nindoo

iTrader: (1)

My friends were telling me not to auto X.

There telling me is ruins your car. He was telling it is safer for the car to do 1/4 drags.

I wanted to know if I had anything to worry about. Keep in mind I am a beginner, but I'm not an idiot and will do whatever it takes to take care of my car.

I don't mind my tires wearing out and what not and getting maintenace done on the car as I put mileage on it, I mean that's probably what everyone does.

So Auto Xers any issues you had with your cars? Do your cars still run well?

Boilermaker1

iTrader: (16)

Well think about it this way... you can chew tires and brakes (which are about $400 a set and $50 a set respectively) or you can make drivetrain soup (which who knows how much that costs). You decide.
I've got 33K miles on the car since I started racing it, I recommend this:
Oil every 3K
Tranny Fluid every 10-15 (its about $8 to change it, no whining)
Coolant every 20-30
Spark plugs once a year or every 25K
Valvetrain clearance every 30K
Check/change your shocks (changing them is a one time deal for many years)
and all the other basic maintainance.
If you keep the car up and look for problems, you shouldn't have any because you'll catch them before they happen.
You can't destroy the car racing it, sure you'll wear things out, but drag racing (clutch dumps, slam shifting, constant acceleration) is harder on your engine and transmission than turning.
Mine runs like a top, I think you'll find thats the case with all of us... because we keep our cars on top of their game.

robbclark1

iTrader: (8)

I don't have any issues either as long as you keep it maintained. Any type of racing will wear parts more quickly, but it won't destroy your car. Very rarely do you see a car with a blown rod on an autox course.

alienmeatsack

Anything outside of the normal use of a car is goign to wear on it more. Like was said above, if you maintain, its all good.

Look at it this way...

Life is the journey not the destination.

Do you want to be the old *** rich guy who never enjoyed his journey because he was too concerned with the destination aka saving for something that he never enjoyed?

FattyMcJ

1) Your friend's are ignorant ricers. (Harsh, but it's my opinion when I hear **** like that )

2) They're probably talking about destroying the brakes and tires. Some think brakes and tires are a big deal, but like Boilermaker said, they're cheaper to upgrade/replace than a new transmission/motor...IMO.

3) If you learn to drive your car to it's potential, and do it well, you really won't be any harder on it than stop-n-go gridlock on a major highway, or taking a corner too fast then hitting a pot hole. Think about it, the ROADS that we drive DAILY are FAR worse on our cars than a nice, grommed, FLAT (usually) surface you would race the car on, i.e. a parking lot, an airport tarmec (sp?), or an actual road course.

4) To re-itterate what was already said a million times....keep up on the ROUTINE MAINTENANCE and you'll be fine.

5) If all other rationale fails.....use my fall back....."Hey....It's a ****IN HONDA!!"

Zzyzx

Well, I have 80,000 miles on my car.... i've been autocrossing since the car had 30,000 miles... No engine issues, no transmission issues, no clutch issures.... Can your friends go 80,000 miles and not atleas have changed a clutch?


oh ya, the amount of time I've spend bouncing off the revlimiter is starting to get in to the minutes..... and still no problems (Good thing I have a Honda....)

what I have worn out.... 1. Several sets of race tires. 2. one set of OEM pads/shoes 3. Front lower control arm bushings (a whoping $25 to replace)....


I'd have to say that autocrossing is decidedly kinder to your car then drag racing...

EternalVTEC

iTrader: (3)

i think its just that autocrossing is less cool cause its not about making big power. its about actually knowing how to drive, and drive well. besides, its more fun to try to hit apexes than shave your 60ft times

and if youre REALLY worried about it trashing your car, get an old beater car, i.e. a CRX, etc.

theyre great little cars with adequate power for autox, theyre light, and they handle great. theyre lots of fun

oh, and another 1/4 mile vs. autox example.

how many times do you see an SCCA Solo II National Champion rebuliding his engine?

cdmx

iTrader: (7)

You guys hear about those saturn tests?

They put the saturn on a road coarse like auto Xing

and the wheel broke off!!!!!!! BAAHAHAHAHA

I think thats what he means...

Auto Xing bad for the chassis?

Zzyzx

Only after a protest.....

RipCurl

A local racer has been auto-x-ing his 1992 Prelude . It has over 208,000 miles on it (it does. I've seen the odometer). And to this day, it looks like it came off the showroom floor (EVEN THE PAINT hasn't faded or chipped) this guy took GOOD care of his car.

slowvic

Cones are hard on your paint. Try not to hit them!

Zzyzx

^^eh.. Cone juce come off with a little rubbing compound .

FattyMcJ

Yeah...that ****'ll buff right out...



On a serious note...

Unless you've got a EURO YELLOW 6thgen ITR (REAL ITR) and you catch a cone going sideways, it slides under your car, and into your left front wheel well....and DOESN'T come out......it SHOULD buff right out.

We found CHUNKS of BLACK rubber (from the melted cone) after his SMOKING car past us (workin the course)...LMAO

and OOOOOHHH did it STINK!!!! He kept a piece of it as a "kill trophy" and a "lesson to other cones...don't FVCK with ME!!" he said.

But he said, he'd "have a HELL of a time gettin' that **** off the fender/door panel" LMAO

AR

iTrader: (2)

If you ask an avid game hunter about gun control, of course he's going to reply with the typical "guns don't kill people, people kill people" conversation.

^ Take that as my opinion on the subject.
Nonetheless autox I could agree will make you a good driver.

Skunk2ner

iTrader: (1)

i haven't started auto-x yet, but i'm going to very soon (stock class for now). i always watch the world-challenge cars on tv and i wish i could do something like that. even if just auto-x.
think about this, you paid somewhere around $15,000 or so for the car, then whatever modifications you do to it, more $$$... and you're just using it to go to work and back??? man, if i'm going to spend that kind of money, i'm going to USE the car.

pnoyster2k1cvic

iTrader: (29)

a bumper bra is only about 20buckets it would take care of that

slowvic

True. I just use painters tape to cover the bottom of the front bumper.

FattyMcJ

Atta boi !!!

Most people just like doing mods for "bling" or "stoplight sprints"....LAME. (Hence the existence of brands like APC and such... )

JoeB18R

the only thing you really put serious wear on are the tires. if you can, get a dedicated set of rims and R compond tires. These will allow you to run faster lap times then pretty much any other suspension upgrade that I can think of.

reytito

iTrader: (6)

what hardware upgrades are *recommended* (other than struts/springs if doing sts) ? such as endlinks, someone said bushings, yady yady yaday. sorry for such a subjective question...

nindoo

iTrader: (1)

Hey dudes I have something thats bothering me. Its the third oil change I've gotten, and I've gotten them done at Honda. After every Oil change my dip stick reading has oil a little above the top indicator. But after a few throusand kilometeres it comes down to a little below the top indicator. Why is that? Is my engine damaged?

nindoo

iTrader: (1)

bump

Boilermaker1

iTrader: (16)

Ok, seriously, this bumping thing is starting to **** me off. I've seen you doing it all over the place and its completely unnecessary. You don't need to bump threads to get replies, if someone knows the answer they'll post it, 1 hour isn't that much time, especially in the morning when 3/4s of the board is still asleep or at work. You especially don't need to do it in the autoX forum where I can still see threads from 3 weeks ago on the front page. Learn some patience... jeez.

nindoo

iTrader: (1)

Sorry Boilermaker1

I'll stop with the bumping

Boilermaker1

iTrader: (16)

To answer the question, a little oil burning off is no cause for alarm. Just about every engine I know of consumes a little... the heat breaks it down. Use of synthetic helps, because synthetic can withstand higher temps better but even that will burn off a little.

JoeB18R

you also get different readings depending on the temapture of the engine/oil.

for auto cross, i suggest struts/shocks, springs/coilovers of some sort and GOOD TIRES. I dont know how to stress this enough. A good set of R compounds will help you out more in auto-x then ANY suspension upgrade EVER could.

nindoo

iTrader: (1)

Anyhow, I checked my oil again I was over reacting. The engine oil was at the same level when I checked the engine in the morning when it was cold. Then I realized that I wont get the same level when the engine is hot.

I got to be less meticulous.

trance4mer

iTrader: (1)

the oil needs to make it way into the oil filter. so after an oil change u might to idle the car a bit and recheck to make sure its at its level..

nindoo

iTrader: (1)

Is AutoX driving all 1st and 2nd gear?

Hey guys ever since I bought my car, when I drive with the wondows closed the engine buzzes at 3000rpm. What gives Honda says its nothing, its really annoying I always think I'm damaging my car. Sometimes the noise goes away. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, what have I done to my car?

robbclark1

iTrader: (8)

yes autox is mostly first and second. You might get into third, but with our cars you lose a lot of torque by doing so.

I don't know what you have done to your car, but most of us have had no problems autoxing.