Modding my mom's new car...

[Betrayer00GT]

I think that mechanic inspected more than just her "undercarriage"

That would be difficult, seeing as how I was the one who dropped off the car to be inspected, and only brought my friend (who's known the shop owner for the last 15 years) with me. The guys there put the car in an empty bay and started on it before we were done BSing with the fellow Mustang guy who wrote up the estimate. Turns out he was about to take off to run his '03 GT, sitting out front with its slicks/skinnies on, at the "Test n Tune" event out at Sacramento Raceway, which typically runs on that day of the week during the season.

We were back an hour and a half later (had breakfast at a cheap place a good ways away), and only waited <20 minutes for them to finish with the car and give me the documentation before I dropped the car off at my mom's place. It turned out to be a good investment of <$20, my opinion.

 

[Betrayer00GT]

So I got the wheel/tire setup on my mom's Accent.

Looks sweet.

The comfort issue is a non starter. We both agree that there is a difference (harsher, now), but it is such a subtle addition, that I would welcome the extra feedback from the road, and my mom says that she doesn't care about the difference.

There is an issue, however. When I made my first right turn with the new setup, I did so a bit energetically. I was doing 17-20mph, and just made an absolute 90 degree turn to a greater or lesser extent. There was a horrid rubbing/squealing noise from the left rear when I did so. I pulled into the gas station/quick mart on that corner and we both got out and took a look at that side. I noticed that the tire was right around 2" from the wheel cutout on the bodywork. I opened the rear left door and sat down there (I am ~300lbs) with my feet on the door runners, and my mom leaned on the trunk a bit, and the tire was all but touching the bottom part of the "L" made by the bending of the edge of the body panel at a 90 degree angle for the added strength that gives. It was definitely rubbing bad. I was immediately shocked that Tire Rack would sell this size wheel/tire combination, since it obviously does not work in the rear.

As I sat there thinking this, my mom checked the other side, and it had >50% more clearence. We could not get that tire anywhere near as close to the lip on this side. Had for apples to apples comparison, but it is possible that this side might not rub, ever. It would be a very close thing, either way however.

Well, now we have a new warranty issue to bring to Hyundai. There is at least a ride-height descrepency in the rear, and possiblely even a suspension geometry descrepency. We will see what the dealer says about it in a day or two.

One other possibility, which I am going to ask Tire Rack about, is that I was sent wheels with different offsets for the front and the back (this was not mentioned any where, though), and I switched them. The rubbing could be the result of something like this. The ride hieght is still an issue, but if this is the case, it still would not have rubbed if the whole wheel was in about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch, or so.

I will make some inquiries, and my mom will work with the dealership to get the issue causing the ride-height mismatch corrected (what ever is causing it), and we will see...

 

[QuickCapri83]

Dude, just, go through the trouble, and, take the time and effort to sell it, in the meantime use the wheels, it will kill the torque of the small motor, that car aint accelerating to 60 in under 15 seconds with those wheels. Now, get her a honda accord or a toyota camry. Put a simple suspension package, hopefully the rims you bought are universal and will swap over, otherwise, just throw a set of 16's. NEVER put a rim bigger than 16 on a 4 cylinder car unless it's turbo/sc.

No offense, please, non intended, but it's a bad buy the cars arent great, unless you buy a brand new one, and use it to commute, period, that's all they're good for, because of their warrenties.

That's about it, my 2 cents. Good luck I hope you can calm her driving, but atleast it's not an suv, women 25-50 yrs of age+suv+uninflatable ego+road rage and/or attitude = smashed up cars everywhere!!!

 

[Betrayer00GT]

Dude, just, go through the trouble, and, take the time and effort to sell it, in the meantime use the wheels, it will kill the torque of the small motor, that car aint accelerating to 60 in under 15 seconds with those wheels. Now, get her a honda accord or a toyota camry.

The thing is, she had no car before she bought this one. She was using my beater ('85 Dodge Colt E w/135K+ miles) before then as her only form of transportation. Atleast she spent the couple hundred it cost to get the thing to always turn the starter over when you turned the key. It would atleast let you leave somewhere when you wanted, not when it wanted, after she did that.

Financial issues put her out of the auto finance market, all together. Her only option was a 401k loan through her employer provided relationship with her investment company. The max she can get out of that is essentially what she got, $6500 with a $153/mo payment. You tell me how she is supposed to get an Accord or Camary for $153/mo when her FICA may be down around 4XX. The way she swung it, she has an '04 Accent (and its pink slip) and the remaining 6K miles on the factory warranty for God's sake.

No biggie, though. That was just ignorance on your part, which I just corrected.

...it will kill the torque of the small motor, that car aint accelerating to 60 in under 15 seconds with those wheels.

Uhh... and how is that a bad thing in this situation. She is slower, and has more control (if this rubbing can get resolved, but I do not know one way or the other on that yet). Sounds more like a win/win than a liablity to me. All part of my master plan

As far as your no bigger than 16 for NA 4-cyl idea, due to the point I just made, above, I disagree. Tire Rack sold the combo I got for the car my mom has. My order made it through their "Technical Reivew" stage, which they describe as when they make sure items ordered off the internet will actually work for the intended application, as stated by the customer. There is no reason for me to think there would be any other issue with that purchase, besides the slowing her down a bit, giving her better control through added traction, and improving the looks of the car by a good bit.

Despite the evident mild depression I have over this, I do believe this will work out in the end. Between Tire Rack and the mechanics at the dealership, there are enough professionalls on the case to get it fixed. If those are not enough, I can bring in still more.

Good luck I hope you can calm her driving, but atleast it's not an suv, women 25-50 yrs of age+suv+uninflatable ego+road rage and/or attitude = smashed up cars everywhere!!!

Well, despite my assumption above that the Hyundai forum would have more of the "driver ed" type comments, the only potentially useful idea along those lines came from there...

I have always been interested in AutoX (SOLO2) run by the SCCA. My stang would not hold up to that, and it want it around for a while, and my beater would be a joke out there. However, I have about finished my several thousand $ Home Theater, and could use a different way to drop money into something with a cool payoff. I could easily have a good $3.5K or so to pick up a ~90 Prelude or Integra, or something similar, and get it setup enough for both my mom and I, so we could head out on weekends in the Spring/Summer/Fall and have some real fun next season.

The poster over there was working along the lines that the added skill at handling a car would hopefully reduce potential accidents, but I am more insterested in they psychological aspects of it. What would such a regular bout of way-beyond-agressive driving would do to her attitude while driving the rest of the week? I belive it would improve it from the point of view of the rest of the people on the road. Also, there is the effect of utter proof that she does not even know what a "good driver" is (her definition is someone with excellent situational awareness and the balls to take advatage of openings that are found with it), by a good order of magnitude. This will be evident once she has her first timeslip and can compare it to the others that have been at it for years. Additionaly there is usually a calm that comes with a proven superiority (once she starts to get the times on those slips way down), kinda like how a black belt feels absolutely no desire to pick fights with the utterly defenseless masses. There is no callenge in it any more, and why endevor to prove something you have the proof of, already (black belt or timeslip, it matters not)?

For all these numerous reasons, I believe her street attitude (thus her manners) would really benefit from a good autocross season. Don't worry, I am on the case.

 

[hotmustang331]

Posts way too long...um is this a joke? If I had a few hours to kill, I might read it all and find out

 

[the98stang]

no joke...people writing essays and sh1t. MILF's for teh win!

 

[nickthegenius]

As I sat there thinking this, my mom checked the other side, and it had >50% more clearence. We could not get that tire anywhere near as close to the lip on this side. Had for apples to apples comparison, but it is possible that this side might not rub, ever. It would be a very close thing, either way however.

Well, now we have a new warranty issue to bring to Hyundai. There is at least a ride-height descrepency in the rear, and possiblely even a suspension geometry descrepency. We will see what the dealer says about it in a day or two.

One other possibility, which I am going to ask Tire Rack about, is that I was sent wheels with different offsets for the front and the back (this was not mentioned any where, though), and I switched them. The rubbing could be the result of something like this. The ride hieght is still an issue, but if this is the case, it still would not have rubbed if the whole wheel was in about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch, or so.

The dealer will more than likely not be very helpful in this situation. They will probably try to blame you tires/wheels. The wheels weren't on there when they sold it and the stock wheels had no problem so its not up to them to make your aftermarket wheels fit.

Or you could call Tire Rack and order on of these.

Problem solved for $299. Or if you want to do it "ghetto style", get a wooden baseball bat and roll the fender lips that way. It works well if you use a heat gun to ensure the paint doesn't crack. Here is a pic:

It worked well enough for that guys E46.

 

[hotmustang331]

I dont think thats a baseball bat .

 

[QuickCapri83]

The thing is, she had no car before she bought this one. She was using my beater ('85 Dodge Colt E w/135K+ miles) before then as her only form of transportation. Atleast she spent the couple hundred it cost to get the thing to always turn the starter over when you turned the key. It would atleast let you leave somewhere when you wanted, not when it wanted, after she did that.

Financial issues put her out of the auto finance market, all together. Her only option was a 401k loan through her employer provided relationship with her investment company. The max she can get out of that is essentially what she got, $6500 with a $153/mo payment. You tell me how she is supposed to get an Accord or Camary for $153/mo when her FICA may be down around 4XX. The way she swung it, she has an '04 Accent (and its pink slip) and the remaining 6K miles on the factory warranty for God's sake.

No biggie, though. That was just ignorance on your part, which I just corrected.



Uhh... and how is that a bad thing in this situation. She is slower, and has more control (if this rubbing can get resolved, but I do not know one way or the other on that yet). Sounds more like a win/win than a liablity to me. All part of my master plan

As far as your no bigger than 16 for NA 4-cyl idea, due to the point I just made, above, I disagree. Tire Rack sold the combo I got for the car my mom has. My order made it through their "Technical Reivew" stage, which they describe as when they make sure items ordered off the internet will actually work for the intended application, as stated by the customer. There is no reason for me to think there would be any other issue with that purchase, besides the slowing her down a bit, giving her better control through added traction, and improving the looks of the car by a good bit.

Despite the evident mild depression I have over this, I do believe this will work out in the end. Between Tire Rack and the mechanics at the dealership, there are enough professionalls on the case to get it fixed. If those are not enough, I can bring in still more.



Well, despite my assumption above that the Hyundai forum would have more of the "driver ed" type comments, the only potentially useful idea along those lines came from there...

I have always been interested in AutoX (SOLO2) run by the SCCA. My stang would not hold up to that, and it want it around for a while, and my beater would be a joke out there. However, I have about finished my several thousand $ Home Theater, and could use a different way to drop money into something with a cool payoff. I could easily have a good $3.5K or so to pick up a ~90 Prelude or Integra, or something similar, and get it setup enough for both my mom and I, so we could head out on weekends in the Spring/Summer/Fall and have some real fun next season.

The poster over there was working along the lines that the added skill at handling a car would hopefully reduce potential accidents, but I am more insterested in they psychological aspects of it. What would such a regular bout of way-beyond-agressive driving would do to her attitude while driving the rest of the week? I belive it would improve it from the point of view of the rest of the people on the road. Also, there is the effect of utter proof that she does not even know what a "good driver" is (her definition is someone with excellent situational awareness and the balls to take advatage of openings that are found with it), by a good order of magnitude. This will be evident once she has her first timeslip and can compare it to the others that have been at it for years. Additionaly there is usually a calm that comes with a proven superiority (once she starts to get the times on those slips way down), kinda like how a black belt feels absolutely no desire to pick fights with the utterly defenseless masses. There is no callenge in it any more, and why endevor to prove something you have the proof of, already (black belt or timeslip, it matters not)?

For all these numerous reasons, I believe her street attitude (thus her manners) would really benefit from a good autocross season. Don't worry, I am on the case.

I could only assume the finaincial situation. I'm just saying, i'd rather have an older honda/accura than a newer hyundia.
And my comment about the big wheels, I meant that as you did, to slow it down and handle better, but I was mostly just thinking about how much it would slow it down, not much, but some atleast. I think you just missunderstood some of what I said, that's all.

 

[CENTENNIALSTANG]

WTF a accent in stang net