A long-time enthusiast debate turns into a reality check on daily-driving modded cars. One host talks about being deep into suspension/brake upgrades on a high-mileage daily, while his wife questions whether it’s still worth driving. They discuss “going too far” with stripped interiors and deleted AC, the trend of people reversing those mods, and why comfort and livability matter. They also weigh coilovers vs simpler setups, the practicality of expensive brake kits, and the long-term costs of ethanol and high-power builds. The conversation ends with aging parts, OEM scarcity, and stockpiling for future restorations.
In this episode, Nick and Matt dive into one of the most relatable topics for car enthusiasts: over-modding your daily driver. We all love the idea of building the perfect do-it-all car — something that looks great, handles like it’s on rails, and turns every commute into an event. But where’s the line? Is it the full racing bucket seats that make every trip feel like a workout? Deleting your A/C in the name of “weight reduction”?
Or that ultra-stiff suspension that makes every pothole feel like a personal attack?
At some point, the upgrades that make your car exciting can start to make it… miserable.
Nick and Matt break down the most common mistakes enthusiasts make when modifying their daily drivers, share personal experiences, and talk about how to strike the perfect balance between performance and livability.
We’re talking about machines like the Dodge Neon SRT-4, the cult-favorite Nissan NX2000, the bizarre-but-brilliant Infiniti FX50, and more that completely defy expectations.
If you’ve ever questioned your own build (or are about to start one), this episode is for you.
Listen now and rethink your “perfect” daily.
2026 Behind the Wheel Podcast | All Rights Reserved
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"I'm at 187,000 miles now and I've been driving around with upgraded sway bars with wheels and tires, bigger brakes. You name it, pretty much most of the stuff's been done on the car already."
Bigger brakes are designed to stop the car better and more consistently. They can help when you’re braking harder or more often, like in spirited driving.
Bigger brakes typically mean larger rotors and/or calipers, which can improve braking performance and reduce fade during repeated hard stops. For daily driving, they can also offer better pedal feel and confidence when driving spiritedly.
"And I, I like that, you know, I wouldn't want to be sitting around in a Nissan cube, quote unquote, maybe I would, but, but go back, you know, I wouldn't want something that's, that's very passenger car, regular run of the mill."
The Nissan Cube is a small, boxy car with a very unique look. The host mentions it as a contrast—something that doesn’t feel as exciting as their modified car.
The Nissan Cube is a quirky, boxy compact car known for its distinctive styling and practical interior layout. In the episode, it’s used as an example of a “boring” or non-enthusiast daily driver compared with a more performance-oriented setup.
"...ripping out their AC systems and like relocating the battery and their fuse box and stuff like that..."
Relocating the battery means moving it to a different location in the car. It can be done for space or balance, but it has to be done carefully so it’s safe and reliable.
Battery relocation moves the battery from the factory location to another spot in the engine bay or trunk. People do it for packaging, weight distribution, or to clear space for other components, but it requires proper wiring, protection, and secure mounting.
"...guys ran into issues with like the battery relocation or maybe their fuse box, you know, it wasn't easy to get to or whatever."
A fuse box is where the car’s electrical safety devices live. If you move it or hide it, it can be harder to check or fix electrical problems later.
The fuse box houses fuses that protect electrical circuits from overloads. When you relocate or hide it during mods, you can make troubleshooting and maintenance harder, which is why the speaker notes people putting it back.
"...I have polyurethane on everything else so far. Yeah, polyurethane is like completely livable."
Polyurethane is a tougher material used in suspension bushings. It usually makes the car feel more precise than soft rubber, but it can make the ride a bit firmer.
Polyurethane bushings are a common upgrade over rubber because they resist deformation and can sharpen handling response. They’re often described as “more livable” than harder spherical setups, but they can still transmit more vibration than stock.
"...e. You know, I change all the bushings on, on my Integra the same way, because it was so old, everything ..."
The Acura Integra is a smaller car that many people like for sporty driving. Over time, parts in the suspension and steering can wear out, and bushings are one of the common things replaced. The podcast mentions doing bushing work on an older Integra because the car had lots of worn components.
The Acura Integra is a compact performance-oriented car known for its strong enthusiast following and upgrade-friendly platform. It’s often associated with suspension and handling work, including replacing worn bushings and other chassis components. The podcast specifically mentions changing bushings on an Integra because the car was old and “everything” needed attention, which highlights its typical maintenance and refresh path.
"[439.6s] So on the car that you're, you're, you don't drive as much.
[443.0s] Are you still on pump gas or are you running ethanol on that?
[446.4s] So I'm on pump gas."
Pump gas just means the regular gas you get at regular gas stations. It’s the normal fuel for most street cars.
“Pump gas” is regular gasoline you buy at a public gas station. It’s typically formulated for everyday street use and doesn’t require special fuel handling like race fuels do.
E85 is a gas blend with a lot of ethanol in it. Because it has less energy than regular gas, the engine often needs more fuel, and it can affect maintenance.
E85 is a fuel blend that contains about 85% ethanol. It typically provides less energy per gallon than gasoline, so you usually need more fuel to make the same power, and it can increase fuel-related maintenance demands.
"Um, you know, one thing I see also is like a lot of guys with their
[642.1s] newer cars that have the, uh, the adjustable drive modes or, you know,
[646.9s] it'll change the shock settings and things they're doing coilovers."
Drive modes are settings in your car that change how it feels—like making it more aggressive or more comfortable. They can affect things like throttle and suspension.
Adjustable drive modes let you change how the car behaves by altering throttle response, steering feel, traction control, and sometimes transmission behavior. Many modern cars also tie these modes into suspension settings.
"it'll change the shock settings and things they're doing coilovers.
[650.8s] Sometimes it's really, really cheap coilovers just so they can have
[653.6s] coilovers, right?"
Coilovers are adjustable suspension parts that let you lower the car and fine-tune the ride. Some are great, but very cheap ones can ride rough and wear out faster.
Coilovers are suspension units that combine a shock absorber with a threaded spring perch, allowing ride height adjustment. They’re popular for lowering and tuning, but cheap versions can be harsh and may not be rebuildable.
"If you're, if that's your daily driver and you kind of have this dual mode car
and you're going to give up that, that whole thing, it's lost at that point."
A daily driver is the car you drive every day. When you modify it, you usually want it to stay comfortable and usable, not just fast.
A daily driver is the car you use for everyday commuting and errands. Modding a daily driver often involves balancing comfort, reliability, and practicality against performance upgrades.
"...they take them to meats and, you know, they'll do some
spirited driving on the road and stuff like that."
“Spirited driving” means more enthusiastic driving than normal commuting—typically faster acceleration, more aggressive cornering, and higher overall pace. It’s often used to describe behavior that’s still on public roads, but more performance-oriented than casual driving.
"So the ride quality and the, the, it's not the same. Like it's, it's, you'll get better ride quality..."
Ride quality is how comfortable the car feels on rough roads. If the suspension isn’t adjusted right, the ride can get harsher or less controlled.
Ride quality is how smooth and controlled the car feels over bumps and uneven roads. The segment links ride quality to proper suspension setup, arguing that a mis-tuned coilover can ride worse than a simpler, correctly matched spring/shock setup.
"Say you changed up tires or you, you know, you change the size of your wheel, anything, yeah, anything like that."
Tires are what actually touch the road. If you change tire size or type, the car can handle differently and sometimes even use more or less fuel.
The tire is the rubber contact patch between your car and the road, and changing tire width or model can noticeably affect grip, ride comfort, and rolling resistance. Even if the overall diameter stays the same, a wider tire can change how the car feels and how efficiently it rolls.
"One, my fuel economy went up 0.7 miles to the gallon in the past. Since I put the wheels on, uh, so what, three weeks now."
Fuel economy is how many miles you can drive on a gallon of gas. Tire and wheel changes can make the car easier or harder to roll, which changes MPG.
Fuel economy is how efficiently the car uses fuel, commonly measured as miles per gallon (MPG). Tire and wheel changes can affect it through rolling resistance, weight, and how much energy is lost to deformation and friction.
"Like they have a, for instance, like a Brembo package on their vehicle and they go to a eBay brand, let's say, uh, big break hit, quote unquote,"
Brembo makes performance brakes. People mention it because it’s generally higher quality than budget brake brands.
Brembo is a premium automotive brake manufacturer known for performance calipers, rotors, and brake systems used on many high-performance and OEM applications. In modding discussions, Brembo is often used as a benchmark for braking quality and thermal performance.
"that ends up being not only the same diameter, but you know, say it's the same size rotor, you know, similar passing, they're all similar, but yet they're not,"
A rotor is the disc the brake pads clamp onto to slow the car. Matching rotor diameter alone doesn’t guarantee the same braking performance because rotor material, surface finish, and how the caliper/pads work together also determine heat handling and stopping consistency.
"switch to the 5.1 from Motul, something
[999.6s] that's not going to boil.
[1000.8s] Those differences make, are still far more substantial than just going out"
Motul is a company that makes car fluids. In this case, they’re being used as an example of a DOT 5.1 brake fluid that’s less likely to boil under heat.
Motul is an automotive fluids brand that makes performance brake fluids among many other products. Here it’s mentioned as the source of DOT 5.1 fluid, emphasizing the boiling-point/heat-resistance benefit.
"But the, the whole idea was just to build the best possible car. They never had plans to track it or experience like the limits of that vehicle."
“Track it” means driving the car on a race track. The point here is that some people buy track-level parts but never really use them the way they were intended.
“Track it” means taking the car to a racetrack to test performance at the limits. The speaker contrasts owners who build for maximum specs but never actually use the car in the environment the parts were designed for.
"I still find very comical is the, the thousand horsepower car that somebody wants to drive on a daily, somebody who's driven fast cars. I don't want to drive that much power on a daily."
They’re joking about people who build a car with around 1,000 horsepower and still want to drive it daily. The concern is that such huge power is hard to use smoothly and safely on normal roads.
A “thousand horsepower” car is referenced as an extreme example of over-modding for daily use. The underlying idea is that very high power can be difficult to manage on public roads due to traction limits, heat, and the constant need to modulate throttle.
"You know, you have a bigger cam in it, probably, you know, you're running [1250.7s] bigger injectors, it's just, it starts to become less enjoyable in"
The camshaft helps control when the engine’s valves open and close. A more aggressive cam can make more power, but it can also make the car feel rougher or less pleasant in normal driving.
A “cam” (camshaft) controls valve timing and lift. A bigger/more aggressive cam can improve power but often changes drivability—typically reducing low-RPM smoothness and increasing how hard the engine feels under everyday use.
"you're running [1250.7s] bigger injectors, it's just, it starts to become less enjoyable in [1257.7s] a lot of regards"
Fuel injectors spray gas into the engine. If you make more power, the engine needs more fuel, and bigger injectors help provide it safely.
Fuel injectors deliver the fuel to the engine. Higher-power setups often require larger injectors so the engine can supply enough fuel under boost or high load without running lean.
"I'm ordering a blow valve and, and oil catch can and things like that. [1307.1s] I cannot leave a car alone."
An oil catch can is an aftermarket device that captures oil vapor from the crankcase ventilation system. It helps reduce oil mist buildup in intake plumbing and can be especially relevant on turbocharged or high-boost setups.
"I'm ordering a blow valve and, and oil catch can and things like that. [1307.1s] I cannot leave a car alone."
A blow valve (often called a blow-off valve) releases compressed air when the throttle closes, preventing compressor surge on turbocharged engines. On modified setups it’s used to manage turbo airflow behavior and can affect drivability and sound.
"I don't have to worry about driveways or speed bumps or game holdover. I don't have to worry about anything."
Speed bumps are the raised bumps in the road that make you slow down. If a car sits very low, speed bumps can be a problem because the bottom might hit.
Speed bumps are raised sections in the road designed to slow traffic. Lowered cars (“slammed out”) often have reduced clearance, so speed bumps can increase the risk of scraping and make the ride harsher.
"Typically if I see one, it will be, um, you know, lowered with, with wheels, but"
“Lowered” means the car sits closer to the ground. It can look cool, but it may ride rougher and wear tires faster if the setup isn’t right.
“Lowered” refers to reducing ride height, typically with lowering springs, coilovers, or other suspension changes. It’s a common modification on daily-driver cars, but it can affect ride comfort, alignment, and tire wear if done aggressively.
"...let the tail light, the led tail lights or, um, you know, under clear, whatever it is, but I think, you know, eventually it'll get there."
LED tail lights are the red lights at the back of the car that use small electronic bulbs. They often look sharper and can respond faster than older bulb-style lights.
LED tail lights use light-emitting diodes instead of traditional bulbs. They’re common in modern conversions because they can be brighter, faster-reacting, and easier to customize with different shapes and housings.
"...he's not really willing to settle for anything, but authentic, like period correct stuff. So it's the hunt for him is a big deal."
“Period correct” means the car is kept in a style that matches its original time period. It’s about using the right-looking parts instead of modern or random upgrades.
“Period correct” means using parts and styling that match what the car would have had during its original production era. For enthusiasts, it’s a way to preserve authenticity and avoid mods that look out of place or change the car’s character.
"Not even getting into light them. You're going to spoon stuff that's, you know, completely just new old stock stuff is getting hard."
“New old stock” (NOS) refers to parts that were manufactured long ago but never sold and are still unused in storage. NOS is often sought for restorations because it can match original specifications, but it’s frequently expensive and increasingly hard to find.
"People want to drive their cars more and they're realizing having no interior, no AC, you know, it's not the best move."
AC is the car’s air conditioning. If you don’t have it, the cabin can get really hot or uncomfortable, especially in everyday driving.
“AC” means air conditioning, and removing it (or losing it due to interior mods) can drastically reduce comfort and usability. For many climates and daily driving, AC is a major factor in whether a car feels livable.
Select text to request an explanation
So, speaking of practicality and daily driving these cars, I recently from IG had to pick
up new lower control arms, just bought forged upper control arms.
I'm at 187,000 miles now and I've been driving around with upgraded sway bars with wheels
and tires, bigger brakes.
You name it, pretty much most of the stuff's been done on the car already.
It's just, I'm getting the flack from my wife of, you know, is this car still something
that you want to drive every day?
And I'm like, I enjoy it.
Like to me, you know, if I'm going to spend an hour and a half of my day, you know, in
the car going to and from work or whatever it is, I want to be able to enjoy those moments
when I can have a little bit of spirited fun.
Yeah, I can't go out on, you know, it's not a windy, you know, mountain road and I'm usually
stuck on the service road of the highway, but at least I get to enjoy what little bit
of time I have.
I just, life's too short to drive boring cars, quote unquote, is kind of where I'm at.
When you're driving on the BKQ or whatever, BQE, no, I don't live on the, luckily I don't
live on anywhere near the BQE and because that's, that's a parking lot 90% of the time.
But, but, you know, right off of, off of 95 over here, we have like, you know, a nice,
or 495, we have a, you know, nice service roads where you can actually still get up
to speed and kind of drive the car and enjoy it.
And I, I like that, you know, I wouldn't want to be sitting around in a Nissan cube, quote
unquote, maybe I would, but, but go back, you know, I wouldn't want to go back to the
cube.
I'm telling you, turbo cube and we're there now, but seriously, I wouldn't want something
that's, that's very passenger car, regular run of the mill.
Like, yeah, I don't get enjoyment from that.
Like if I'm behind the wheel, yeah, I hear what you're saying, I do think it is an, it's
an age thing.
I'm not going to say maturity thing because I don't think that's the right, that's the
right term.
I do think it's an age thing because at this point right now, you're, you're sort of like
this lifelong car enthusiast, right?
Like Scott is, like I am.
So you've been doing it forever.
You kind of know, you sort of know where the line is drawn, where you shouldn't go beyond.
Right now you can drive the car every day.
You can go through your, you know, your drive through Starbucks, whatever.
You can, you can probably get up and down driveways for the most part.
Like you guys, you guys always tell me the roads that are really, really bad.
So you're surviving that, right?
So you're at a point right now where it's livable.
Maybe your wife doesn't agree, but it's livable, right?
But there is a certain point where if you go too far, it turns into a headache.
Oh yeah.
But, you know, so I think what I've been noticing a lot on social media and stuff is there are
a lot of people sort of like converting their cars back a little bit.
And what I mean is, you know, a lot of the guys that were ripping out their AC systems
and like relocating the battery and their fuse box and stuff like that, they're actually
reversing it and going back because they want the comfort of AC obviously, especially
out here.
And if you're in like, you know, Florida or something, you have to have it, right?
So there are people that are doing that.
And then I think probably guys ran into issues with like the battery relocation or maybe
their fuse box, you know, it wasn't easy to get to or whatever.
So I do see them putting them, putting them back, which is interesting because for so
many years it's been like, get rid of all that stuff, you know, tuck it away, hide everything.
I'm one of those people I don't like having, especially one of my cars being an older one
that had a huge fuse box.
Like when you open the hood, that's the first thing you see because it's right there front
and center.
So for me, getting rid of that or moving it away was a good step, but I put it in a location
that I can get to it, you know what I mean, I can still access it.
So I think thinking ahead and making sure that if you're making these changes, they're still
user friendly.
It's probably the most important thing.
I think with your car, you could have gone nuts and been like, I'm going to do spherical
bushings and I'm going to do, you know, this crazy coilover and all this.
So I do have Heim jointed Voodoo 13 control arms in the rear.
And I'm do and I have polyurethane on everything else so far.
Yeah, polyurethane is like completely livable.
You know what I mean?
Like 100%.
I don't know what brand you use.
But like with with the Hondiners, you know, yeah, energy is like, you know, it's kind
of a universal, right?
But like with that stuff, I think it's, it's pretty, pretty livable.
You know, I change all the bushings on, on my Integra the same way, because it was so
old, everything was just crumbling, you know, but with my other car, I did do some, some
spherical bits and like, you definitely can notice the difference.
If I had to drive that car every single day, I probably couldn't do it.
Maybe if I was, you know, maybe if I was, you know, 20 years old, I could and I'd be
happy, but yeah, I couldn't do it every day.
And I think that is a big distinction when you were saying the age thing, I don't
know if it's necessarily the age as much as it is also experienced because a lot of
the guys you're talking about that are reverting back were late bloomers to the car
thing. As I said, I went through, I've had this conversation with Scott in the past
where I ripped out all my interior on my Z because I thought I was building a race
car when I got it.
And then I spent about two years putting all the interior bits back into the car because
I made that mistake where I thought that I was going to be doing something far more
crazy than what I needed.
Right, right.
You did mention the AC system.
And I don't know if you've seen recently, have you seen these guys doing the drive
list ACs?
They're like full electronic AC.
How do you feel about that?
Like I've only seen a couple of them done so far.
And so far, everything looks promising.
My biggest thing is about like long term livability, like what kind of abuse.
I have zero experience with it.
I've never even seen one in person, just online.
I think it's pretty cool with the Honda guys.
A lot of the ones that are running the AC now are using like the relocator kits to
kind of push the lines like down or around and out of the way, which is cool.
I like that.
You can kind of figure out, you know, workarounds.
Some cars is a little bit tougher, obviously.
You're doing a key swap or something.
Typically guys won't do AC, but you can do it.
There's kids out there.
There's a pen that helps when you want to look to be, you know what I mean?
The whole like sipping your interior thing.
That was like the move when, when I was much younger.
That's like the first thing people would do.
You have a few pounds, right?
And it's literally not that much weight.
Excuse me, but like with my, with my Civic, there's no, there's no interior.
There's no carpet or anything.
When I bought the car, that's how it was.
So putting interior back into it would have been tough.
Some of the brackets that hold the seats in place were, were cut off and smooth,
you know, smooth out.
So I probably could have figured out a way to get it back in there, but I just
said, that's good.
I'm just going to leave it the way that it is.
And then, you know, I repeated the whole thing, but I don't drive that car
that much, like, you know, on the weekends, that's about it.
If I drove it more than a few times a week, I mean, it would just, I know
the crap on it.
I mean, it's so loud and like just the dust and everything that flies around
because there's no carpeting to soak it up, you know, the sound is crazy.
It's a lot.
It's a lot.
But, you know, if, you know, like I said, if I was 20 years old, it was fine.
That's just what we did.
But as you get older, you're kind of like, ah, a little bit more comfort, you know.
But, you know, again, I don't drive it that much.
So on the car that you're, you're, you don't drive as much.
Are you still on pump gas or are you running ethanol on that?
So I'm on pump gas.
I have the, I have the means to go 85 on that one.
The reason that I don't is because I don't drive it that much.
If I drove it, you know, a few times a week and then also on the weekends,
I could probably see doing that.
The fact that it does sit though for, for a week, sometimes more.
I don't want the idea of putting 85 on that part.
So I'm sure you know why.
Yeah.
I was going to say, I can kind of explain that.
So one ethanol is hydroscopic.
It absorbs moisture like no get out.
I've had ones where you can actually see the water if it's humid enough,
actually on the top of the ethanol, like when we had like a sample container
out or whatever, when we were doing that.
So I've been down that road and, and not to mention, like, I love ethanol.
Don't get me wrong.
It's great.
I'm great cars to make power.
You know, but there are downsides.
Your maintenance schedule gets increased heavily.
It's a, it doesn't burn as efficiently.
So you will run into more fuel in your oil overall.
So it sends out your oil, which obviously once we start thinning out oil,
you start risking, you know, any bearing surface, anything like that.
So a lot of times people don't realize that and they'll still do 5,000 mile oil change.
Yeah.
And then you'll do like, you know, your, your injectors start to get clogged up,
get gunked up over time.
There's just too many like drawbacks in order for, for me to justify.
I think if, like I said, if I drove the car more often, I would.
I did have a newer civic, attempted civic SI vehicle that I was working on
for like a year with, with Honda.
This is the first time a while back and then, you know, driving that car every day.
So E85 in that car just, it made sense.
It was great.
I loved it.
There's a station literally across the street from my house.
Like it's, I don't know, like a quarter of a mile away, half a mile away.
It's great.
So that I loved, but like I said, I just don't drive it enough to, to
if you have the one, if you have flex feeling, you're not doing like a
map switching, that's a big part of it too.
And, and having access also to the, to the service station, to the pump, you
know, to be able to get the gap.
That's a big part of it too.
You know, I don't know how it is there, but we're pretty good here.
Oh, is it?
Okay.
There are a lot of stations now that have it in this area, especially there's a lot.
So that was never an issue.
It was just, I didn't want to have to deal with it.
You know, it took time to get to scale here.
It took a couple of years, but they're, they're fine.
Good.
The only downside is in the winter, it's, it's like E 50.
Um, it's, it's nowhere near the 85.
You know, they, they, they plummet, you know, throw a ton of, uh,
yeah, that, that car, that, that bill was a few years back.
So like, I remember, um, going to initially tune that car, um, at
church automotive testing with, um, you know, needing to pick up some E 85 in
the way and I had to search for it took a while because at that time they
weren't everywhere.
And if you've ever been a church, it's kind of the middle of nowhere.
So, um, yeah, I had to drive out a little ways, uh, to find a station,
fill up a, you know, a can and then bring it there.
Yeah.
So, yeah, that's something I just noticed.
Like I said, um, the guys are sort of, uh, reversing some of those changes
they did live with the stripped interiors, the AC systems.
Um, you know, one thing I see also is like a lot of guys with their
newer cars that have the, uh, the adjustable drive modes or, you know,
it'll change the shock settings and things they're doing coilovers.
Sometimes it's really, really cheap coilovers just so they can have
coilovers, right?
So they can lower it to the height they want, probably never adjusted again.
Cause, you know, after a while it gets gunked up and then they can't even
break them for anyways, but, um, I did notice that a lot, um, especially with
like the FK eight and FL five guys and then they were, they were type Rs.
I was wondering why they're doing it because you give me enough of those,
those drive modes seems like kind of a waste because you kind of have this
dual purpose car and you sort of lose that, right?
When you go with coilovers, um, on the flip side, there's some guys that
are getting really, really high level coilovers, very expensive ones would
like maybe, uh, remote reservoirs, the whole thing.
And then it's just a regular street car.
Like they don't, they don't track them or anything.
So it's kind of weird.
It's kind of like, it goes both directions, right?
And I, I can't really understand on either one, you know, if you want to do
coilovers, do coilovers, but it just seems to me like a waste to give that up.
If you're, if that's your daily driver and you kind of have this dual mode car
and you're going to give up that, that whole thing, it's lost at that point.
Yeah.
Killing the active ride control on these cars.
Um, I mean, obviously I come from, you know, working on GTRs and there's
only certain, uh, options for that, for the same reason.
Um, you end up going with like the KW sleeves or, or set of bill scenes.
There's only a couple options out there.
Um, it never made sense to me unless you were only using those cars for
a track built car to kill that.
Um, or I guess if you, if you do daily it, but then you're a regular, like
you're an avid track over, like, you know, you do at least a track day a month
or maybe two a month or something.
Cause sometimes, you know, they really use their type ours for, for that.
Uh, but they also drive them to work like three or four times a week.
That makes sense.
It's just the guys that I see that are just building really nice, clean type
ours, you know, they take them to meats and, you know, they'll do some
spirited driving on the road and stuff like that.
It just doesn't make sense to me to give that up in the name of having
like this high quality coilover that you're not really using to its full
potential anyways, you know?
Well, I think that's also something that, that people don't necessarily
understand that coilovers are not necessary for most applications.
Um, but it's become easy.
Yeah.
I think the reason people get on those, cause they want a very
specific height, if they get just a spring, it's not going to be, it's not
going to be low enough or it's going to be too low where they get a
coilover, they can get it exactly where they want it and then set it and forget it.
Correct.
But see the issue I have is there's, that's, there's so many other features
in that coilover that aren't being tuned or utilized correctly.
So the ride quality and the, the, it's not the same.
Like it's, it's, you'll get better ride quality, better driving habits out of
just doing the spring and shock combo than going with a coilover and not
ever setting it up properly.
I guess this is where I'm kind of coming from.
Like it's frustrating.
And yeah, I get that, you know, if you go to a shop, they can set it up.
And a lot of times that the people don't also understand that it's a tuning
aspect to suspension.
So those initial settings in six months might not be exactly what you need.
And we might make some changes based on characteristics that are different in
the car.
Say you changed up tires or you, you know, you change the size of your wheel,
anything, yeah, anything like that.
You change the size of your wheel, you go with a different tire, go with a
different wheel, different sway bar.
So right now, for instance, me changing out from a narrower tire, same diameter,
same diameter with wheel, I went with a wider tire with the same setup, but
our hyperspect is also lighter.
So when I went to the hyperspect, I saved a little bit of weight and I can
tell you, I've already noticed the difference.
One, my fuel economy went up 0.7 miles to the gallon in the past.
Since I put the wheels on, uh, so what, three weeks now.
Um, and even those subtle changes changed the whole way of the car ride.
So my concern has always been with these people that you might not be getting
the full use out of it, or you might be diminishing the performance.
And, and a prime example of that is we get a lot of people that have already
a really good break on a car.
Like they have a, for instance, like a Brembo package on their vehicle and they
go to a eBay brand, let's say, uh, big break hit, quote unquote, that ends up
being not only the same diameter, but you know, say it's the same size rotor,
you know, similar passing, they're all similar, but yet they're not, you took
off a perfectly good Brembo to put something else on that was a no name brand.
And I'm struggling with that.
I think, uh, there's a lot of guys and, uh, a lot of builders to that.
Let's say, let's forget the eBay thing for a minute and they, they get a
quality, a really good quality brake system, very expensive, uh, track proven,
known, you know, known to work well, but there are the brakes they have on the
car, especially these modern cars, like FL five has remarkably good brakes,
like really, really good brakes.
But I think the reason a lot of guys will do it because they want, it's a
little bit more of a wow factor, right?
You see in the spokes, they don't have the Brembo on there.
They have, you know, a spoon or whatever, you know, whatever system they go with.
But I think at the end of the day, you kind of have to consider is it worth
that much more money for, I mean, maybe it's, maybe it's a better braking
system, maybe it's even better than the Brembo's that came in the car, but
isn't that much better?
And do you really need it for your sweet car?
See, I've always struggled with that because I feel like the first thing
should be a better rotor and a higher quality pad.
Start there.
See if you hit the limits.
One thing, change out brake fluid.
That's another thing that people seem to always forget.
You're running dot three, four, switch to the 5.1 from Motul, something
that's not going to boil.
Those differences make, are still far more substantial than just going out
and buying a brake kit that yet again, it's overkill for the vehicle.
I think that's, I think that's more of the lesson that comes from the
practicality argument is, do you need to always go to the highest level to get
a quality car?
And is it, do you break the practicality of the car by doing these high
end racing components when you really are building a street car?
Yeah, the, I think the intention is there though, right?
Like you, you want to build, I think a lot of people want to build a car to
the highest ability they can.
If they can afford the best of the best, they're going to get the best of the
best, you know what I mean?
But at what cost in terms of, like you said, practicality, like comfort,
usability, depending on how much you drive the car, that has a big factor in
it too, you know, there was a lot of cars that, that I wrote stories on or
photographed in my, my old media days and like you meet the owner and we're
talking about the car as, you know, taking photos or doing whatever.
And just to hear them talk about it, they're just going on and on about all
these high end parts.
And we're talking like full on hardcore race components, like a full race
engine, the highest level coilover, these crazy breaks and all that stuff.
But the, the whole idea was just to build the best possible car.
They never had plans to track it or experience like the limits of that vehicle.
The whole idea was just to build the absolute best car they could and they
had the money to do it, right?
I don't see anything wrong with that.
That's perfectly fine.
It's your money and do whatever you want.
I'm jealous, right?
So that, that's fine.
But I think for the average guy that is going to be driving the car a lot like
your G 35, you drive it, you know, just about every day, right?
It's a seven.
Put some respect on the name.
It's like calling an SDR a central, like you get choked up.
But I mean, just with, you know, in terms of that, like you have to take
that into consideration, like, is it going to be something you can do long term?
If you've got this crazy setup, you're making, you know, close to a thousand
horsepower on 85 and you have the best brake system, all this stuff.
But then, you know, long term, is it going to work for you?
It's going to hold up.
You're going to break more parts.
You're going to have, oh yeah, you are.
It's going to be loud breaks.
You're going to have a crazy ride.
You lost the, the ability to switch driving modes because, you know, you
went nuts with the, with the coilovers.
So they're just things that I think people don't consider long term because
they look at, look, I can afford this right now.
It's the best of the best.
I'm going to get it.
I want the best for my, for my car.
And I understand that mentality, but I think, like I said before, age plays a
factor in that you have to think long term is stripping my interior out and
saving, I don't know, what is it like 30 pounds?
I don't know what it is.
Hey, some, some cars, listen, you can take one of those like 95 mustangs that
you could really save some weight out.
I think the guys over at doughnut or whatever saved like 170 pounds between
the sea, yeah, they stripped everything.
Yeah.
My experiences has been more with Toyota Nissan Honda and you know, the rear
seat and like panels of like a CRX is probably like 30 pounds in all fairness.
I think the panels were about like a millimeter thick and the carpet.
Yeah.
I had one.
I, every time I pull it off, something else to break off.
Yeah, exactly.
So I don't, I don't know if that's a good judge, but yeah, it's not very
much weight that you're saving, but I understand the mentality.
It just, when you think of it like big picture, it's like, wow, 30 pounds on
my daily driver is making that much of a difference.
And I think a lot of stuff here, you know, and honestly, you, you touch on
something that I found, I still find very comical is the, the thousand horsepower
car that somebody wants to drive on a daily, somebody who's driven fast cars.
I don't want to drive that much power on a daily, like I'm okay.
Like I like, I enjoy the three to 400 horsepower daily range.
I think that that's a good car.
Um, if you're really spicy, the 500 horsepower range on a daily is really enjoyable.
Um, but I, you know, when you start kicking over 700, 800 horsepower,
yeah, the, the engines are, are more labored, they're working harder.
You know, you have a bigger cam in it, probably, you know, you're running
bigger injectors, it's just, it starts to become less enjoyable in
a lot of regards, like I see where you're coming from.
Do you think though, just taking a step back and looking at this like big picture,
do you think we're saying this now because of the fact that we are in a
position that we have multiple vehicles, like you have like a cruiser, right?
Like I have, I have this like happy 2015 pilots just completely stuck and I
don't have to do anything to it.
I just drive and change the oil, right?
Like I don't have to, I have no worries of that thing, right?
So, and it's been, you know, it's like 200,000 miles ultra reliable.
I don't have to worry about anything with that car.
I can just drive it through all my equipment in it, whatever.
I'm, I'm bad that we get cars.
I have, I'm bad because like even, even Jill has the ST and I was just
telling Jim today that luckily she doesn't watch the podcast, but I'm ordering
parts for it for her birthday.
I'm ordering a blow valve and, and oil catch can and things like that.
I cannot leave a car alone.
So if I own it, it gets modified, things get changed.
You know, I, I have a, a problem.
Like I genuinely do.
Like I, I know I do.
Like even like when we came to selecting the cars, like every time I pick a car,
there's always that, you know, what can I do with it?
Like I don't want to be the guy driving the regular passenger car to work.
I hear what you're saying.
Yeah, I hear what you're saying.
Even if it's, even if it's not practical and not convenient at all, like throwing
the kids in the back to take them to soccer practice in a, in a slammed out
G 37 might not be the easiest, but I look cool while doing it.
At least I hope I do.
Uh, that's debatable.
I think with, with me, I got to a point where I was like, it was just nice to have.
And I was like, my pilot, he used to be my wife's and, and I would always want to
use hers because I had a modified sedan.
And I was like, man, I just want to drive that one.
I don't have to worry about driveways or speed bumps or game holdover.
I don't have to worry about anything.
And then, you know, like I take my kid to soccer practice, we go to train and I
throw all the stuff in the back of the, of the, um, of the pilot and I don't
worry about scratching anything.
I just throw it all in there.
You know, so I think there's, there's something to be said for having a
completely factory vehicle.
And then on the weekend, if I want to drive one of my other cars, it's that much
more fun.
It's like you're, you're kind of freed because it's kind of like almost
like a time machine takes me back to like when I first got into cars, cause
it's like that experience is, is fresh.
It's new again.
So I think there's something to be said for that.
And I understand people like to have, like yourself, you'd like to have that
feeling sort of every day.
Um, but I think pushing it off a little bit, at least for me is, um, I like that.
I like, I like to have an ability to switch between both.
Yeah.
I think the, there is something to be said about the convenience of being able
like her truck, I can hop in, go anywhere, do anything I have to do.
I don't have to worry about a driveway.
I don't have to worry about any of that.
And, and that's kind of why I think I like the sport SUV aspect of it also is
that even if I do modify it, I still have ground clearance.
I still have those things, but yet again, equals are made for guys like you.
A hundred percent.
A hundred percent.
Yeah.
And that's our T eight or, or the Explorer ST things like that are, or even
now where that you got the, my guilty pleasure is the, the F one 50, no, well
that too, but the F one, the F one fifties with the blower on them, 700 horsepower
F one 50 sounds like a great time to me.
And that's something that I would say you're okay with having 700 horsepower
because it's a truck and it won't feel that fast, but yeah, it feels like 500,
but it's making seven, but you know, that, that's to me, that's the most
practical vehicle is a high horsepower, you know, lightning equivalent.
You know, I, I, I love that whole aspect of having your cake and eating it too.
I guess you could say when it comes to having something fun to drive and it
still being able to be used practically every day.
Yeah.
I mean, it's all experience, right?
It's, it's what you've kind of gone through over the years.
And maybe you get to a point where like, man, I don't want to do this anymore.
You want to take a step back and just have like a, a cruiser, but then you
start missing it.
I see a lot of guys like that, that used to really, really be into cars.
They were building all these cars back in the day.
They got a Tesla or a BMW and they took a, took a, a long hiatus and then they're
like, man, I really want to get back into like, uh, like an old civic or, or
in tech or something.
And then they're out there trying to find it.
I have a buddy right now that just he's kind of having his midlife crisis.
And he, you know, he found a 95 hatch and I'm helping him sort of like,
he's back together because it's been years.
I mean, we're talking like 15 years since he's touched the car, but he got bit
by the bug and now he's, you know, he's loving it again.
So for him, I think being away from it for, for so long and then kind of
watching from a distance, he's like, man, I want to get back into it.
How does that feel?
So, so obviously we're, we have a slight age gap, but how does that feel watching
the car, the cars from the nineties and the 2000s kind of become the sixties and
seventies muscle cars of this era?
Cause that's how I feel.
I love it.
I like, I think it's so cool.
I hear, I hear what you're saying.
I don't feel like they're at that level.
Um, just yet, I'd say it needs some more time on, uh, you know, under its belt.
I think there's just so many of them that were made.
So that kind of defeats some of that because they're, they're just like, you
know, there's millions of them that were made.
There's so many.
So it's not exactly, I know people are going to learn like, man, you know,
finding a, finding a 91 civic is so rare.
It's not, they're all over the place.
It's just, they're usually beat the crap.
So it's just one of those things that we're cut up or modified or yeah, yeah.
Finding a soft one certainly is tough, um, because they've all been touched, you
know, when we were another, um, eventually I think I'm going to get to that point.
I don't really feel that right now.
Um, I love seeing, seeing them out there.
Um, you know, excuse me, it's very rare for me to catch one on the road.
That's, that's like tastefully modified and all that up.
Typically if I see one, it will be, um, you know, lowered with, with wheels, but
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