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Graphite 2019 Kia Forte/Cerato GT

Arith · Dec 31, 2019 · Updated Jun 30, 2020
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Arith · Dec 31, 2019 · Updated Jun 30, 2020
Showcase cover image for Graphite 2019 Kia Forte/Cerato GT

General Information

Name
- Cerato/Forte GT From Down Under
Year
- 2019
Make
- Cerato
Model
- GT
Color
- Platinum Graphite
Hello, member from Sydney Australia. After shopping around after my Audi A3 died, I found the car to be excellent value considering it had all the features I was looking for such as leather seats, LED headlights, turbo, sat-nav, reverse camera, folding mirrors, etc. Granted it's no hot hatch, but it provides just enough power and response to make driving fun when you need it.

I'm a modder by nature, but since this is a daily driver and I'll be putting a lot of km's on it, I decided to keep the mods to a minimum. It helps that this latest generation Cerato/Forte is so new that not a lot of aftermarket parts are available yet. Let me know if you'd like me to go into detail on any of the following. Let my mistakes help in preventing your own:


* Exhaust
  • Quad tip axle back muffler (custom fabricated)
* Suspension
  • Eibach lowering springs
  • Whiteline rear sway bar
* Lighting
  • All lights replaced with LED's (signal, trunk, interior, rego, foglights, reverse)
* Wheels
  • 20x8.5 Avant Gardes wheels
  • 235/30-20 Lexani LX-20 tires
* Cosmetics
  • 15% ceramic window tint
  • Aftermarket boot lid spoiler
  • Rear window visor
  • Vinyl wrapped: red accent on rear diffuser, red accents on front grille, rear panel
  • Black/carbon fiber K badges
  • Vinyl wrapped lower interior doors
  • Tint wrapped front and rear signal lights and taillights
* Misc
  • aFe Cold Air Filter
  • SaaS Throttle controller
  • JB4 ECU Control Module
Unfortunately upgrade the wheels again to 20" V8 V-14 wheels in matt black:
80241
80239

80240



Recently upgraded to 20" Avant Garde wheels. Not sure if I like them yet:
80137

80138

80139

80151

79490

79491
79492
79493

79545

79546
79547
79548

79550

79551

79549

Comments

R

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Hi! I have a '19 LX and the fitment on your wheels is amazing. Are those 19x8.5 +40? Also, did you do anything aside from the eibach lowering springs?
 
Arith

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rodrigob said:
Hi! I have a '19 LX and the fitment on your wheels is amazing. Are those 19x8.5 +40? Also, did you do anything aside from the eibach lowering springs?
Click to expand...
Yes, that's a good eye you got. I believe I ended up with +45mm offset as I didn't want to risk rubbing nor having to roll the fenders. And sure enough, no rubbing so it was a good decision.

My last two cars I ended up going with coilovers as it provides more control over the ride height, but this time around I couldn't do my research in time before getting the Eibachs.

I asked every single seller and they could not confirm that coilovers for the previous generation nor any other Kia or Hyundai application could fit (I later found out that the suspension for the Hyundai Elantra 2015+ AD will fit this generation Cerato/Forte).

So in the end I just settled for the Eibach springs, which were a +40mm front and back, although to me it was more +40mm front and about +30-35mm rear. But this evened out the front and rear fender gap.

Sorry, I digress. To answer your question, the Eibach lowering springs are the only thing I've done to the suspension.
 
Arith

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109 Posts
Thanks to Tristen from Cherry Tuning & Performance, just got something called RaeChip installed. I was looking into the ECU flash tuning, but Tristen said it would require unlocking the ECU's bootloader, which would pretty much void my engine and ECU warranty. With another 7 years left on warranty, it was too much to forfeit.

But he recommended an alternative called RaceChip
www.cherry-tp.com.au

RaceChip Australia

Australian Reseller for RaceChip interceptor performance chips.
www.cherry-tp.com.au
Which is essentially a boost controller that doesn't require fine tuning like a universal HKS boost controller. But it was only the third of the price of ChipTuning, a piggyback setup. At the moment it dialed to the mid-way setting, and I'm to leave it for 3-4 days while the ECU gets adjusted. After that I can dial it to the max where it will increase boost. I'll let everyone know how it goes.
 
R

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Arith said:
Yes, that's a good eye you got. I believe I ended up with +45mm offset as I didn't want to risk rubbing nor having to roll the fenders. And sure enough, no rubbing so it was a good decision.

My last two cars I ended up going with coilovers as it provides more control over the ride height, but this time around I couldn't do my research in time before getting the Eibachs.

I asked every single seller and they could not confirm that coilovers for the previous generation nor any other Kia or Hyundai application could fit (I later found out that the suspension for the Hyundai Elantra 2015+ AD will fit this generation Cerato/Forte).

So in the end I just settled for the Eibach springs, which were a +40mm front and back, although to me it was more +40mm front and about +30-35mm rear. But this evened out the front and rear fender gap.

Sorry, I digress. To answer your question, the Eibach lowering springs are the only thing I've done to the suspension.
Click to expand...
Thanks you! It's beautifully done.
 
Arith

·
Registered
Joined
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109 Posts
Arith said:
Thanks to Tristen from Cherry Tuning & Performance, just got something called RaeChip installed. I was looking into the ECU flash tuning, but Tristen said it would require unlocking the ECU's bootloader, which would pretty much void my engine and ECU warranty. With another 7 years left on warranty, it was too much to forfeit.

But he recommended an alternative called RaceChip
www.cherry-tp.com.au

RaceChip Australia

Australian Reseller for RaceChip interceptor performance chips.
www.cherry-tp.com.au
Which is essentially a boost controller that doesn't require fine tuning like a universal HKS boost controller. But it was only the third of the price of ChipTuning, a piggyback setup. At the moment it dialed to the mid-way setting, and I'm to leave it for 3-4 days while the ECU gets adjusted. After that I can dial it to the max where it will increase boost. I'll let everyone know how it goes.
Click to expand...
It's been a few days already, so I've dialed up the setting to the max. Pretty good extra boost at mid to high end. The car would kind of run out of puff at the mid range, but now it pulls strongly. But essentially this is a boost controller so there's no change during cruising or everyday driving. It's only when the turbo kicks in when you can feel it.
 
Arith

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109 Posts
Definitely recommended if you don't have the budget for a full on piggyback system or don't want to worry about the warranty flashing the ECU.
 
J

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Question! First off, beautiful car! Love everything about it! My question regards about lighting, do you have (white LED) turn signals? For my second question, what did you do to your grille to remove the chrome because your grille looks absolutely amazing! Could you also send me links to all your cosmetic parts? Thank you for your time! much appreciated!
 

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