I've been a long time lurker on this forum, and I have gained a wealth of knowledge from everybody here without ever contributing back. I felt like I had nothing to give because I was still learning and didn't have anything to offer, until now. Below is a list of modifications/accessories that I have done to my 2010 Lancer gts sportback during the last 4 years, and my opinions on each one, and how to possibly make your life better. Learn from my mistakes.

Borla Axleback exhaust
Honestly one of my favorite modifications that I added that I still enjoy to this day. Every time I turn the key, there's this loud and low grumble that makes you feel all good inside. I installed this myself, and the hardest part was taking out the black rubber things so use a bunch of WD-40. highly recommend over any other exhaust.

Injen CAI
Exhaust and intakes always seem to go hand and hand in this forum, so I thought I needed to get one. It was definitely fun to have for the first 30 miles, and then I forgot about it because the exhaust overpowered it. If I could re-do it, I would get a works drop-in filter. There are no gains from this intake and people claiming 10% increase or whatever may be true on the dyno where the statistics are isolated in a room, but on the road, it feels like nothing. All over the forum people say they feel something over 4k rpm, but I think that's kinda exaggerating. Save your money and get a drop-in.

Mitsubishi window defelectors
Purely cosmetic, I thought these were so cool in pictures on evos but in reality, a total waste of $70. It never rains in socal, so the purpose was purely for looks. Even when it does rain, the temperature difference between the outside and inside of the car makes the windshield fog up so that kind of kills it. California is in a drought, so only get one out of necessity.

Works short shifter / works shift knob / works console bushings
Truly the best mod, in terms of feel. the exhaust was for your ears. this is for your sense of touch. you have to get it with the knob or else its like getting pizza without cheese. what's even the point? however, skip the console bushings. waste of $40. doesnt make a difference and also saves a ton of time. use a dremmel as well. can't stress that enough.

Spray painted rims
looks cool for 6 months, and then starts deteriorating every day after. you see knicks all the way down rim, and I did it the right way too. sanded it down, primer 2 layers, 2 layers of charcoal paint, 2 layers of clear coat. plus the plastic hub starts to chip because of the heat and it just looks horrible. i'd say do it if you have time, but its kind of 50/50 for me.

Plasti dip front bumper
Pretty awesome add on to your car to give it that "evo" look. only suggestion is when you're making your lines with the tape and you're finished with all the prep, add 2 more layers of tape on top. if you dont, the plastidip will stick to each other so when you're done and peel everything off, it will come off as one whole piece. So when you're finished with each coat. wait 2 minutes, and peel off one layer of tape. repeat. that way in the end, you'll have clean lines.

HID install
this was a total nightmare. i did so much research trying to avoid every problem that people seemed to have. I did the relay with a anti flicker/warning capacitor, and just when i thought i was done, there was the drl problem. the youtube video from xenonsupply showing you how to do it made it look so easy with only a relay and canceler, but man i was wrong. I thought i could save money by buying it from somewhere else, but nobody ever mentioned the hid's would stay on all the time. I frantically looked for a solution, and there was one that tapped into the brake light from the fuse box. I tried that and I didnt like it. the position 1 (brake light ON, low beam OFF) now turned everything on, and sometimes, its that part of the day when you just want your brake lights on for the people behind you, but its still really bright out. Orange county is almost never dark, so i could use the drl's if i wanted to. I'm sure anybody else here would agree. Honestly, save yourself a huge headache and just buy the jrox relay. I hate returning anything because people always give you a hard time. Its like buying a car. people are so nice to you in the beginning, but afterwards and any mention of a possible return, they're the biggest mf's to deal with. btw, 5k from ddm looks absolutely sick.

RRM springs
looks good, had a shop install. not too low or high. feels and looks perfect. it's been on for about 40k, so it feels a little harsh. considering getting new suspension.

Hella horns
The stock horn is fine for the average joe, but the hella horn is where it's at. My only fear was when you lock the car, the chirp would be substantially louder or something but it turned out fine. The only thing was I did the whole relay thing and picked up how to do that from the subie forums. That was a mistake. In my case, the relay just died after 5 days and wouldnt start working anymore. I spent about $20 on wiring, accessories and whatnot to get that whole wiring setup to even work for it to just die in the end. I saw that some guys on here just plugged it directly in without the relay and upgraded the fuze to I believe 30-40amps? Hasnt given me problems for 3 years. When those stupid honda's rice rocket civics cut me off, I know my hella horn will convey my emotion along with the middle finger.
tip - when finding a place to mount the two horns, the perfect place that I found was if you go eye level to your car and look through the grill, you'll see two nuts that hold some sort of bracket. this is the perfect place to put them. just unscrew the bolt on the back of the hella horn (which has 3 bars btw, only need one) and use one bar as your mount. since that mounting spot is coming at an angle, what i did was put the bracket under my stove (no torch necessary), c-clamp it, and twist about 90 degrees so the two planes are perpendicular. its hard to explain, but it's somewhere on this forum and some guy did it and it worked out for me. this location serves both for looks and function.

Rally Armor Mud flaps
I think this adds a little attention to your car, but I think more towards the positive side. It looks amazing, and I could absolutely swear that every lancer/evo at UCR's parking lot started to show up more often on their cars as soon as I got these. I dont regret this buy at all, but $115 for plastic flaps is never fun.

I'm going to edit this as I remember more, but this is all I have for now. I have been a long time member of this forum with my first 2002 oz rally, and this forum hasnt really changed much. the people are still the same, usually friendly all around. however, the one thing i absolutely hate HATE are those people that say, "go use the search button." I'm like dude, wtf. I'm sure he has and hasnt found the exact answer he was looking for. and if it is in the search button, he's still new to the site and even I hate using this search engine. it overloads with too much information for noobs so give them a break. please.

Also, please feel free to add any tips of your own. I'm always interested in what people have to say.