Aircooled VW South Africa

Ok, I know I am about to open a ugly beez nest here, but this is a question that have bugged me a long time, and I do understand the fact everyone to his/her own thing. But still, it might just be that I am old, no can't be I NEVER got the hole thing of lowering a vehicle? Was out and about just now and ran into backed up traffic, once I made my way to the problem point, it was caused by some kid in a lowered Honda hitting a manhole cover that was sticking up above the road surface (might be an inch) and took out his cars oil pan.

Now my question, WHY lower?? Now I can see an inch or so to make the fender/tire gap better, but all the way down? And this is not just the imports either, there is a couple of bugs running in town that the front axle is dragging the ground nearly all the time. And don't tell me it is looks or for a better center of gravity, because these bugs can not go over 35 mph because of the dragging/scrapping. And the ride quality is shot to hell too, these "low" guy bump/ hope/ bounce all over the interior of the car going down the road. And then it will not even get to driveways/ speedbumps etc. The one bug guy has to put out wood boards in the street so he can enter or exit his drive way, STUPID!!!!!!!

I have seen lowered cars at car shows, that sits all the way down, belly on the ground, but they are bagged, so they can raise back to a "normal" ride hight before going down the street, still not the best idea in my view but I can live with it. And then the flip side of the coin, raising the vehicle, now if you live in an aria where you do a lot of off roading, fine. I am all for that, you do need the clearance for some of the places you might go. But I am talking here about that brozer machine that does not even see the dirt driveway, let alone off the drive. The other day I stopped next to a truck in traffic and I had a clear view of the transmission and transfer case, they were eye level to my car, Why? That thing must be hell to get into, I have to give it to the owner the rest of the truck was clean, nice paint, lots of chrome even underneath, big rims and tires, also clean and protected. Clearly this truck has never seen dirt, so it is my question again WHY?

Maybe I am just getting fcuking old.

The answer is right there in your name, lowered cars look so bladdy COOL!!!!!!

I do not understand it either, It really does look ridiculous and has no practical purpose. But I guess the same can be said for many of the owners too...

The question is answered with a simply "Because they can."

But there are a lot of angles to that answer, especially now in the generation of base jumping and Xtreme sports etc. Everything in life seems to need to be pushed to some limit, nothing is sacred. Even, it must be said, the keeping-it-original-crowd where the right part number is demanded on the church key. I like watching people express themselves though, and cars are as good a medium as any, I suppose. And then Salvador Dali's liquid clocks aren't exactly practical either...

Because there is no accounting for taste.

They do it, so that the bugs, beatles and busses that are done properly and nicely, are rare, and stand out as beautiful. I have seen more messed up beach buggies, porsche 718's, beetles etc. than nice one's. But then again, if somebody like Pine builds a beautiful buggy (HW2) then it just stands out as stunning.

Ron, I do understand the "do it my way" and "stand out from the crowd" things, but darn keep the car drivable. I do not know how bad the road surface is where you are at, but here with the snow and snowplows, the roads are really bad, I talk pot holes, manhole covers missing, etc. roads are just bad. Then these low vehicles try to navigate thru these obsticales and hold traffic up. Lower it but keep it drivable.
Eben, beauti is in the eye of the beholder (but I agree with you)
colignym, you mention Pines buggy, I have to totally agree, it is a work of art. But you also might notice that he uses it 90% of the time on hard surfaces, and also he did not lifted it, nor dropped it and everybody loves it. And this might just answer my question.

I agree with watercool. And a lot of these cars are daily drivers. An inch or two can work but those scraping the ground reminds me of those guys with the big sweaters that hang to their knees or the pants hanging under their behinds. It makes it look as if their legs are way too short for their body. The front of my car was dropped hard when I got it and it was nail biting to drive. The jarring,tyre scraping and special navigation made me exhausted after the drive. But hey, I am 49 years old.

one of those things you do when you're young and stupid so you can become old and wise...
i love the look of a properly low car, my 16v was barely 2 inches off the ground, but yes sometimes things do go a bit far...

Here is a video of what I mean, hope you can see it
http://youtu.be/n80hyokbPMQ

Or search on you tube for this.
Low Car Vs Speed Bump

Come on Henry. That is cool, why cant you understand?

On the bright side, maybe it will reduce the amount of speed bumps on our roads.


Just kidding, I also think its stupid, but deep down all of us are a rebel or show off in 1 way or another, be it clothes, cars, woman, food....

Or maybe trying to be individual and different, something like this

That is why coilovers are the answer.

Wind them flat for shows.

Raise them up to a decent height for daily driving

If you have a very fast Porsche or Ferrari or any other real wide sportscar, low looks good and it serves a purpose - but lowering a bus or a beetle just for looks? STUPID, and I really hate it with the camber all "skeef" to get some more low - looks k@k !

Besides, it seems nowadays every boy ricer, uhm I mean racer lowers their vehicles so its no longer being different.....

I do like that bigfoot bus - high is GOOD !

Watercool wrote:Here is a video of what I mean, hope you can see it
http://youtu.be/n80hyokbPMQ

Or search on you tube for this.
Low Car Vs Speed Bump

Nearly wet my self when I saw that clip.......

Thats not a speed bump, our white lines are higher then that here in the Eastern Cape.

Have these guys not heard of Air suspension, See page one of instruction manual...

"Switch down for driving, Switch up for showing off."

Much easier then getting 4 guys gunned down for holding up traffic by a "Road Rage" Guy.

like that will set me off if I am behind them

Herman

Another video to proof my point....
http://youtu.be/C7C5o0kcK0E

Or copy and past in you tube
Lowrider too low for the streets gets stuck