Now, I didn't know exactly where to post this, but I figured since it was a general topic (albeit aimed at J-bodies considering the web address
) it should go in the general topic section.
What do you consider "beating" on your Cavalier/Sunfire?
As far as beating goes, only two things immediately come to mind to me:
Redlining
Bouncing off the Rev Limiter
You could argue that the higher rpm's are there for a reason, but I just feel like my car is going to explode at times. I'm still guilty of doing it whenever I feel like getting up to speed quickly.
Now that I think about it, I guess grinding gears could be considered beating on your car, but that could just be bad driving. Same with stalling your car. So I guess my final "beating on your car" list looks like this:
Redlining
Bouncing off the Rev Limiter
Stalling
Grinding Gears
Then you have your plain negligence:
Not Changing Oil on Time
Letting things go until they get worse/unbearable - I'm sorta guilty of this, I need a new muffler bad, but I guess besides sounding like @!#$ It's not harming me much. I'm also very worried about my rust spots, but I don't have the money to take it to a body shop, and they're pretty small... but still.
What do you guys consider beating on your car/negligence, and how bad would you rate what I posted?
From the worst to the least worst as far as damage to your vehicle, I'd think it would look like this:
Bouncing off the Rev Limiter
Stalling
Redlining
Grinding Gears
Now this is more a fact than opinion, as I'm rating it by damage over time, and the amount of money it costs to fix it. Of course I don't know if my order is correct, so feel free to correct me if it seems off to you. *Looks at people who are mechanics and probably know this sort of thing... Darkstars/PJ (First two that came to mind, if anybody else is a mechanic, sorry for forgetting you, and please provide your input if you feel so inclined)*
I would say anytime you drive it so hard you push the engine, trans, suspension, or brakes to the limit you are beating on it.
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wearing down slotted rotors to the point the slots disappear <----guilty lol
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How else does one drive, if they are not driving it like they stole it?
I beat the hell out of everything I drive. I also take quite a bit of care of everything I own. I am probably the most anal personal I know about my cars. It it needs fixed, I'll fix it. If it breaks, I'll replace it.
Regular maintenance is the number one thing people do not do on their cars.
I Consider that beating on your car.
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Quote:
I beat the hell out of everything I drive. I also take quite a bit of care of everything I own.
Isn't that contradicting? I wouldn't consider beating the crap out of your car taking care of it...
Not that I care, but I just thought that was funny. And I do think cars are meant to be driven like you stole them sometimes...not all the time.
^^^^^ mike hit the nail right on the head.
I beat the ever living hell outta my car by any standards lol.
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ahfunaki wrote:Quote:
I beat the hell out of everything I drive. I also take quite a bit of care of everything I own.
Isn't that contradicting? I wouldn't consider beating the crap out of your car taking care of it...
Not that I care, but I just thought that was funny. And I do think cars are meant to be driven like you stole them sometimes...not all the time.
I think he just means that he enjoys his cars by pushing them to the limit, but when something breaks, and he expects it to with the way he drives, he makes sure it gets taken care of so it doesn't cause further problems.
I'd say pushing them to the limit is beating on it but so long as you counteract that by taking care of it once it's in the stable, that it's not that big of a deal. I just think it's sad when people completely neglect their vehicles.
My sister has an '06 Scion TC and she hit the 20k mile mark and a service light came on, just for regular maintenance. It's now at around 27k miles, and she still hasn't bothered to take it. Not that it's a big deal but she has the warranty, she bought the car new, and she has 3 days a week off. It just seems silly to me that she wouldn't take it.
Edit: She also doesn't keep up with her oil changes, we're talking 5-7k miles sometimes...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Monday, March 24, 2008 2:26 PM
Quote:
How else does one drive, if they are not driving it like they stole it?
I beat the hell out of everything I drive. I also take quite a bit of care of everything I own. I am probably the most anal personal I know about my cars. It it needs fixed, I'll fix it. If it breaks, I'll replace it.
Regular maintenance is the number one thing people do not do on their cars.
I Consider that beating on your car.
Same here my wife hates that i do so much to my car.
im guilty of beating the piss outta everything i drive also... but im -MD-... if something breaks or needs replacing... ill replace it...
It depends what mood im in. But most of the time i also beat the piss out of pretty much everything i drive. But if its breaks or stops working then i usually fix it. Though my check engine lights randomly appears for a few days at a time now and again, i did replace the faulty sensor that was causing it though so i suppose thats something lol.
(99 - Sunfire - Red - 2200)(95 - Cavalier z24 - Purple - 2.3 quad four)
i beat the piss outta my car, always have, guilty as charged, but i do perform all the maintenance it needs in a timely manner... she still runs like a champ btw
hop on in i've got a J
I drive all my cars very hard. But I do keep up on the regular maintenance as well. If something breaks it's fixed asap or upgraded so I cant beat on her again hahaha...
Since my car is my daily driver, and funds do not allow me to arbitrarily add to the maintenance cost of this 11-year-old car, and it's losing coolant by the head gasket but luckily not into the oil... YET, I pretty much consider it beating on the car if I go past 4000-rpm.
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Im either way. I do putt around in my 03', but it still enjoy running it at times. 2 weeks ago i broke a spring in it. Im not exactly sure how it broke, it would have been a number of things. But i havent been driving it sence and i miss it. I do have fun with it and beat it once in a while, but i do not drive the thing into the ground.
You could also add burnouts to your list.
Theres differences in beating I wouldnt consider slowly easing into the higher rev range while merging onto the highway beating, but instantly mashing the pedal to the floor and hitting redline in like a second is. It also depends where im at if beat my car. For instance to get to my buddies house I have to drive up and down a mountain which involves a windy road. I generally push my car on this said drive bcuz no matter how much I try to restarin myself from going fast it usually only last a few seconds its just to fun to drive my car hard. But if im just driving to work or around town I usually take it easy. I guess its beating if you constantly drive hard but the ocasional beating is more just spririted driving.
Go.Stop (Ron Carvalho) wrote:ahfunaki wrote:Quote:
I beat the hell out of everything I drive. I also take quite a bit of care of everything I own.
Isn't that contradicting? I wouldn't consider beating the crap out of your car taking care of it...
Not that I care, but I just thought that was funny. And I do think cars are meant to be driven like you stole them sometimes...not all the time.
I think he just means that he enjoys his cars by pushing them to the limit, but when something breaks, and he expects it to with the way he drives, he makes sure it gets taken care of so it doesn't cause further problems.
I'd say pushing them to the limit is beating on it but so long as you counteract that by taking care of it once it's in the stable, that it's not that big of a deal. I just think it's sad when people completely neglect their vehicles.
My sister has an '06 Scion TC and she hit the 20k mile mark and a service light came on, just for regular maintenance. It's now at around 27k miles, and she still hasn't bothered to take it. Not that it's a big deal but she has the warranty, she bought the car new, and she has 3 days a week off. It just seems silly to me that she wouldn't take it.
Edit: She also doesn't keep up with her oil changes, we're talking 5-7k miles sometimes...
I can't be certain for the TC, but the
scheduled (per Toyota's own user manual) change for oil in my Yaris is every 5K miles... Food for thought.
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2002 Sunfire -->
- Ractive steering wheel
- ASA 17" EM9 + Nexen N5000 215/45/17 (steelies for winter)
- D-Spec Lowering kit @ 1.4" (issues currently
)
- Rockford P250.1 + MTX MZS1004 + Panasonic CQ-C8313U head unit
- Barely legal tint.
Well yeah, technically the scheduled oil change for most cars is 5k miles... if it's highway driven most of the time. But most people drive it in the city more than the highway. 3k miles is the city driven recommended interval on most cars. I drive mostly on the highway, 60 mile trips at least twice a week, but I still change my oil as close to every 3k miles as I can.
My daily driver gets a good beating when I'm on the interstate going on long trips (which is a lot). I push that little 2200 engine of mine to go 95MPH, so that I can pass SUVs... and I have a completely stock engine with 113K on it. I'm sure that's not good at all... along with putting 20k of stop and start miles on your car in 8 months. But I do get an oil change at 3,000 miles! That is one thing that I can't miss, no matter what.
I also have been avoiding my wheel speed sensor that is broken for over a year, and I've known for quiet a while that I need an exhaust. So I guess just as guilty as anyone else.
But where's the fun driving like a granny?
I drive the piss out of everything i own. My car, my snowmobile, my jeep and my quad. The sled, the quad and the jeep spend as much time in my shop getting fixed as i spend riding but fixing/working on it is half the fun anyway. I don't buy vehicles just to look at them, they're meant to be driven so drive it to the limit.
Drive it like they stole it?
I never got that, cuz if i stole a car i would drive normally so i wouldnt draw attention to myself.
Ah yes, Burnouts is a good addition to the list. I've always wanted to do one, but I don't want to hurt my car by doing something stupid (or my tires). I told myself that when I finally need to buy new tires, the day I go to get them, I'm going to do a burnout first.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Wednesday, March 26, 2008 2:42 PM
ya i havent really done a burnout in my fire either... havent had it long but still... ive chirped the tires and all... but no full blown burnout
