Quote:
Originally posted by Sever:
Question: You want your car to look good by:
a). Installing the components that you think look good.
b). Installing the components that other people think look good.
c). Installing the components that other people think look good because you're not sure what looks good.
d). a + b
e). b + c
f). "WTF is Sever on this week?"
Ed: Where are my manners? Happy Birthday, Memsie!
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Interesting question! Normally it's always been "a", except for the fact that when you spend time in a subculture you're not normally familiar with and get exposed to the thought leaders in that subculture, you start to adopt those same views because of "c".
This was an interesting exercise on how the views of a subsegment/subculture (in this case the Audi modding culture) can significantly differ from that of the general populace (which includes me!).
Here's the 411. My car currently has 16" stock rims and looks like this:
I am planning to get snow tires for it and mounting the tires on those rims - that will then be my "winter set" (that I will put on the car from Nov to April).
I was then planning to get 18" rims with summer tires which I would use the rest of the time. I worked out the total cost (4 sets of wheels and 8 sets of tires) would be around $1500 or so.
The thing is, my car has the stock suspension (i.e. it is not lowered).
I asked the same question in an Audi forum and was (nearly) unanimously told that my car would look like total rubbish, that it would looked like a jacked-up 4x4, that it would look like a Subaru Legacy, etc. Apparently the "rule" is that if you upgrade to 18"s (most of them wanted me to up to 19"s even though the roads here in Boston would kill those wheels pretty damn quick) you "must" lower the car as well, so that it looks "sick".
So I inquired at a few auto shops here as to how much it would cost to lower my car by an inch and a half. The general consensus is that it would cost about $1000 or so, parts and labour. However, this would apparently void my suspension (shocks and springs) warranty (my car has 2 years of factory warranty left). If I got Audi to do it, then I would be looking at $3000+.
The thing is, I looked at that pic of the blue Audi with 18" rims and stock suspension and couldn't find anything wrong with it, but after reading up this Audi forum and posting some threads I started to confuse myself about whether there was actually anything wrong with the picture of the car. I decided to take myself out of that environment and seek unbiased opinions elsewhere that were more representative of the general populace (i.e. not hardcore revheads).
So thanks everyone for helping me make my decision. I like the way it looks and don't care about that stupid wheelwell gap. Bugger spending an extra $1000 to lower it by an inch and void my warranty in the meantime. I wouldn't have even noticed it until it was pointed out to me anyway.
[ 07-25-2007, 10:05 AM: Message edited by: Memnoch ]