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Old 03-10-2008, 01:10 PM   #1
Turn in Concepts
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Default When to say when...

In the joy and pain of modding a car it is very very easy to go overboard. After a while the question becomes when do you stop?

While the answer will be different for all involved here are some simple guidelines to keep in mind in all of this.

First off - do not put yourself into the poorhouse modding your car. Listen, despite your best efforts 99.9999% of these cars are going to depreciate in value. That's just the way it is, but then again that's not really why we do this. Despite the best effort to have fun and enjoy your car more than you do already putting yourself into debt is not the way to go.

Keep in mind the old saying - if you want to make a small fortune then start with a large one and get into auto racing.

Second off - the parts. Between braces, bushings, springs, struts, coilovers, roll bars, endlinks, bearings, uprights, rotors, pads, fluids, gearing, power and any other thing you can think of in way of performance it is easy to go overboard. It is easy to get stuff you'll never use to its full potential.

Think about what you are doing. Is the part right for what you want. Will the part solve a problem you are having or, in the case of timed events go faster, or, in the case of just daily driving the car, still allow you to enjoy the car.

There is an envelope.


First off that envelope involves you, and whether or not you can use the part. Hopefully, you won't be a better driver than the part allows because if you add the part you want it to help not leave you where you started. It doesn't do much good if you exceed the capabilities of the part right from the get go. If you're already outdriving the new part from the beginning then you didn't get the right part for your needs.

Second, there's taking a part too far. There is a performance envelope that when you start to take things too far you'll actually start to hurt yourself.

As an example lets look at springs -
  • For a daily driver and the way that springs go the stockers really aren't that bad. Sure a good number of people can exceed what they offer, so they step up in stiffness (I'm leaving dampers out of this for now as to keep from muddying up things).
  • So, folks are beyond what the stockers will allow and they feel it's time to move up to something a little stiffer. No problem - there's a TON of good springs on the market that will meet the needs of this example quite handily.
  • BUT lets say that's not enough. Now you start to get into the higher end of spring rates for the car, and you're looking at 7,8, 9K rates with the travel you feel you need. Now to really make use of these you're going to be driving hard, and you know it. Typically, you're looking at competition environments beit autoX or road race.
  • So you get to thinking - if 7,8 or 9K rates are so great why don't I just say screw it and get myself some 14K springs and never have to worry about it again. BANG! You've just exceeded the performance envelope that the car can offer. At that point adding more and more is actually going to hurt your performance. The car just does have the downforce, has too high of a CG, and you can't get the tires sticky enough to take the best advantage of a 14K rate. At that point in time you're going to start to see performance drop off. (diminishing returns and all).

So, here's what we have so far -
  • Don't kill yourself financially doing this
  • Look at what you realistically can do, and what the car realistically can do. You are not Mario, and your car is not an F1 car. In fact, those of you with pre-2008 cars are gonna be in for a surprise once folks have figured out the rear suspension on the 2008's. That'll be in about a year to 18 months.
  • Understand that more is not always better. You are looking for balance between maximizing your skill and the car being able to take it and offer a little more without being too much.

So, at what point do you know when to say when.

Follow these steps:
  • Identify the problem you are having. This is key. If you're having trouble figuring out if it's something like chassis flex, or spring rate, or rebound rate or any number of other things then ask for help and get second opinions. Take people for a ride, describe what is happening, describe your theory, discuss it with others.
  • Identify the parts that will address the problem. In doing this ask yourself - are they enough? Are they too much? Will I ever take advantage of them?
  • Understand the performance envelope.
  • Read and research. Not just here, but everywhere.

How do you tell when you've gone too far?
  • First, get it out of your head that if you spent money on it then it's great. Think of it this way - if someone gave you the part would you put it on your car, and why. People spend money on stuff all the time, and they are disappointed in what they have. I have an old playstation 1 that I haven't used in years, and when I did use it it wasn't that much. In the end it did nothing for me, and I should not have spent the money on it. Stupid me.
  • Second, if you add a part and your lap time drops off quite a bit, and you can't make it up by altering small parts of your driving style then start to think about the last things you changed. For daily driven guys - the girlfriend, wife or significant other will tell you long before you realize it. If you don't have a girlfriend or significant other then get one. Although, the pick up line of "Hey baby, let me take you for a ride in my car even though you don't know me, and you don't know where we're going" will not work, and I certainly hope there's nobody out there dumb enough to actually try it. If you do I will not be bailing you out of jail because you creeped someone out.
  • Talk to others.
  • Think about what you're doing. Do not think that just because someone else says "You have to get this!!!" That you should. Man up and make your own decisions, and make them based on knowledge and understanding.

So, you've got all this stuff, but you can't even begin to drive the car to its potential. Now what?
  • Rather than spend money on more parts spend money on seat time!!!!
  • Get an instructor.
  • Listen to them.
  • Understand that after 2 lessons you will not be a professional race car driver.
  • ALWAYS keep learning. I guarandamntee you that every single instructor while he is instructing you is thinking about the track and the best line to take. They learn from you just as you learn from them (and I bet Myles pops in here within 24 hours to back this up).
  • Recognize how far you can and are willing to drive the car (wrecks happen, not if, but when and can get expensive). Understand that if you build up the ultimate time attack car, but can't even begin to approach what it can do then you've just made an expensive car and that's it. And woe be to you if you wreck it.

Yeah - this is yet another one of those posts by me. I'm betting someone chimes in here by the end of the first page to tear it apart. Bottom line is this - we all know this, and this is not anything new. If you sit down and think about it you'll say "well, duh. Clint you're a dumbass and wasting bandwidth by posting this." Yeah, I may be a dumbass, but I also know how easy it is to forget this commonn sense when you have money in your pocket, and a car you want to go faster in.

-Clint
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