Honda Car Forum

I took delivery of the above vehicle two months ago. Currently, I am
contemplating adding fog lights, rear splash guards, and the auto
day/night mirror to the car. A few questions exist in my mind:

1) Should I purchase these parts online and have them installed by a
dealer? If so, what's a good place to buy online?

2) How much should I expect the dealers to charge for these parts
including installation?

3) Are these parts self-installable? Will it void any warranties?

Thanks.

Most of the installation instructions can be found here:
http://www.handa-accessories.com/accord03.html

Take a look and see if you think it's something you want to tackle. I have
a friend who has an 03 Accord Coupe EX-V6 with all three of the accessories
you mentioned. I believe the fog lights require cutting the bumper with a
hacksaw. Also, the auto day/night compass mirror requires removing part of
the headliner and the plastic a-pilar.

"PO" <anon@here.com> wrote in message
news:5sv8qvo8fum60h9b6f4bcarmjv3bqdbst1@4ax.com...
> I took delivery of the above vehicle two months ago. Currently, I am
> contemplating adding fog lights, rear splash guards, and the auto
> day/night mirror to the car. A few questions exist in my mind:
>
> 1) Should I purchase these parts online and have them installed by a
> dealer? If so, what's a good place to buy online?
>
> 2) How much should I expect the dealers to charge for these parts
> including installation?
>
> 3) Are these parts self-installable? Will it void any warranties?
>
> Thanks.

I have a 2003 Coupe, and purchased the rear splash guards and the day/night
mirror from http://www.handaaccessories.com. I downloaded the installation
instructions from both from their web site.

My dealer quoted me $600 for the day/night mirror and $80 for the rear
splash guards. I got the front AND rear splash guards from handaacessories
for $59 - I already had the front ones so now I have an extra set.
Handaacessories sold the mirror for $180.

The splash guards took all of ten minutes to install. You'll need a short
philips screwdriver unless you feel like removing the rear wheels.

The mirror took me about two hours to install - but I have done a lot of
interior work in cars (stereos, alarms, remote starters, etc). It might take
someone else more time. No soldering or anything, just running cables,
plugging them together, and unfastening/fastening interior parts.

I'm happy with both, however the day/night mirror vibrates - a LOT. Bumps in
the road, and ESPECIALLY bass from the stereo. It vibrates vertically at
57Hz and horizontally at 37Hz. I've damped the vertical vibration somewhat
with some foam tape, however the horizontal vibration is still pretty bad.
Bad enough that if I'm driving at night with the stereo up loud, instead of
seeing headlights, all I can see is a blur.

The mirror mount and ball joints seem pretty secure. My guess is that the
back of the mirror casing is rather thin plastic and is resonating from
vibrations transmitted from the windshield. I am going to pull the mirror
apart and epoxy some lead weights to the inside of the case to try to bring
the resonant frequency down below anything that it would experience.

"PO" <anon@here.com> wrote in message
news:5sv8qvo8fum60h9b6f4bcarmjv3bqdbst1@4ax.com...
> I took delivery of the above vehicle two months ago. Currently, I am
> contemplating adding fog lights, rear splash guards, and the auto
> day/night mirror to the car. A few questions exist in my mind:
>
> 1) Should I purchase these parts online and have them installed by a
> dealer? If so, what's a good place to buy online?
>
> 2) How much should I expect the dealers to charge for these parts
> including installation?
>
> 3) Are these parts self-installable? Will it void any warranties?
>
> Thanks.