Quote:
Originally Posted by Nate
For daily driver duty, why bother? If you stand on the brakes, do all corners lockup or kick on the abs? If so, we've reached the limits of the tires, not the brakes. Brakes in good condition should usually have enough power to slow down the car, even at WOT.
~Nate
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Agreed. If any of the vehicles listed already meet your needs as far as being a daily driver or performance, why bother?
That said, if the stock components on a vehicle leave something to be desired as far as reliability, performance, and safety - then upgrading them in a sensible manner - not throwing hyped-up expensive eye candy on it as was displayed in that article - does make sense.
Braided metal brake lines do make sense from a safety and reliability standpoint - rubber brake hoses do age and can fail after time - the inner linings have been known to come loose and act like a check valve, causing the brakes to lock up or not apply.
Cheap brake pads are an accident waiting to happen, and can ruin the rotors as well, making for an expensive fix. A set of house brand pads from a certain auto supply store ruined the front rotor on my first 87 300D when the glue holding on the steel backing pad melted, and the plate dropped down and sliced into the rotor hub.
My 05 Jeep Liberty came stock with 225/75/16 tires - tall narrow minivan tires, on a top-heavy 4000 lb SUV. Felt like the beast was always in danger of rolling over when going around a corner at speed. Switching to 245/70/16 tires greatly improved the stability and handling.
Same for the factory shocks and springs on the Jeep - cheap junk that was worn out long before I replaced them at 50k miles - but then, a decent set of plain Monroe shocks and quickstrut assemblies put it to rights - not a uber off-road suspension setup for multiples of 4 figures as some advocate.
Most of the stuff in that article was nothing but eye candy for the young buck gearheads that haven't learned yet what works and what doesn't.
Depends on the vehicle, and whether or not YOU are happy with the way it handles and performs.