2026 on order. What first mods should I make?

[Riptide]

Placed an order for a 2026 GT Premium 6speed Carbonized Gray Metallic Performance package nite pony package magneride active exhaust. I’m not out here trying to make times for Texas 2k or anything like that but some performance boosts would be nice. Trying to see what yall would Recommend for early / first mods? I know a lot of people are saying catch can and most say you only NEED passenger side but is that true or is it just worth doing both? Also exhaust recommendations? I had off-road x pipe Borla atak on my 4.6 and now I have off road x pipe corsa axel back on my 14 5.0. Looking for something loud that works with active exhaust but still sounds good. Really interested in Borla atak cat back but the video doesn’t sound all that great. Anyone have any experience with it in person? Does the Borla switchfire actually sound good?

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[Q6543]

Day 1 mods I went with were steeda springs, cradle bushings and locating dowels.

Lowers the car, noticeably better handling and ties the IRS into the chassis.

Easy and noticeable driver performance mods.

 

[roket]

first mod i recommend is swap out those terrible Pirelli tire for Michelin or Continental. something you should also know about exhaust systems is that the active compatible systems are much more expensive than the non-active versions, sometimes nearly doubling the price. i cant comment on the catch cans, but i have run 33k miles on mine with no catch cans and no issues. from what i have read, catch cans are more mandatory if you are adding forced induction

 

[Riptide]

first mod i recommend is swap out those terrible Pirelli tire for Michelin or Continental. something you should also know about exhaust systems is that the active compatible systems are much more expensive than the non-active versions, sometimes nearly doubling the price. i cant comment on the catch cans, but i have run 33k miles on mine with no catch cans and no issues. from what i have read, catch cans are more mandatory if you are adding forced induction

Yeah I’ve been looking at pricing on exhaust and I’ve definitely noticed the difference lol but I think it’s worth. I live on some land with my family (15 acres, 8 houses in total) so I went with the active exhaust as my 4.6 was pretty loud but at the time I was in school so I wasn’t too too worried about it. Now I work shift work at leave the house at 4am so I would like some sort of control over the noise volume.

 

[Riptide]

Day 1 mods I went with were steeda springs, cradle bushings and locating dowels.

Lowers the car, noticeably better handling and ties the IRS into the chassis.

Easy and noticeable driver performance mods.

Yeah I definitely am planning on doing the steeda atop the hop starter kit at a bare minimum after watching their video on the stock comparison and seeing itsjusta6 do it on his channel as well

 

[roket]

Yeah I’ve been looking at pricing on exhaust and I’ve definitely noticed the difference lol but I think it’s worth. I live on some land with my family (15 acres, 8 houses in total) so I went with the active exhaust as my 4.6 was pretty loud but at the time I was in school so I wasn’t too too worried about it. Now I work shift work at leave the house at 4am so I would like some sort of control over the noise volume.

you might find the Corsa systems and Borla Atak systems too loud, then. maybe look at a Borla S-Type cat-back

 

[Riptide]

you might find the Corsa systems and Borla Atak systems too loud, then. maybe look at a Borla S-Type cat-back

I’ve seen s types too I just miss the rumble I got from the Atak on my 4.6. I’m hoping AE will help some with the noise level

 

[roket]

I’ve seen s types too I just miss the rumble I got from the Atak on my 4.6. I’m hoping AE will help some with the noise level

well, if you decide that the S-Type is too quiet, the only difference between it and the Atak is a small resonator on the muffler pipes, so you can just cut them out and weld in new pipe if you really want it louder

 

[Frogdog1]

I would recommend no exhaust mod until you hear what you get first.

Catch cans don't cost squat so why not?

 

[zpduff]

Wheels and tires

 

[Riptide]

Wheels and tires

Not a fan of performance pack wheels? I planned on doing tires but personally I’m a fan of the wheels

 

[zpduff]

Not a fan of performance pack wheels? I planned on doing tires but personally I’m a fan of the wheels

It's the main reason I didn't order PP. They are narrow, heavy, staggered, and pirelli tires suck. I preferred to just have the nite pony wheels for winter.

 

[tj@steeda]

Happy to help with any ugprade needs you may have

Either the Steeda H-Pipe or the Stop the Hop Starter Kit is a great start!

 

[Riptide]

Happy to help with any ugprade needs you may have

Either the Steeda H-Pipe or the Stop the Hop Starter Kit is a great start!

Appreciate it. Definitely gonna grab stop the hop but I’m more of an x pipe guy myself

 

[Germansheperd]

Appreciate it. Definitely gonna grab stop the hop but I’m more of an x pipe guy myself

If you have active exhaust I’d do the Steeda H pipe and call it a day. It sounds way better than the X and makes a few HP more on the S650.

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