News "unique"

"unique"

There are only so many things that people can do to be unique, but whats so wrong with "taking someone elses idea" I mean unless your a body kit, wheel, turbo, seat, and woofer designer then your pretty much gonna take someone elses design. I think people should just get an idea for a car and make it they way they want, with their own design, using other peoples ideas to put their car together. Who cares if someone else has the parts, thats inevidable. Since one guy shaved his doors years ago should no one else do it? What about body kits, should they only make one? I mean i see blitz body kits usually 2 to 3 times a day but do i complain, well kinda but at least the guy is hookin up his car. What about that Dodge Neon that you see in the wal-mart parking lot with the decals, exhaust, altezza lights, and wheels that we all make fun of. I think the "essece" is, that he is hooking up his car and we should respect that. Sure his car isn't the way that we would make it but at least he's doing something. I've been that guy before, i drive a prizm, sure its almost the same as the corolla but when i talk to people about cars i always get the classic "so what do you drive" and when i tell them its a prizm, they act like im a complete idiot and know no more about cars then what i could learn from the latest issue of Super Street. People should begin to respect each other, Just because i dont have a GSR doesn't mean im an idiot. Someone somewhere had to start with something and it just so happens that honda's took over. Whats so different between my prizm and civic, if anything the prizm is better but people assume that since its an "american" car its not worthy of the tuner scene.
Everyone wants to be "unqiue" but i just like working on my car, having a good time and talking to people with the same interests. Its only been within the last year or two that everyone decided that "unique" was the new hot topic.


And that America is what Grinds My Gears......

define "rice", and if its a bad thing then why?

Being unique is doing something different. I laugh at every car that picks up the same 3A racing muffler, the same interior neon lights and the same APC Clear Corners and Altezza Tail-lights. There is one thing to put parts on your car, and another to be unique.

Example:
How many people out there have Carbon Fiber Invader hoods?
Lots.
How many Corolla's of Carbon Fiber Invader hoods?
Less.
How many of those Corolla's have a turbo installed?
...I believe Vortex was the only one until that one got crushed.

Example number two:
How many lifted trucks do you see out there?
Lots.
How many Tundra's do you see lifted?
Less.
How many Tundra's do you see with a turbo on them?
...I believe after Vortex and I install the one on mine...there will be 6.

Example number 3:
How many Civics do you see with Altezza tail-lights?
Lots.
How many Accords do you see with Altezza tail-lights?
Lots.
How many Civics do you see where the guy pulled the altezza light apart and created a one-of-a-kind tail-light?
...Nikko. Vortex, Denver Rolla, 7MGTTE and maybe CR98 know him.

Modding your car is not something for everybody. If you can buy parts and install them, but not know why you are doing...or how to research what parts are right for your car, you are a ricer. If you take a break-down of turbo's and decide that 1 out of 50 is better for you for 6-8 reasons...that's on your way to unique.

The whole tuner industry has really gotten mainstream too. You can get parts for Civics...literally everywhere.

Sorry for the long post...but I've got pretty strong feelings on ricers and actually being unique.

Also for the record...on my truck here is a list of mods and how many tundra's I have seen with the same mod in Denver, CO.
PCP Clear Corners - 5
PCP Clear / Red / Clear Tail-light's - 0 (That's right...I know for a fact there is only one other Tundra in this entire state that has these tail-light's.)
Black & Silver Tribal Windshield Banner - 0
Yamaha Tuning Forks logo in back window - 5
Black Nerf Bars - seen tons of chrome bars, but only 10 or so black

...that's how I see unique.

Its not about being un-unique that makes you a ricer. its your obvous mis-understanding of how a car works and what would be best for it. a car looks rice-ish and you assume the owner is an idiot and thinks everything is "wicked jdm yo" and spends all his money on useless parts that make his car go slower because he is a dimwit. If you see the same riced-out car and you note the intercooler behind the grill youre like **** i wish i had a car thats as fast as his, while noting the unsightly altezzas that the owner bought because he has tons of money to waste cuz his car is already fast and hes got nothing else to spend it on.

people have different taste in terms of car looks, but if you spend your money on **** that makes your car go slower(like a huge aluminum wing or 24" chrome rims) youre a ricer.

The term "ricer" is really starting to bother me. Its overused.

The whole point of show car (a sponsored one at least) is to show off the products featured in the car. If you own one of these cars, you have to realize that people are going to copy the mods and themes you've done.

If you have a race car, then I could understand wanting to be secretive with your mods, but that sort of competition is a different story. Everyone wants to be original w. their car, but after a certain point, unless you're doing some crazy custom stuff, it will resemble some other modded car to an extent.

i hate the term rice... "if you do something that makes your car slower" what about sound systems is that rice?
i have a body kit, a hood scoop, 15 in rota wheels and a wing on my car, as well as some motor and enterior work. why? cuz i think it looks good that way. do i know about cars, yea i worked as a mechanic for 2 years working on imports, so just because my car has a wing i dont know anything about cars.

How else can americans figure out how descriminate and judge one another, can we just respect a car for what it is and the time put into it? Ive put hours into my car, in fact im currently installing vertical doors on my 98 prizm, am i the only prizm with vertical doors, who knows but even if i am how unique is it? I know give a crap i think it looks awesome to have vertical doors on my 98 4 door prizm, and to me thats all that matters. Rice is used for every part out there, clear corners, intake, exhaust so if everyone that has those things are "ricers" then the whole freakin scene is a bunch of ricers.

Cant we all just get along?

and according to deebstundra im extrememly unique. im one of the only prizms in oklahoma with the mods i have, only one other guy in the whole state has a body kit. And i know for a fact im the only one with racing seats (but i guess thats ricer since they dont make me go faster, yea i did em for the style and the looks but what about clear corners and a new paint job, its for the looks right?) and ive also got a turbo in the works which will my prizm the ONLY prizm period with a turbo kit on it when its done.
So i agree that unique is good im just saying that mainstream isnt as bad and "ricer" as evyone makes it out to be.

Sweet, you've done something to a kind of car that is rare in your state...do alot of people have body kits? Yes...how many like you put them on a prizm? That to me shows unique. Just because you are doing something "mainstream," doesn't make you a ricer...you've taken it to a different level and done it to a car that other people haven't. I admire that.

The tail-light's were made for a very short period. I've met all the Tundra mod guys through another board. I'd looked since I bought the vehicle for parts...until I found TS.com I couldn't find anything. Most of the stuff is secretly tucked away somewhere in california...the california guys got together and created TS.com, which is now the best resource in the entire world for Tundra modders.

...Also there are only a couple of modded tundras here, one is a blue '04 D-Cab (Access Cab and Double Cab tail-light's can't be interchanged), there is an '03 Green Access Cab, lifted on 35's...but his tail-light's are stock Orange / Red / Clear, there is a pair of lifted ones running on 33's...brown one and a dark grey one. Both have Carbon Fiber Euro light's.

And the banner is a tribal design, silver tribals on black vinyl...cheap $10 from Pep Boys, but I haven't seen anything Tundra with one.

--
Back to the topic at hand...being unique doesn't necessarily mean building all your own parts...it could mean just doing standard stuff to a car that doesn't get modded often. I can't tell you how many times I've heard a teenager use the phrase, "Man, I wanna get a Civic so bad so I can tune it." Ha.

nothing wrong with any of those mods. its true we judge based on what parts people have on their cars. but you have to admit that 95% of "tuners" are just posers. they go around talking about how "jdm" their car is while they neglect maintanence and blow their motors. most of them are new teenage drivers. its the general ignorance in the public that created the word rice. it was a product of super-street readers who thought all the sudden theyre the tuner masters and know everything. they all buy the same mods and therefore people with those parts are picked on and judged

i agree with e_

and deebstundra. get more realistic. only 6 tundra's are out there with turbo and lifted kits? well 2 of them must be in my hometown!

when did vortex install the turbo kit on the rolla???
was he the first one? i think not!

If you're going to quote me...quote me correctly.

First of all, I said nothing about 6 Tundras with lifted & turbo'd. Currently there are no bolt-on turbo kits for the Tundra with the exception of the Remote-Mounted Squires Turbo System Kit. I have no idea how many of those there are. I know of 6...maybe 7 tundras with a custom built under-hood turbo set-up. I know of tons of supercharged tundras...and turbo'd ones are going to become more popular ever since Toyota pulled the 2UZ supercharger.

Second...I never said Vortex was the 1st to have a turbo'd Corolla. I said I believe (believe...that's not a definitive statement) that he was the only with with a Carbon Fiber Invader Hood, and a custom built turbo.

..and whether the things that I don't have definitive facts on are true or not...I was using them to prove what I thought about the topic of this thread. Voicing an opinion on "being unique."

Good point. I mean sure everyone like attention and compliments, but modding/tuning should be a sense of outgoing expression, not expectation of incoming opinions and comments.

I would love to have a turbocharged vehicle (from stock) not because of the comments that I may receive, but because I enjoy driving fast. I love the feeling that boost gives. Its more of a thrill thing I think.

Ehh I dunno...

R.I.C.E
(Racing Intake & Can Exhaust)

hahaha... lol... i like that...


anyways, can i just comment on this...

i find myself here in chicago unique because i dont see any corollas that are modded... the most i've seen are corollas with custom 14" rims on... i've seen one with a kit... but nothing else is different on it... and the paint is really done like crap... i've seen a good number with altezza tail lights... but compared to how much hondas, cavaliers etc are modded here, corollas are nothing...

well i think that since cars are what we're all into (obviously since we're here) its something we feel passionate about. Being unique, being noticed. I just love going to work and having to type and my hands hurt like sh** from the day before when i busted this or crushed that or pinched here, when i was workin on my car.

And NO ONE can tell me that they dont love this feeling -- when your diving down the street and that 6 year old boy in the car in front of you jerks his head around and waves so hard his hands gonna fall off, in hopes that you'll rev the engine or just wave back.
Thats satisfaction.

i'm a ricer and d amn proud of it, plus i'm one of three modded 01-02 rollas in my city

I agree that this argument is pointless.My problem for the longest time was my best friend kept telling that this is what we're going to do to MY car,we're going JDM,blah blah and the whole time I wanted to do the car MY way. So thats what I'm doing and quite frankly I dont give a Sh** what people think about what Im doing to my car.Do the car the way YOU want to do it,not follow a trend.

Word.....

agreed...

Now this guy has the best point of the whole thread....your car is just that.....its YOUR car...if you like big wings, then get the biggest wing you can find cuz thats your thing and you like it....if you like having the loudest and largest exhaust on your car, then great, at least your satisfied....if you do this and that and this and that to your car, only to go cruisin one night and see another car just like yours with the same exact modifications done to it, then oh well, at least you fulfilled your visions and were satisfied when you completed them....

Even if people arent accepting the way the car looks or runs or anything concerned with your vehicle, then who cares, its your style.....thats why the aftermarket industry is doin so good cuz there is such a variety and no matter what is made, there is at least someone out there thats willing to buy into it....you may ask who would want to buy that ricey airplane spoiler wing for their car????....well who would want to buy a slice of bread after someone claimed that they saw the face of jesus on it????..

I once heard someone say something along the lines of "don't stop dreaming....even if you dont reach your goal, at least you had a dream to chase"......so even if your car looks just like someone elses or even if you buy something that everyone else has, at least it was to your satisfaction.....thats what unique is....

i have an invader cf and turbo thats custom....

but there different turbo kits anyhow...

everyone and everything is unique the way i see it... show me 2 things that are the same.... unless you can make a perfect copy its different and unique...

some people mod cars and dont think what others care... ie.. me and a lot of others... they do it cuz its fun and enjoyable... we turbo our cars cuz we want to make them faster and more fun... is it cost effective.... (well this can be argued) but who cares....

do what you want and if someone else doesnt like it they can turn away...

Thanks magnem44,hellapinoy,TurismoDreamin for the comments bro!!.Even though me and my best friend arent on the best of terms right now because of what Im doing to my car I feel good because for the first time in a while,Im happy with my car.My mini-truck insprired rolla is slowly going and Im even putting in some old school rat rod influences in it.The best part is most people are really interested with what im doing because its DIFFERENT.I dont really care about being unique,I dont really care about shows or awards, just the satisfaction that I built the car the way I wanted it done

word.