Evil-Twin

With all the condescending talk about non performance parts, I thought I would post this. I seem to find alot of people afraid to speak up for their choice of mods, when it comes to performance vs. visual aesthetics. Of the 1/4 million C5's out there, 90 % are relatively stock. These cars are daily drivers or Sunday afternoon cruisers for most... The Hard core C5 racer is part of the other 10%. But I feel lots of people looking for bling will cower away from a discussion on performance vs. visuals. Like they are embarrassed to add nice looking heavy wheels in the face of some performance guy saying they are too heavy and the C5 is a performance car.. The problem is the C5 is a production sports car, the design was made to be visually appealing. it's the reason most people buy it.. It has a fantastic engine, and brake system right out of the box..It's factory performance is second to none here in the US. It is just plain silly to say performance mods are what a performance car is all about. There is nothing wrong with either in my opinion, but feel the performance guys feel that bling is less than appealing or, in some way, a poor choice of mod options, and most visual mods members are afraid to defend their choices in a debate. My point being, having a nice looking car, is just as important to those who spend their hard earned money on visually appealing mods, as those who spend their money on performance.. To the 98% of the C5 owner's that will never see a track, the C5 "out of the box" is an awesome machine. This is probably too long of a post, but I was just looking for some opinion. Are the aesthetic mod guys afraid to go toe to toe with the performance guys.. ??? Oops, I think I just answered my own question... Performance is all about competing...the performance guys have the edge on debate competition... I am pretty competative for a Bling guy...

93reddroptop

I think you can "bling" and still have performance....

blkvett01

Evil-Twin: new i lik you beside being an engineer you are right on. I am in to the bling along with some hp just to give it a nice sound and a few more hp. Most vetts are owned by people that just love the car for what it is not just what it could be. Thanks for all the great help you give here and a great point of view.

Stock Man

Good topic.

As far a "Bling" possibly being a negative connotation. I have never thought of it as such. It's a descriptive word as I see it. As it sounds. It pops etc. And as an aesthetic mod guy I like "Bling" if it's done right, and there's a theme going on.

And as far as competing with the high performance guys!! Well they have something else going on. It's pretty hard to compete with superchargers at 10k and turbos and such. But their cars in the aesthetics area can't compete with the "Bling" guys. So both areas are independent and I feel appreciative of each other.

That's one great thing about this hobby and that is that we support each other even if it's not what we would do to our rides. We can appreciate what others do because it gives us ideas for our own cars. Or in some cases shows us what we wouldn't do to our cars. It's a great way to express yourself and enjoy the cars with others that can appreciate what you've done.

Well there's my .02 . This could be a very interesting post. Way to go ET.

blacksedan87

Hey E-T! Nothing wrong with a little of both, is there? My car has "heavy" chrome wagons, with Bilstein Sport shocks, Hotchkis sways, Corsa Indy with Pro-tips, a Blackwing, a B&M shifter and Wilwood brakes. I've done some appearance mods like brakelight red letters etc. I can't justify spending serious big bucks on things like superchargers, heads and cam, even headers - because that's not the way I use the car.

I love driving it cruising, occasionally a backroad trip through the twisties, even Solo II Autocross once in a while. I don't care about taking it out to the Friday night drags, or out on a track against other cars. So what I have is a compromise, and I like it like that.

So I guess I'm with you on this...

Dark-Knight

Vettes are built out of the box with "bling and go". I beleive most mod-a-holics like to enhance both.

MyBlueC5

I think with just about any car, bling is an acceptable term... The exception to that is the Corvette or any muscle car. Yes, you can have "bling" on a vette or 71 SS Chevelle, etc but it's on the borderline of being taken as a bad connotation. I also think the ability of the Corvette to be a daily driver as opposed to earlier models allows bling to enter the equation.

Just my .02 worth...

Mark

MyVetteDream

I feel like I have both and I'm d@mn proud of it.
I get more compliments from the "tracked car" on my stereo system and my bling, but I sure appreciate their performance mods as much as they do. I like to say that I'm shooting to have the best of both worlds ... best being a subject term. Negative? I don't think so.

0EG@EnglandGreen

I like subtle bling. But the word itself has these connotation (in my mind...)


Sorry.. I just changed IP addresses on my webserver so all my pix will be down for the next 24 hours until DNS is replicated worldwide...

Devils Elbow

I like both kind of mods....the non-polished Maggie would have produced just as much hp as the polished unit.

madeouttaglass

I bought my Vette because I fell in love with the performance of C5s the first time I drove one. I could have bought a Z06 for what I paid for the vert, but this is my replacement for sportbikes and I wanted the sun & wind over the extra performance. My car is still under warranty, so perf mods are out for the next 2 years. I've done the chrome vert hoops and paint under the hood-Bling! I've also done the X pipe,cat back, K&N and Z06 airbox-not bling. MAYBE I'll look at engine mods in 2 years. The fast cars I witnessed at last years Cruise In were awesome beasts. On the other hand, go on over to the FI/Nitrous or Tech forums and see the two prices that are paid for the extra HP. One- initial cost, two- more maintenance and break downs. In the end, I love all Vettes.

yellow01

Agree with EG - I think the word is typically used negatively.

There are those who scoff at non-performance mods yet do nothing performance related with their vette (or whatever car they have, it isn't vette related).

Back when I was young and stupid I thought it was dumb to waste money on anything that didn't improve performance.

I'm older now, and much smarter, and realize that it's all about having fun with your car and loving working on it driving it and looking at it.

In other words to each their own and I have respect for everyone regardless of whether their priority is to drive in a straight line as fast as possible, drive a track, or style and profile around town.

cmeflyby

i think the truth of it is that of those 10% of owners that mod their vettes, there is another breakdown to look at. 90% of those do a combination of stuff. They love the performance and would like more, but, also love the look of the car and want to make it better (which is a personal preference, so that can mean anything). Of the remaining 10% of the 10% (or 1% of the 100% total ), half of them are hardcore racers who scoff at the idea of putting something non-performance related on their cars and the other half only go for appearance mods and turn the cars into show pieces.
i think the only people others tend to avoid having discussions with are the people at those extremes...take a look at the current Vararam discussion (actually i know you have, because you posted on it ). I found that thread amusing and kind of disturbing at the same time. Some people really need to get a life other than arguing on a public forum. Then again, some people just live to argue I will never sit and argue with one of these people even if I think/know I'm right because it's just pointless.
that's my take on the subject

400hp

I'm afraid to speak my mind. I can't say.

Evil-Twin

I was not talking about the word "Bling"... I was talking aesthetic mods over performance mods like they were a less than a respectable mod...
I guess when I constructed the wording for the topic, I was hoping people would read between the lines of just exactly how the topic line was written.
A performance guy once said " If it Don't go, chrome it"... this is what I'm talking about.. the condescending way some performance guys look on aesthetic mods.
I fully understand the viability of some performance mods and some bling mods on the same car... I am talking about the performance only guys stand on their choice of mods and their outspoken feelings about people who are into bling.

0EG@EnglandGreen

Now I understand (I'm a bit slow)

I like both. I'm not in either camp.

EG

CCA Corvette Parts

ET,
Tks for this post. I feel the same way, as some feel "bling" is not a mod because it does not add to performance, and are hesitent to speak up or show thier stuff.

Personally I am not worried what other think because I bought the car for myself and have a clear vision on what I want the final outcome to be. For me it is a combination of my personal visual aesthetics appeal and performance...

...I call it BLING and Zing!

Peace
Willfulone

Icemanskis

The real problem is when you find the guys who value performance as much as the "bling" or aesthetic factor ---> myself included here. These are the type who need to have not only the new headers and best sounding exhaust, but also the coolest wheels and most visually appealing rotors. This breed spends twice as much money as those who only are interested in one side of the equation.

In regards to the respect issue, everyone has the right to express their own individuality as they see fit. Whether it be through performance mods or aesthetic mods, it gives the individual's car a uniqueness. That is the real beauty about owning a vette. You can superimpose a part of your personality onto the car for all to view.

CCA Corvette Parts

Ok, so I just caught this...EG likes subtle bling!!!

Peace
Willfulone

400hp

There are some guys who are just into performance, but I would bet it's a small percentage....It's seems there are more people who want their car to look nice, but think it performs well enough already. In reality, most drivers don't have the ability to drive a bone stock C5 to it's limits, so it's probably a good thing. I have seen far too many threads with C5 wrecks and the driver always says the same thing, I don't know what happened.....

You can be damn sure that if I wiped out my car, I would know exactly what happened.

That said, I am into both, but I would lean towards performance first, then bling.

I also don't share in your sentiment that people are afraid to speak up about their "bling" mods, I think there are more threads about rims and engine compartments than speed and performance mods. I could be wrong. I know, let's have a poll.......................