"Friends Don't Let Friends Modify Cars"

[WopOnTour]

"Friends Don't Let Friends Modify Cars"
Interesting article in Edmunds "Inside Line"
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=105024

I must say I agree with much of what Mr. Lanier is saying.
Regards
WopOnTour

[Xau]

He was honest, and it was a good article...

[Sp00ner]

It's all the rage! I try to get as much information as possible about modding a car before doing it. If you can afford to buy a faster car everytime your own gets a little dull though, more power to you. Otherwise, there's nothing like a $200 item to bolt on and make you at least THINK you've got more power. It keeps the car 'new', if you will... at least to me... I just get bored with them after a few months...

[JDRedline]

WopOnTour, thank you so much for giving us the link to this very interesting article!

It brings up the same issues as my thread from months ago. The link is below.

We already have a "tricked" out "tuner" car - on warranty! Why ruin a good thing?

http://www.redlineforums.com/forums/...ghlight=thread

[navymitch12]

i agree with what he is saying but i like my car to be different than others that is why i bought a saturn.

[cavingman]

All i'm gathering from that article, is that he's driven nothing but cars with mods that were either not researched, or cheap.

[CarNut]

What he says has merit for performance cars. But a base Ion, Focus, Civic, etc. would definitely benefit from better shocks, wheels/tires, bars, etc. His Corvette and Mustang comparison is pretty far fetched too. He's cherry picking the worst Corvette year. Move up a few years to an 88 with Z52 suspension and the Stang starts to stink. I agree with him completely on springs though. I think most people lower just for looks.

[cavingman]

i lowered my 03 grand am for performance, and trust me i got it.

[WopOnTour]

Originally Posted by JDRedline

WopOnTour, thank you so much for giving us the link to this very interesting article!
It brings up the same issues as my thread from months ago. The link is below.
We already have a "tricked" out "tuner" car - on warranty! Why ruin a good thing?

Well my agreement with this article is more in-line with the safety aspects, not necessarily performance gains. I mean go ahead and make all the engine and performance mods you want, it's your car, and these mods will generally only affect YOU (and your pocket book) and nobody else.
If you screw up doing a “fuel mod” and your car burns to the ground…to bad so sad.

But what gets me going is totally unqualified individuals (or even journeymen for that matter) doing things like "ABS bypasses" and other brake system "upgrades" that they've seen on Tunerz TV from the likes of those 2 idiotic Eminem clones or the myriad of other "Pimp My Wheels" shows and DIY Tuners magazines with photo’s of 19 year-old “experts” in the editorial and instructional pages. Often these brake system changes are made without any sort of actual qualification testing or ANY real engineering involvement other than a "If it fits, it must work!" attitude.

When the safety of everyone else on the road is being put in jeopardy so some juvenile can go on the forums and brag the "unreal performance" of his new "brake mod" which automatically becomes gospel and spreads across the internet and vehicles in your neighborhood like wild-fire- This is where I draw the line!

It’s certainly not inconceivable that some of these mods might provide “seat of the pants” or maybe even quantitative improvement (stopping distance?) , but what’s the use of forcing the car manufacturer’s comply with brake system performance and safety standards, and then have ZERO regulation of what’s being done at the local high school shop class? THEN when little Johnny wastes himself in a fiery ball-o-flames, just guess who Mommy and Daddy are going to sue??

IMO they gotta put some bite into some "anti-mod" legislation here, especially when it comes to braking and other safety systems.

This topic has recently pinched a nerve locally when a local kid grenaded his transfer case out on the freeway, taking out a family of 4 in the process. Turns out he had recently modified his tricked out 4x4’s transfer case following some ill-advised instructions he seen in some fly-by-night 4WD magazine. I hope they sue “upstream” right to the publishers of these magazines that might as well be giving out instructions for building a car-bomb.

JMO
WOT

[Ionchick]

Did this happen in Michigan WOT?? Just curious...