So tonight I went to a "stance" show...

I love the look of cars when they have enough wheel and tire to fill the wheel well. It makes any car look better. But once that wheel well is filled, STOP. If your rims stick out an inch past your tires, you went too far. If you need 5 degrees of negative camber in order for your wheels to "fit," you went too far. Besides, what good are your 9" rims if only 2 inches of your tire contact the pavement? A lot of these cars look great otherwise, but they just take it a bit too far. It is good to have more people interested in cars though, and it isn't the worst fad. What we need is a GRM challenge that pits the various form over function cars against each other. You can have a stances/stretched car, a lifted car on 24's, and maybe one with the small positive offset wheels that stick out- add in a stock car and one that is modified for autocross. I've seen Mustangs in all the above configurations for example.

since the cambered in wheels are supposed to emulate what is seen on race cars, i wish someone would start a trend of cambering the wheels like the NASCAR boys do on ovals, particularly the short tracks:

I like the stance look to a point. Some go to the extreme but someone always do in every car culture. I am part of stanceworks forum and let me tell you those guys have some awesome build threads and great taste. And lots of fabrication and ingenuity goes into these cars. And I have a bit of a wheel fetish so I never find myself bored of the culture. You'll see things from mild to wild but one thing I've loved most about them is that they accept anything. Never bashing. It doesn't matter if you're stancing a dodge neon or S-klasse Mercedes they give praise and help.

I think they get a bad rep to be honest. Yes some cars are a little extreme. But, its expression.

Every generation of older wealthy car enthusiasts hates the next generation of poor creative car enthusiasts for the "crap" they build with their creativity.

David, you are showing your age.

I despise the whole "stanced" nonsense. Same flatbill hat "scene"-jumping assclowns that flooded drift events. There is a difference between a nicely-lowered car with aggressive wheel fitment for purely aesthetic reasons, and the overblown nonsense that permeates the StanceNation crowd.

Get off my lawn!

novaderrik wrote:

chandlerGTi wrote: My brother drives an e34 that is stanced on some 19s and it rides great. We drove 120 miles one weekend and it was smoother than my car. Stop with the preconceived notions already.

is it "stanced" or "lowered"?

My car is lowered, his car is stanced. I made fun of him till I went for a drive, smooth as silk. Couldn't believe it.

Here it is

Probably.rides better than my.ms3.... And it sure as hell isn't stamced.

I don't mind the look of a lot of the stanced cars, I will pick apart the engineering on just about any custom car work if it's poor, but I'm not willing to hate because they are keeping the car hobby alive.

novaderrik wrote: since the cambered in wheels are supposed to emulate what is seen on race cars, i wish someone would start a trend of cambering the wheels like the NASCAR boys do on ovals, particularly the short tracks:

My Monte did that when the upper a arm mount ripped off the chassis.

They have grown on me. I see a nice white CRV once in a while with a roof spoiler and blue chrome wheels that looks good.

novaderrik wrote:

chandlerGTi wrote: My brother drives an e34 that is stanced on some 19s and it rides great. We drove 120 miles one weekend and it was smoother than my car. Stop with the preconceived notions already.

is it "stanced" or "lowered"?

Conversely, real good coilovers adjusted properly will ride nice, even if slammed. My e36 rode great once we figured the KW's adjustments out. Most of these kids don't spend cubic dollars on anything other than wheels and bodykits though.

Just like a lot of us did in the late nineties...

SVreX wrote: Every generation of older wealthy car enthusiasts hates the next generation of poor creative car enthusiasts for the "crap" they build with their creativity. David, you are showing your age.

Showing my age? Hey, I stand up for these guys. They're hot rodders just like us.

In fact, today I went back for their big show. Lots of creativity. Lots of families, too. Lots of people enjoying their cars in some Florida sunshine. I didn't hear of any troubles in the tech shed.

PS: I posted some photos from today on Instagram. Neat stuff.

I was at Goodguys today and while looking at the old Pro Street modified cars with a small gap between tires in the back to fit a drive shaft and skinny little tires up front with monster engines.

I have to imagine people thought they were idiots back in there day driving those on the street as well, but now when they come out, it is kind of cool to see. Although, I do hope they bring them there and back on a trailer as I don't want to be on the road near those guys when an old throttle sticks or on of those decades old tires blow. Stance will probably be the same way in 20-30 years.

In reply to former520:

Never fear! Mickey Thompson still makes these fresh baloneys:

Funny, we were driving from Columbus Ohio to ft Wayne and I swear I've never had more people taking pictures of a car I was driving in, one guy in an explorer even had a video camera and paced us for a couple minutes. It was like a rolling car show. It would piss me off but it's perfect for him.

My friend's 17yo kid is into the whole Stance and Drift thing. He and his buddies come up to use my shop and hoist on a regular basis. Their cars may not be to my taste but they're all real car guys who don't mind spinning wrenches. This makes me happy. I help out a bit, mostly just to make sure that they're working safely and not biting off more than they can chew in an evening. These kids started off sticking on body kits, installing stereos and fart cans but they've moved on to suspension and engine mods as their confidence has grown.

We ran into the same group of guys at a local pick and pull yard. They were having a car club outing. They were all helping each other remove whatever parts they needed. It was great to see.

Our car culture isn't dying it's just evolving.

Nice looking cars

Less and less young people are into cars, so anything that brings them into the fold is positive IMHO. I read an article that said that many foresee a day when Uber and ZipCar will replace actual car ownership for most people. WE CANNOT LET THAT HAPPEN!

MadScientistMatt wrote: I like some of those cars they had on display, but my inner troll thinks they should have set up a portable speed bump in the parking lot and had a challenge to see how they negotiated it.

That's not trolling. That's a value add to the meet in general. "Next week! Attend for the seminar on parking lot obstacle avoidance and traversing." It would be the reverse of articulation demonstrations at 4x4 meets.

pinchvalve wrote: Less and less young people are into cars, so anything that brings them into the fold is positive IMHO. I read an article that said that many foresee a day when Uber and ZipCar will replace actual car ownership for most people. WE CANNOT LET THAT HAPPEN!

That or we offer an Uber and ZipCar for people who want tricked out cars. Imagine owning that hard top Miata....with a few of your other close friends who confer and assist on modifications? A bit like the Hong's do with their entries. It's a team effort. You could joint own the car and share the costs of maintenance.

It might not be so bad especially if it gets people into the hobby who couldn't afford to enter on their own.

pinchvalve wrote: Less and less young people are into cars, so anything that brings them into the fold is positive IMHO. I read an article that said that many foresee a day when Uber and ZipCar will replace actual car ownership for most people. WE CANNOT LET THAT HAPPEN!

That is true. Personally I hate seeing the automotive world become so fragmented. "Oh, I could never like those enthusiasts because I don't like their modifications." Don't forget, to the rest of the world we're all the same dorks.

I gotta post some photos from the big show, too. Gimme a few. And yeah, some cars are taken to the extreme. Hey, it's a car show. I did see some really neat stuff, too. Lotta neat detail work, too.

A quick aside. I wanted to talk to the owner of one of the cars, so I posted a pic on Instagram with the show's hashtag. My captions only said "Is this car yours?"

I heard from the owner right away. Damn, technology and stuff.

Yeah I saw that. That Saabaru with the bronze wrap was pretty badass too.

moparman76_69 wrote: Yeah I saw that. That Saabaru with the bronze wrap was pretty badass too.

That was nicely done. It was just clean.

Okay, some pictures from Saturday's Simply Clean event in Daytona Beach, Fla.

This is just from the parking lot.

Some old dude drove there in his old car.

Miata!

Wire tuck.

Ruckuses.

Remember when the cool kids had Revolutions?

This had some GRM message board on it.

Bike and truck.