I’m on record on Oppo and everywhere else, hating on “stanced” cars. Any mods really, I had something negative to say unless those mods fell into my incredibly conservative wheelhouse.
There have been a few times where I have let you all know that I wasn’t always like that. I also happen to have the perfect picture to showcase what a hypocrite I can be:
This is also a perfect portrait of my life late teens early 20's...The life of a fuck. That’s my WRX with black/chrome lipped ROTA wheels, shitty TEIN lowering springs, AEM “short ram” intake, fart can cat back, complete with a huge blow off valve! Also yes, I did feel the need to apply the stickers that came with each “performance” part in the tackiest locations.
After this car and the next one (STi) I bought the E46 M3 that I still own and pretended like I was a grown up until I bought the Ranger. Everything was so cheap for the Ranger, so I did a lot to it but mostly cosmetic/electronic mods.
Then I bought the 02'. This car came modded to the moon. A 1975 BMW 1502, engine from an 1802, 292 camshaft, high comp pistons, twin Weber side draft carbs, aftermarket clutch and flywheel, racing seats, and nothing but felt covered metal to cover the doors. In addition the coil overs are adjustable. I have spent considerable time setting up the car with my pal who is a huge nerd and an structural engineer. He has this crazy wire setup that he uses to setup his cars for autocross. We made changes, drove it, repeat. Until I was satisfied and he wouldn’t stop suggesting that I should be a “drifter mook” with the way I like the suspension setup.
Regardless of any of that, it came out looking like this:
Those rears slip underneath the (already rolled) fenders, ever so slightly. I don’t have a good picture of the rear track, but they’re out...Not “stance-nation” out, but with enough negative camber to handle the way I apparently liked. The front sit’s just a smidge higher, but the car is LOW. For these reasons and more (the wider fenders, the exposed fasteners) my friends are saying that the 02 is STANCED. I’ve argued this tooth an nail because everything on the 02 has been done with the drive (not the look) in mind. They’re arguing that while the “look” is un-intentional, it exists. Touche.
I’ve just bought a VW which is a step in the stance direction just by being an owner. Now I have gone and installed wheel spacers! (I’ve checked the torque on the lugs at least a dozen times since Friday, haha) They have no performance value and will at the very least cause my tires to wear funny. Boy does it look a lot better though. I have almost always opted for the performance variant of any car I have purchased. So I have never really owned a car with the wheels so tucked in the way that they are on the Alltrack. It took a 15mm spacer up front and a 25mm spacer in the back to flush up the wheels. I know they’re fine I know lot’s of people run spacers, but I hate seeing that perfectly machined disk in between the hub and the wheel. I’m going to leave them on and take pictures of one tire every 100 for 5-600 miles and review. Then I’m going to take em off, sell them and buy myself a set of wheels to get the look I want.
Anyway my horizons have been expanded yet again. Maybe it’s because I’m more comfortable with a wrench, but I’m always looking toward the next thing I’m going to change or add. I even have a build sheet for the wagon with all of the parts I want/have purchased...
I hope everyone had a great weekend! Here are some before/after pics from the spacer install.
Before
After
Before
After
