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Lessons in life and car modifications.

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Location
Charlottesville
#1
I've learned a lot of things over the years about modifying cars, during this time I've also learned a lot about myself and life.

Be realistic with your goals. But don't be afraid to go big: Is your car your daily driver? Some times it's best to be realistic with your self. If your car spends 10% of it's time at your local autocross or track, don't modify it to the point to make your daily commute hell.


Tires: 200 treadware tires sound cool, if you are not planning on taking them off before the temps drop below 40F, it's a bad idea! Be realistic with your expectations 200tw tires will likely only last you one summer season if you plan on driving the car a bunch.

General modification: Don't expect to need modifications right off the bat. Drive the car for a bit, it may surprise you.

Maintenance!: (Our cars are all fairly new so this shouldn't be a huge issue)Think you want those sweet mods, fancy coilovers and tires? Make sure your suspension is in good shape! Check your dampeners, endlinks and alignment! Small changes here can make for a big difference in the performance of your car! Your messed up alignment may chew up your new fancy tires in a few thousand miles. Toe and camber correction go a long way. People will want to cheap out on an alignment and kill an expensive set of tires. It's just silly!

Have a plan: After driving the car for a bit make a plan. Decide what your final goal for the car is. Plan on going with coilovers? Get them first before spending money on swaybars. Use swaybars to fine tune your set up. Don't try to patch improper spring rates with huge swaybars.

Check what your local guys are running, most of the time people that run your car at the top level have spent the time and money hunting tenths of seconds. A little information saves you time and money and usually nets you a great starting point.

Most of all have fun and be safe. Don't be afraid to do it yourself and ask for help if you think you are in over your head. A lot of us have been there and are more than happy to help!

I'm sure I'll have more to add to this at some point. I'm just kind of brain dumping at this point.
 


neeqness

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Location
LA
#2
All good tips here.

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk
 


TyphoonFiST

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Rich-fizzield
#3
No matter what the business tells you that their kit has all the pieces to make it a painless install on a mod...something always comes up. missing pieces....Incorrectly sized adapters...blah blah blah. There is no fool proof way until you get in there and start working on it to know what is correct and what's not. Ask me how I know about any of this fun thing called modification.[party] cough cough cough ATP 3 inch intake turbo coupler to a 70mm/2.75 inch intake pipe....yeah right if your blind...high and have no tactile sensation inside your brain....or hell just plain forgot to turn on your brain that day it may work! [party]
 


green_henry

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Pleasant Hill, CA
#4
I agree with most of the original post but my experience with the stock Bridgestones tires has been quite different. This weekend will be my 1-year anniversary with the car and I've run ~ 12 20-minute track sessions with 14k total on the tires -- and they still have plenty of life in them. I'm in the Bay Area, and we frequently see morning temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s during the winter; I play it safe and give myself extra stopping distance, and I haven't had any issues to-date. We don't ever have to deal with snow, though, so that's a completely different matter.

That said, when they do wear out, I'll be buying some 16s with extreme summers (most likely Hankook RS-4s) and will replace the stock rims with all seasons, mainly for better mileage.

Very much in agreement on the DIY advice. So far, this car has been very easy to work on, particularly the suspension. Lots of great advice on this forum to take advantage of![rockon]
 


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