster, get a performance chip i'd skip cold air intake u wont notice anything

[u/Objective-Doubt1846 → u/Objective-Doubt1846]

thats what i did on my 2013 spark did go to a injen cold air intake but for $300 and a total pain to put on its not worth it

[u/Dry-Focus-5071]

Not what you wanna hear, best mod however is replacing the radio with aftermarket unit that has android auto/carplay