What cars should you not modify
Discussion
V10Ace said:
They may look dreadful, but can almost guarantee that they all have a lot more "fun" pissing about together than you do trying to Be all serious about there "to have fun in a group and stand out from our crowd" cars.
It's about fun and not just to impress "you"
F.U.N. "FUN"
Really, I had no idea you knew me at all, let alone able to judge on something like this.It's about fun and not just to impress "you"
F.U.N. "FUN"
SWoll said:
Vitorio said:
300bhp/ton said:
Vitorio said:
Modding your car is about you liking it better, not dave from next door.
If only that was true though.For example, there is no way on Earth, anyone with eyesight and more than 2 brain cells could claim (with a straight face) that these look good.
They might well be a statement. But by any conceivable measure they look dreadful and are miss proportioned. It's only peer pressure and the want to conform with a certain group or to be associated with a certain group of people, that anyone would ever claim they look good.
But the work looks quality, and believe it or not, different people like different things, the mere fact that people bought Chrysler PT cruisers of their own free will to drive around in should prove that.
Unless off course you want to claim that the owners of those cars put that much effort/money into them ironically, or are mentally disabled..
As an example 300, your personal garage is full of cars that I find awful to look at but I wouldn't suggest you've bought them because of some need to conform. You have them because you like them, and good for you.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say, works the same for modded and standard cars.
Personally I like to blend in. I choose a standard car I like the look of because the car maker is generally best at producing a coherent looking package.
I then leave it alone externally, and set about addressing any mechanical / dynamic shortcomings to make it drive better. People may think it's a standard X, Y or Z externally and that suits me perfectly. I could not drive some bright orange attention seeking thing that drags it's lowered arse along the floor like a dog wiping it's butt on the carpet.
Sorry, but I really detest things like that and the people doing it doing it could potentially ruin things for everyone if the law clamps down on it. Cars are supposed to be functional and road worthy as well as looking good and being fun, but berks who cause hold ups because they have to crawl over speed humps at 2mph is just impractical.
So yeah, by all means mod cars and live and let live and all that, but there has to be a line drawn somewhere, for the same reason we can't just erect a 5 story shed in our backyards on a whim.
300bhp/ton said:
V10Ace said:
They may look dreadful, but can almost guarantee that they all have a lot more "fun" pissing about together than you do trying to Be all serious about there "to have fun in a group and stand out from our crowd" cars.
It's about fun and not just to impress "you"
F.U.N. "FUN"
Really, I had no idea you knew me at all, let alone able to judge on something like this.It's about fun and not just to impress "you"
F.U.N. "FUN"
I guess..
Vitorio said:
I sort of get the point you are making, but my lord, you must be fun at parties...
As long as someone gets enjoyment out of stancing his/her bright pink vauxhall astra, who are we to judge? Ive done plenty of things i would frown upon at my current age and place in life, does that mean i did not really enjoy it at the time? not at all.
Well if you look back, the very first thing I said in this thread was:As long as someone gets enjoyment out of stancing his/her bright pink vauxhall astra, who are we to judge? Ive done plenty of things i would frown upon at my current age and place in life, does that mean i did not really enjoy it at the time? not at all.
"You can mod any car. And arguably to hell with what others think."
Vitorio said:
As to your point about your mates with novas/escorts, you again assume they want to be different from the other folk. Perhaps they just think a nova looks cooler with a massive spoiler on the back, and wanted that on their own car, no matter how many others have the same spoiler.
Several of them explicitly stated they were modding to be different and stand out. I directly asked them, as I never understood the lust for a 1.2 Nova, not even back then.SWoll said:
Vitorio said:
V10Ace said:
Just another quick one to say I love this site
"Pistonheads" should be called "GreyHeads" where being old and boring or aspiring to be matters.
Pistonheads, bone stock german saloons matter. "Pistonheads" should be called "GreyHeads" where being old and boring or aspiring to be matters.
Not the people id expect on a car enthusiast website. Even among the Alfa crowd (which i find are very particular about keeping things italian and original), everyone can appreciate a decent modification.Speed addicted said:
I think if the modifications are performance orientated and actually make the car better they're fine,
Big spoiler on a low powered FWD hatch that will actually make it slower and handle worse are bad.
Would you have evidence to back up the claim?Big spoiler on a low powered FWD hatch that will actually make it slower and handle worse are bad.
Many tests/videos available showing that FWD cars benefit from having a rear spoiler which creates downforce/stability. There is a good video of a Spoon Civic going around Tsukuba a couple of seconds faster with a (what PH experts would call a Chav) spoiler fitted.
Vitorio said:
SWoll said:
Vitorio said:
V10Ace said:
Just another quick one to say I love this site "Pistonheads" should be called "GreyHeads" where being old and boring or aspiring to be matters.
Pistonheads, bone stock german saloons matter. "Pistonheads" should be called "GreyHeads" where being old and boring or aspiring to be matters. Not the people id expect on a car enthusiast website. Even among the Alfa crowd (which i find are very particular about keeping things italian and original), everyone can appreciate a decent modification.Spot on post.
aka_kerrly said:
Would you have evidence to back up the claim?
Many tests/videos available showing that FWD cars benefit from having a rear spoiler which creates downforce/stability. There is a good video of a Spoon Civic going around Tsukuba a couple of seconds faster with a (what PH experts would call a Chav) spoiler fitted.
Aerodynamics is a black art to most of us mere mortalsMany tests/videos available showing that FWD cars benefit from having a rear spoiler which creates downforce/stability. There is a good video of a Spoon Civic going around Tsukuba a couple of seconds faster with a (what PH experts would call a Chav) spoiler fitted.
Sure, a properly worked out spoiler/wing will improve laptimes. Screwing an halfords ironing board on the back of a peugeot will probably do more harm than good.
That said, a subtle lip spoiler (as in, a real spoiler, not a wing) on a hatch will usually result in lift reduction, which indeed is a good thing.
300bhp/ton said:
CaptainCosworth said:
Sorry, didn't mean to be pointing out the obvious 
All I meant was that some people want something a bit different, but if they're on a budget then a cheap common car with a few mods is all their budget stretches to. Not to everyone's tastes, obviously, but so long as they're not revving the nuts off it at 3am then I don't see the problem.
But we weren't talking general principles. I specifically said people who buy common cars, but mod them under the premise of wanting to be different to everyone else.All I meant was that some people want something a bit different, but if they're on a budget then a cheap common car with a few mods is all their budget stretches to. Not to everyone's tastes, obviously, but so long as they're not revving the nuts off it at 3am then I don't see the problem.
An example.
Why buy a Fiesta and mod it and still have it looking like a Fiesta. When you can buy say a Puma for the same money and already be different straight away
Or be daring and buy something far less common for the same budget. Even if you then modify that.
I'll give another example, back in the late 1990's I had a number of mates who wanted "to be different". So 4 of them bought Vauxhall Nova's and proceeded to make them look worse than they did originally.
Wow, truly original thinking that. Nova's are just so so rare...
Then 3 of them decided to move to an Escort instead
The cars themselves are fine, not my sort of thing. But pretty pointless --- no, actually more than this. They ARE the cars not to buy, if you want something different to everyone else.
While they were all pissing around with their 1.2 and 1.4 litre cars, I went and bought this (I was 19...), for half the cost of the next cheapest car in our circle.
Not only was it far nicer inside than any of the Nova's, it was also way more powerful and vastly faster. Not too mentioned made a rather awesome noise too from the 5.3 litre V12.
However, fair play to anyone who would choose an XJS at 19 to be different
Although I bet your mates had a laugh every time you had to stop for fuel 
aka_kerrly said:
Speed addicted said:
I think if the modifications are performance orientated and actually make the car better they're fine,
Big spoiler on a low powered FWD hatch that will actually make it slower and handle worse are bad.
Would you have evidence to back up the claim?Big spoiler on a low powered FWD hatch that will actually make it slower and handle worse are bad.
Many tests/videos available showing that FWD cars benefit from having a rear spoiler which creates downforce/stability. There is a good video of a Spoon Civic going around Tsukuba a couple of seconds faster with a (what PH experts would call a Chav) spoiler fitted.
Modifications for performance make sense to me, modifications that effectively ruin the ride and handling of an already slow car do not.
CaptainCosworth said:
Ok, buying a Fiesta might not be very imaginative, but the advantage is they're cheap, practical, loads to choose from, etc. So a good starting point if you want to make it a bit more "individual" but are on a budget. Certain cars will be easier to modify anyway as there are more parts around to choose from.
However, fair play to anyone who would choose an XJS at 19 to be different Although I bet your mates had a laugh every time you had to stop for fuel
The XJ-S drank fuel for shore, but had a big tank to off set it However, fair play to anyone who would choose an XJS at 19 to be different
Although I bet your mates had a laugh every time you had to stop for fuel But it was a lot of fun, and nobody ever made fun of it. But then it would top nearly 160mph on the speedo, back when you'd struggle to even get triple figures out of the other cars.
It also sounded like this:
https://youtu.be/GNcQ54p23Iw
Interesting.......
I don't think I have an un-modified car.
'56 GMC van with big block engine, Camaro front clip.
Bentley Turbo R with carbon fibre roof, stripped out for track use.
Capri with a small block Chevy engine.
F350 diesel chipped to 500bhp.
Just bought a Lotus Excel. Great car, but a bit slow. So just bought a Toyota V8 to fit it.
So, mods are good. Especially if it involves V8 fitting....
I don't think I have an un-modified car.
'56 GMC van with big block engine, Camaro front clip.
Bentley Turbo R with carbon fibre roof, stripped out for track use.
Capri with a small block Chevy engine.
F350 diesel chipped to 500bhp.
Just bought a Lotus Excel. Great car, but a bit slow. So just bought a Toyota V8 to fit it.
So, mods are good. Especially if it involves V8 fitting....
300bhp/ton said:
rampageturke said:
get back on ya rocker gramps its almost time for bed
I assume you have no idea to my actual age?
V8 FOU said:
I don't think I have an un-modified car.
Bentley Turbo R with carbon fibre roof, stripped out for track use.
Que?Bentley Turbo R with carbon fibre roof, stripped out for track use.
Plus funny you mention the unmodified car point, every single 'sporty-ish' car I have owned has got a K&N panel, set of wind deflectors and probably a remap, Sometimes an exhaust (tasteful & free breathing, not an eBay special backbox) within a few months of ownership. I like to get the most out of my car mechanically without making it more difficult to use. Never really been a fan of many visual modifications though, I have toyed with a set of aftermarket wheels but am always put off by cost.
Edited by caelite on Thursday 1st December 22:06
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