An addict to not leaving well enough alone on my vehicles.
Why can't I just leave them alone? My wife needs new tires for her Av again. Going with the same ones as before, Nitto TerraGrapplers, which are a huge upgrade from the factory POFS Goodyear Wrangler AT/S's that were on it. No biggie they fit the bill for a pseudo off-road "soccer mom" vehicle. But then I need front brakes. They only have 75k on them or so. But I found a Avalanche fan club forum, after a previous thread here about them, that I searched and found that the newer 07-ups, have bigger brakes that just happen to "bolt-on" to the earlier chassis. Then I have an old K&N filter for either a Colorado or a universal cone that need a better home then in a box on a shelf in the shed... So where can I find some couplers and exhaust tubing? How about stuffing some polyurethane bushings in place of the wore out rubber versions?
Then there is my poor old decrepit Dakota... I just found out that it appears the 97-02-ish calipers offer up a 4mm increase in piston sizing over mine.. Then let's see, I need new pads. Well, it is mine, so I can tolerate anything, so how about some $90 Hawks. Then it would be awesome to have some fancy rotors for both of these vehicles....
SIGH Thanks ya'll for the continued, ummmmm, "support?".
And now back to your regularly scheduled programs and my search for "cheap" upgrades on my junk and making my wallet a LOT lighter. 
Brian
The only thing I can find wrong with any of that is the spelling of your name. 
I wish I had an answer for you, but I too am an addict. We're here for you, thanks for sharing.
Preaching to the choir.
This is why i have a hemorrhaging neck cyst i like to call my Escort.
I am an expert at taking a perfectly good running car and.. . . Well you know.
Welcome to the club
I've got a Miata that's worth @ $3500 that took me $10k to get there.
Can I join?
Aaaaaaand thats why I have two jobs.
Raze
SuperDork
3/1/12 12:50 p.m.
I struggled with this affliction, but ultimately was able to overcome it by simply following one rule:
Do not modify your daily driver, even when parts wear out. Simply buy OEM replacements and at all costs stay off car forums directly related to your daily driver. This removes the temptation to even think about your daily at all. Keep it what it is, plain transport.
But see then I have my own opium den (called a garage) where my toy car lives, and the endless amount of tinkering is well, endless. And then I have my buddies driveway where the race car lives, so I can keep tinkering, and well you just have to know how to separate your OCD and apply it only to certain cars in your fleet...
Now if only I could stop visiting CL searching for cheap non(barely)-running cars for a few hundred $...
I think you should take both vehicles apart completely.
I feel your pain. I just bought a diesel F-250 and all I can think about at work is a 4" downpipe...
Don't get me started. I've been looking at performance upgrades for my DD Crown Vic again. I've been successful about not messing with it so far but I've been looking at PI heads and intake plus addco swaybars and bilstein shocks. Must resist. I have way too many incompleted projects as it is.
Raze wrote:
I struggled with this affliction, but ultimately was able to overcome it by simply following one rule:
Do not modify your daily driver, even when parts wear out. Simply buy OEM replacements and at all costs stay off car forums directly related to your daily driver. This removes the temptation to even think about your daily at all. Keep it what it is, plain transport.
I tried to do that. Once I convinced myself that if I bought a Grand Marquis, I would not be tempted to modify it. That didnt work.
I have been better about my current DD, but it is lightly modified. I am trying to stick to the no upgrades till a replacement is necessary rule and i have been pretty good about it with the exception of a few things.
Do you guys even want to hear about my daily driver?
Depends. Do you want help with your addiction or are you trying to drag the rest of us down with you?
Ian F
SuperDork
3/1/12 1:53 p.m.
Owning a TDi has been an exercise in restraint with regards to this issue. In a way I'm proud that I've managed to leave the car mostly alone for the past 277k miles.
I had a line on a cheap coilover set up last year and was really tempted to go full on FSP, but it passed.
I have plenty of other cars to mindlessly dump money into...
MG Bryan wrote:
The only thing I can find wrong with any of that is the spelling of your name.
I'm another Brian, so, I think YOU'RE wrong.
Raze wrote:
I struggled with this affliction, but ultimately was able to overcome it by simply following one rule:
Do not modify your daily driver, even when parts wear out. Simply buy OEM replacements and at all costs stay off car forums directly related to your daily driver. This removes the temptation to even think about your daily at all. Keep it what it is, plain transport.
But see then I have my own opium den (called a garage) where my toy car lives, and the endless amount of tinkering is well, endless. And then I have my buddies driveway where the race car lives, so I can keep tinkering, and well you just have to know how to separate your OCD and apply it only to certain cars in your fleet...
Now if only I could stop visiting CL searching for cheap non(barely)-running cars for a few hundred $...
This is crazy talk. Ignore this guy. 
Raze wrote:
I struggled with this affliction, but ultimately was able to overcome it by simply following one rule:
Do not modify your daily driver, even when parts wear out. Simply buy OEM replacements and at all costs stay off car forums directly related to your daily driver. This removes the temptation to even think about your daily at all. Keep it what it is, plain transport.
Yep, this is why I bought a 95 Camry. No temptation to modify ANYTHING on it. Its a 4 cyl, 5 speed, Japanese car. The only thing I have replaced is normal repair items.
However, I do drive the snot out of it and have been practicing my heel-toe technique. Just started in the last week. Getting pretty good at it.
Taiden
SuperDork
3/1/12 2:50 p.m.
I made the mistake of asking people on here to STOP me from buying an e28.
Everyone involved completely failed.
I think its safe to say, that if one has an account on GRM that they are an addict.
Taiden wrote:
I made the mistake of asking people on here to STOP me from buying an e28.
Everyone involved completely failed.
This forum is the worst Automobiles Anonymous group ever. I want my money back.
I intentionally purchased an automatic daily driver so I would hate it enough I wouldn't mod it. I did this once in the past and got 2 years/40k out of a car w/o modifying it!
It's worked for damn near 6 months on this car, although I recently started reading/following on Ecomodder, so it's only a matter of time.
failboat wrote:
Raze wrote:
I struggled with this affliction, but ultimately was able to overcome it by simply following one rule:
Do not modify your daily driver, even when parts wear out. Simply buy OEM replacements and at all costs stay off car forums directly related to your daily driver. This removes the temptation to even think about your daily at all. Keep it what it is, plain transport.
I tried to do that. Once I convinced myself that if I bought a Grand Marquis, I would not be tempted to modify it. That didnt work.
I have been better about my current DD, but it is lightly modified. I am trying to stick to the no upgrades till a replacement is necessary rule and i have been pretty good about it with the exception of a few things.
I haven't modified my diaily driver yet... But it needs new bushings so I keep thinking while I am there I might as well replace the springs and shocks and I would like to lower it .5" to 1" and it would be nice to have some bigger swaybars and some more comfortable seats also the sub box really needs to be replaced...
