I just don't get it.

CarMichael Angelo

my rearend will smell so minty fresh,
15 Year Member
Nov 29, 1999
10,641
8,909
234
Birmingham, al
Seriously.

Everybody here strives to keep the the top of the car clean and shiny. (and we see pics of everybody's shiny top side)

Most of us strive to keep the interior clean ( and again we get to see everybody's clean interior)

Alot of us strive to keep the engine compartment clean. (again more pics in evidence)

I get all of that.

But here is what I don't get:

How can you go out, and buy hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars worth of new stuff for the underside/suspension, and bolt new pieces that are powder coated, plated, or anodized onto rusted, filthy components? I realize that a large contingent here uses the car as a DD, but a pressure washer doesn't care whether it's a DD or a show car.

Seems to me, If I'm gonna spend 1000+ dollars on new struts, coil over kit, tubular C/A's s, and a k member, AT THE VERY LEAST I would've spent an extra 5.00 at the car wash first, and if I actually gave a rats' red ass about it looking any better than that, spent another whole 10 dollars for a couple of rattle cans to make some of the rusted parts look new again.
The justification for me isn't because I want the area nobody ever sees to be all shiny and purty, I don't want to have to handle the filthy parts that could've been clean for the sake of a half hour spent at the car wash first.
BUT,...Just think of the money a mfg would save, ( and pass it along to the end user) if they just left their product raw, and unfinished. (because it's just gonna get all dirty and rusty anyway right ?)

Now I'm not singling ANYBODY out here, cause you see it all the time. But if you are the banner waver for new stuff bolted onto dirty components, I'm sure you'll put me in my place.

But then again,........Maybe it's just me.
 
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I'm with ya Mike. I always find it funny when people post pictures of brand new coil overs bolted up to their rusted and greasy rear ends with gear oil stains all over the diff cover. I guess a lot of people's cars are a "work in progress". It sometimes becomes a matter of where do you stop though. You clean up the rear end to realize your driveshaft is crap. You replace it with an aluminum one and then realize your transmission is beat to hell. You replace that and realize your engine looks like it belongs in a junkyard, so you install a new engine on a dirty old k-member. See what I'm getting at here. The list could go on forever. It seems like one new part always winds up bolting up to a dirty, old one. Probably why my car is in a million pieces now. You need tear it down to a shell and redo it to eliminate all the old parts.
 
I agree w/ you to a degree. Cleaning a part pretty much "fixes" it if there was nothing wrong w/ it in the first place. I am literally in the middle of the same conversion that is going on everywhere through this forum. (Brakes/5 lug conversion/Exhaust/ Front suspension.) I haven't always been able to afford the new replacement for something, and in some cases it's not even or possible ( i.e. You gotta use a JY sn95 spindle) But at the very least, I'm brushing the hell out of it w/ a wire brush and spraying it w/ a spray can first.

It always kills me when somebody goes out and gets that new set of 17, or 18" wheels (that you can see right through) and while they are certainly showing off the new wheel, they are also displaying all of that crud that's behind them.
 
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I put my car on the lift and clean the underside a few times a year, wipe down the springs, shocks, struts, sway bars, A arms and anything else I can. I am pretty sure many people walk in and think I have gone bonkers but it gives me inner peace knowing my underside is clean.
 
I put my car on the lift and clean the underside a few times a year, wipe down the springs, shocks, struts, sway bars, A arms and anything else I can. I am pretty sure many people walk in and think I have gone bonkers but it gives me inner peace knowing my underside is clean.

And we all know that the need for having a clean underside is how Charmin stays in business.:rlaugh:
 
Even though i currently rock 4 lugs and drums i keep them painted flat grey so they look nice.


This, I have see before and it's definitely a step up from slapping that shiny new wheel onto the old clutter that came with the car. There's a dude that lives around here that actually took the time to two tone the drum. He did powerdercoat chrome on the face of the drum and black on the rest. Does it fool anyone into thinking it's disk? No. That wasn't his intent. His intent was to make it look squared away and he definitely achieved that. :nice:
 
Even though i currently rock 4 lugs and drums i keep them painted flat grey so they look nice.
Well I couldn't agree w/ the Noobz when he added the drum comment either. All of those pics of my car plastered everywhere are sporting the very same 4 lug front rotors and drum brakes as your car, so at least you are doin all you can do.:nice:
 
Well I couldn't agree w/ the Noobz when he added the drum comment either. All of those pics of my car plastered everywhere are sporting the very same 4 lug front rotors and drum brakes as your car, so at least you are doin all you can do.:nice:

No no no.... not the drums... The GARBAGE left from 20+ years of neglected drums.

You know... shiney new wheels... Rusty old drum looking out from behind it. THAT's what I'm talking about. It makes you think, "Why did he even bother"?