Most car modifications are stupid, at least the ones i hear about
Whenever a car or motorcycle passes by that makes a lot of sound, i’m always unsure of whether i should feel bad because the vehicle is obviously damaged, and the driver can’t afford to get it fixed, so they have to live with the embarrassment of driving around in an obnoxiously loud vehicle
Or flip them off because they’re an asshole that intentionally fucked up their exhaust because “haha car go vroom”
When a friend of mine said he was planning to do that yo his bike, the rest of us unanimously told him we would pour sugar in his gas tank if he did so
One of my parents was (probably still is idk) into motorbikes, and their justification for having an obscenely loud exhaust mod was that “loud pipes save lives”.
They had a lot of justifications for a lot of shit though, so I don’t know how valid that one is.
Only in an obscenely car-centric society does the vroom vroom have any potential for saving lives. But if you make everything quieter, with more mass transit, slower driving speeds, and more walkability, then most of the safety issues for the rider are handled.
I’ve lived in Asia where there’s only one rule on the road: might is right. Riding a motorcycle is dangerous to start with, but it’s literally Russian roulette in that context: you have to take all the precautions you can. I have definitely noticed that cars give more space to loud bikes.
That being said, doing an arms race to keep yourself safe (bigger cars, louder bikes, brighter lights) is really just making everything more dangerous for everyone.
There’s an almost-definitely fictional story of a foreign mechanic who fixed all of the imperfections and timing issues with his friend’s Harley so it no longer rumbled and shook while running misunderstanding that that’s part of the “charm” is the noise and rumble and rattle. The story goes that it was the most powerful harley ever because of it, but the friend still made him put it back to its “broken” state
Eh, “car go wroom” is something that many drivers find rather enjoyable, me included, but just like with everything in life there are some people who go way overboard with it. It’s just that with cars, overboard is also by far the simplest and cheapest way - you do straight pipes, which is exactly what it sounds like, just a direct pipe with absolutely no design or mufflers of any kind. They are ear shatteringly loud.
And for those, you do have the correct reaction.
I also like feeling the low rumble of a powerful car engine. You can’t help but feel the excitement, the power …
Those are rare now. Most mods make the engine scream or rattle of or buzz. If your car sounds like a moped with a missed shift, that is not positive. If your car sounds like a heat shield is rattling g, you should fix that. If your car backfires … crap, how does that even happen since fuel injection and electronic ignition?
While this is true, diesels often come from the factory with a conservative one size fits all engine tune.
You can usually make the car more fuel efficient and/or add a bit more power if you do it properly. Potentially you can even make it more reliable.
Obviously, that’s not what most people do. They tune it to have as much power as possible (or if they’re idiots roal coal) and are then surprised when the transmission or engine gives out prematurely, and the manufacturer no longer feels the need to honour the warranty.
You know how people say that a new car loses depreciates up to 20% just driving it off the car lot? Stuff like engine tuning is one of the reasons that difference exists. The customer doing stupid shit.
Most car modifications are stupid, at least the ones i hear about
Whenever a car or motorcycle passes by that makes a lot of sound, i’m always unsure of whether i should feel bad because the vehicle is obviously damaged, and the driver can’t afford to get it fixed, so they have to live with the embarrassment of driving around in an obnoxiously loud vehicle
Or flip them off because they’re an asshole that intentionally fucked up their exhaust because “haha car go vroom”
When a friend of mine said he was planning to do that yo his bike, the rest of us unanimously told him we would pour sugar in his gas tank if he did so
One of my parents was (probably still is idk) into motorbikes, and their justification for having an obscenely loud exhaust mod was that “loud pipes save lives”.
They had a lot of justifications for a lot of shit though, so I don’t know how valid that one is.
Only in an obscenely car-centric society does the vroom vroom have any potential for saving lives. But if you make everything quieter, with more mass transit, slower driving speeds, and more walkability, then most of the safety issues for the rider are handled.
Not totally wrong.
I’ve lived in Asia where there’s only one rule on the road: might is right. Riding a motorcycle is dangerous to start with, but it’s literally Russian roulette in that context: you have to take all the precautions you can. I have definitely noticed that cars give more space to loud bikes.
That being said, doing an arms race to keep yourself safe (bigger cars, louder bikes, brighter lights) is really just making everything more dangerous for everyone.
There’s an almost-definitely fictional story of a foreign mechanic who fixed all of the imperfections and timing issues with his friend’s Harley so it no longer rumbled and shook while running misunderstanding that that’s part of the “charm” is the noise and rumble and rattle. The story goes that it was the most powerful harley ever because of it, but the friend still made him put it back to its “broken” state
Eh, “car go wroom” is something that many drivers find rather enjoyable, me included, but just like with everything in life there are some people who go way overboard with it. It’s just that with cars, overboard is also by far the simplest and cheapest way - you do straight pipes, which is exactly what it sounds like, just a direct pipe with absolutely no design or mufflers of any kind. They are ear shatteringly loud.
And for those, you do have the correct reaction.
I also like feeling the low rumble of a powerful car engine. You can’t help but feel the excitement, the power …
Those are rare now. Most mods make the engine scream or rattle of or buzz. If your car sounds like a moped with a missed shift, that is not positive. If your car sounds like a heat shield is rattling g, you should fix that. If your car backfires … crap, how does that even happen since fuel injection and electronic ignition?
While this is true, diesels often come from the factory with a conservative one size fits all engine tune.
You can usually make the car more fuel efficient and/or add a bit more power if you do it properly. Potentially you can even make it more reliable.
Obviously, that’s not what most people do. They tune it to have as much power as possible (or if they’re idiots roal coal) and are then surprised when the transmission or engine gives out prematurely, and the manufacturer no longer feels the need to honour the warranty.
You know how people say that a new car loses depreciates up to 20% just driving it off the car lot? Stuff like engine tuning is one of the reasons that difference exists. The customer doing stupid shit.
It’s more that the car transitions from “new” status to “used” status. But yes the probability of something getting abused on it goes up