the difference in a title, this involves all tuners.

[darkangel]

well, i was in a conversation with my bro, and we were talking about tuners. everyone i know refers to all that tune sport compacts, or 4 cylinders as "ricers". that kinda ticks me off, cause i concider ricers as the guys who ride around with a 7 foot aluminum wing on their hooked up neon, and has every autozone sticker available from apc on their cars. i would consider most of us on this web site as tuners or car enthusiast. what's your view?

[asylum24]

im in the same boat as you. there reason: No replacement for Displacement. Tuning a 4 cylinder engine is pointless, just get something faster(even though its faster already than his v8 and steel on wheels)

[lotsacars]

I think the majority of people (at least around me) throw a few stickers on, a pair of altezzas, have a Folger's can welded to the end of their exhaust, and then proceed to consider themselves a tuner. That's probably the reason behind the sweeping generalization of the term "ricer."

As for the 4cyl found in the protege being "faster already than his v8 and steel on wheels" - let's be fair here. My protege doesn't stand a chance against my Mustang or even my Jeep for that matter, both of which are stock. It does get better gas mileage though

Edit: Freakin' typo...

[91ProtegeLX]

Ricers are the people who put HUGE wings on their cars, cut the springs, put steelie wheels on the front and some 20 inch rims on the back. Put 40 different stickers of car products that they dont have on their car. An unpainted body kit, underbody neons, LED lights, and think their car is the fastest **** on the road, when its basically 100% stock. Ricers are the people who have no idea how to make their car perform well. They just put stuff that other people have on their car, on their cars and think its fast.

Big example, a kid I know, has a 92 civic SI hatchback. He lowered it with some "coilovers" from skunk2 racing. Welded on a tanabe super racing medallion muffler on, tinted all but the drivers window, stock steelies on the front, and some Acura integra wheels on the back that he stole. He stripped his entire enterior and lost maybe 35 lbs, and thinks his car is "A WHOLE DAMN LOT QUICKER" he says. Point being, this guy dosent know the difference between a rod and a piston, but since he has a honda he thinks its fast. What topped it all off is when I told him i installed my strut tower bars and he said "Damn, is it alot quicker now?" Cmon now!

[BoostedPro]

Someone is forgetting the rest of the phrase, "There's no replacement for displacement except technology." Every car has the potential to be a racer or ricer. There are a few Protege's on this board I would line up against a V-8 any day including mine. There are also some V-8's that I'd laugh my ass off at. I've seen such things as a mid 90's Z-28 with altezzas and a Supra wing. So it's all a matter of who owns the car, not where it came from or the engine size.

[TheMAN]

there's no replacement for displacement! torque is all that matters!

http://www.tccoa.com/events/local/nedyno093001/

[hi rev]

hell! it aint no doubt that a mustang GT would wax my ass on the strip. but, ill tell his ass ta meet me and my proto on a road coarse any day.

[asylum24]

i know i couldnt beat a v8 mustang.... he drives an 89 chevy caprise(sp?) that used to be a police car(hes into weird types of cars and stuff) but the engine was takin out and the old one was put back in and then he restored the car. so its not a beast or anything its just a v8... but still its better than mine since its twice as big.

[Intruder]

I prefer to think of myself as a car enthusiast, not a "tuner".

[McCorkle]

I can't stand all these terms in general.

[Intruder]

What's wrong with "enthusiast"?
enthusiasm n. 1 (often foll. by for, about) strong interest or admiration, great eagerness

[McCorkle]

I just don't like the whole seperartion aspect of it. I know guys who have terrible looking cars, but they are also enthusiasts. I've got a friend with an old Eclipse with NOPI stickers on the windows but yet he is more of a tuner that most people. So would you judge him as a ricer by his car, and change his title when he isn't driving?

[Intruder]

no, we're all enthusiasts. ricers or not.

[91ProtegeLX]

Yea, i agree with Proto. My car looks like real ****. 2 pretty big dents, spray painted black hood, and rims. And a ****ed up trunk. And im willing to bet that id be labeled a ricer by people who dont actually know me, because the way my car looks. And Id be willing to bet that im more of a car enthusiast in general than alot of people who have nicer looking and faster cars than mine. I just dont have the money to make my car look good, handle well, and go fast right now. So I chose to make it handle well first, then go fast, then look good. Labels are for store products.

[plymouthprotege]

i dont consider myself an enthusiast a tuner, a ricer, or any of those other terms, im a kid with a car, that earns his own money and buys his own things for the car to make it look better, go faster, handle better, and most impotantly make me happy. i dont go looking at other peoples cars for ideas on mine, i take asopects of completely different models that ahve a similiar flow to them and mix and match see what looks good, helps out sith performance, im with proto2k, these are all generalized terms and it doesnt really matter what u call urself or what people call u its all about whether ur car can do what u want ur car to do.