Regrets that are my own fault

[KMA KiCKz]

Originally Posted by villainous_frx

Just buy TRD parts before they're discontinued and hold them for a few years. @ TRD steering wheels, duracon shift knobs, and carbon fender fins (to name a few).

+1 on this

[ZionsWrath]

I feel you OP. Sometimes it's best to be pragmatic and cut your losses. Even if you put the car back to stock it sounds there will be a bad taste in your mouth.
Life is too short, sell it and get something else. Even if it is another twin.

[nikitopo]

@Lakitu : Hope to make a good decision on your next steps. Admitting your mistakes is a sign of more knowledge and self-awareness. Unfortunately, tuning market can have pitfalls and most people will defend after their choices, will not admit their mistakes or will act even as vendor sponsors. Forums and the internet in general can make things even worse, since anyone can hide by a random account and in fact promote his "products" as a casual user or happy customer ...

[Compelica]

I agree with OP's point of view. It's one of the philosophies that I have with my current 86 - if the mod presents no downsides I look for one, even mods with a high benefit / low detriment ratio would take me days to consider its use cases. At times it's just easier to play devil's advocate.

When judging people's opinions on forums they typically downplay the negatives of it. After all, no one wants to be that person spending a good amount of money and effort to end up less than he/she had with. If he/she says there's a whine coming after that poly bushing installation - it's probably far worse than it sounds (and feels).

Over here where I live it is rare to find any stock 86/BRZ. Parts are plenty from Japan, 2nd hand parts are snapped up in seconds and the entire community advocates modifying. Not that I am opposed to mods in general but it sometimes comes off as if there wasn't much consideration put into it compared to the laments we hear and costs paid after.

But I do think at the end of the day, none of us would be entirely happy with the mods we have, it's human nature after all - but if you are generally happy with the car and how it drives, you're on the right track.

[soundman98]

nothing can ever be everything to everyone. every decision is a compromise.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/1606...ay-episode-51/

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by villainous_frx

Just buy TRD parts before they're discontinued and hold them for a few years. @ TRD steering wheels, duracon shift knobs, and carbon fender fins (to name a few).

Meh by the time you held onto them long enough to make any real money you could have made more by investing it. Investing in cars or parts to try and make money is a massive gamble no matter what they are.

[nextcar]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Meh by the time you held onto them long enough to make any real money you could have made more by investing it. Investing in cars or parts to try and make money is a massive gamble no matter what they are.

Or you could have lost more...

Breaking news: Speculative investments are risky.

I do agree that cars outside the rarified markets of crazy money (e.g. Pebble Beach et al - where the cars are treated more like fine art than vehicles) are by and large depreciating assets.

Any investment for the the purpose of making money is a gamble - its all a matter of how much risk.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by nextcar

Or you could have lost more...

Breaking news: Speculative investments are risky.

I do agree that cars outside the rarified markets of crazy money (e.g. Pebble Beach et al - where the cars are treated more like fine art than vehicles) are by and large depreciating assets.

Any investment for the the purpose of making money is a gamble - its all a matter of how much risk.

Didn't necessarily mean high risk high reward investments. If you left the money you spent in a simple low interest savings account for the period of time required for parts the gain value (if they ever did) you would be ahead of the game at a purely monetary level.
My simple point is that it is very very difficult to PLAN to make money on cars parts.

[FR-S2GT86]

Originally Posted by soundman98

nothing can ever be everything to everyone. every decision is a compromise.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/1606...ay-episode-51/

So THAT’S what you did with your old Ranger.

[jflogerzi]

Originally Posted by Lakitu

This is just a rant about my dumbass decisions.
Was new to cars back in 2017, learned some things, then lost interest because my mistakes outweighed the enjoyment of learning and progressing.

Long story short, I modded my car and regret everything I've done. I wish I could just go back to stock everything. Stock was incredibly fun on those tiny 17" tires and stock struts that I've taken for granted. Now I've got 18" wheels and spent over $5,000 on trying different coilovers and the car is far less fun with an additional overall $10,000 in aftermarket parts that the car never even needed and hasn't even been used for their intended purpose (performance/tracking). I was dumb and I am regretting my choices. I wish I had done more research. I wish I hadn't followed suggestions too trusting and too quickly. It sucks to be a beginner and to know for sure what works and what doesn't, you have to take blind leaps of faith and spend so much money.

I made the mistakes of assuming car mods were upgrades. I've learned that car mods are actually compromises for adjustability to track the car at the cost of comfort. Seems the general consensus is if you aren't tracking the car, there is zero reason to mod.

The good news is I am close to paying the car off, and I feel like I'm going to immediately sell it and either get something basic or get another one, which is probably dumb considering how much time and money I've already spent on the one I have. Some would say its perfectly fine, just needs my screw-ups reversed by someone more educated on car comfort than I am. It's mostly just my frustration speaking.

I've been thinking about getting something conventional that I won't be tempted to modify. Like a Corolla or something basic and less flashy. But that will cost me even more time parting out the 86, or selling it as-is and taking a huge loss. not to mention another car payment after finishing this one after 5 years of payments. I could have purchased a corvette for the same monthly payment. Not trying to spend anymore money than I already have, but I'm stuck with my screw ups until I either spend more money to fix them, or I abandon the car. I'm tired of working on my car. I have all the tools I need but have no desire or motivation to get under it anymore unlike I used to. Tired of there being no shops around willing to touch anything that has been modded. "Sure we can install struts, but we won't install coilovers" literally the same exact process. I get it, though. There are probably more liability risks/issues with aftermarket. I had so many big plans lined up, and all of them are unnecessary and pulling the car further away from what I really enjoyed about the car. I'm glad I'm stopping now to re-assess things before anymore huge commitments like throwing the JDL turbo on it.

This car was so wonderful before I touched it. I remember when I used to smile a lot driving my car. I miss the car I had, even though I still have it. I wish I could go back to those early days. The regret is real. I wish I had friends who own one and are experienced, so they can tell me exactly wtf I've done wrong. The only way to fix things is to drop more money and more time, with no guarantee that things will be better. In all of this I at least found more appreciation for stock cars a lot more than I did before. When a stock BRZ or FT86 rolls past me, I'm filled with so much envy.

Anyway, I'm done bitching. Doesn't solve anything. I'll figure it out. I've got plenty of options. Just need to decide which one. Don't know whether to stay and fix, or move on, or start over.

I think everyone who gets into cars goes down this path. Thankfully I realized with my own twin. Everything that his been done has a purpose to increase performance and I intend. There has been a few wasted purchases. Strip all the parts and get a second Gen. In stock form it looks nearly perfect. Even has a much more enjoyable sound.

[villainous_frx]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Meh by the time you held onto them long enough to make any real money you could have made more by investing it. Investing in cars or parts to try and make money is a massive gamble no matter what they are.

Oh absolutely! But you did ask specifically about car parts

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by villainous_frx

Oh absolutely! But you did ask specifically about car parts

Ahhh but I asked because the comment that in this particular case the statement was made that he could make a profit selling his used pats.

[nextcar]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Didn't necessarily mean high risk high reward investments. If you left the money you spent in a simple low interest savings account for the period of time required for parts the gain value (if they ever did) you would be ahead of the game at a purely monetary level.
My simple point is that it is very very difficult to PLAN to make money on cars parts.

I'm afraid I don't begin to comprehend what you mean by "ahead of the game at a purely monetary level". Money has zero inherent value. Although money placed in a savings account at a fixed interest rate will increase numerically, there is absolutely no guarantee any numeric gains will outweigh inflation, meaning that although you may have more money numerically, its value will have decreased and you will have less purchasing power/value. Even when the US was on the gold (or later silver) standard, precious metals have little intrinsic value other than manufacturing requirements and thus interest on savings was not guaranteed to increase value. (Reference the price of gold between 1980 and 2000)

My simple point is that ANY investment made for the purpose of attaining a growth in value has risk. If there were any investments guaranteed to increase in value, so much money would be invested that the only possible outcome would be inflation.

BTW - I absolutely agree with your simple point.

[Sapphireho]

I invested in gold TRD parts.