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TUNED IN: Avoiding Vehicle Upgrade Potholes BY PAUL WEISSLER The street performance market provides untapped profit opportunities for an independent shop. But unlike conventional repair work, the vehicle owner must be willing to accept at least partial responsibility for the outcome. illions of dollars are good opportunities for the indepen- spent each year by mo- dent shop, too. torists to turn plain Jane You see a twentysomething with a econoboxes into “sports $12,000 to $14,000 car, often one he Photos: Paul Weissler Paul Photos: compact tuners,” and bought used for well under ten billions more are spent grand. It now has about $2000 in spe- Cavalier/Pontiac Sunfire. for add-ons to pickup trucks and cial wheels and tires, plus a custom The truck/SUV side of the custom BSUVs. Even through the 2000-02 exhaust system and maybe a turbo or market is far bigger, and not just for down economy, people were person- high-performance “crate” engine un- styled wheels and special tires, but alizing their vehicles. Members of the derhood—a total investment that for other things, as well. The good Specialty Equipment Market Associa- may be close to the price paid for the news is that many of them are in the tion (SEMA), who make and sell $27 car. Those add-ons you’re seeing are take-it-to-a-shop category. billion in products, are well beyond only the most visible piece of the The idea of spending thousands for fuzzy dice, hubcap spinners, under- multibillion-dollar pie, and really one add-ons, which may be close to the hood chrome and ill-concieved engine of the smallest. value of a car or truck when bought modifications that would fail an emis- That piece is getting much bigger, used, may seem crazy, so why get in- sions test. though, because the kids are tired of volved with nuttiness? But look at it If the routine maintenance and re- just doing the Honda Civics and the way the buyers do: Today’s vehi- pair jobs you’ve been doing are com- small Acuras; “Everyone’s done cles are believed to last longer, so the ing less frequently (maybe today’s ve- them” is an often-heard line. Now two-year-old econobox with these hicles are more reliable), you may there’s interest in the Ford Escort, thousands of dollars in extras give the find you can get a profitable piece of Focus and (of course) Mustang; buyer a distinctive machine he’ll be the vehicle personalization action. Hyundai and Kia econoboxes; New proud to drive for years. Just look around—beyond the bolt- Beetles and the English MINI; the The tuner market, for both cars on spoilers, decals and custom body Mazda 6, Protegé and Miata; the and trucks, has some pitfalls. Al- parts. Sure, some of that is do-it- Subaru WRX, Toyota Corolla/Matrix though you may want the extra busi- yourself, some is body/paint shop and Nissan Sentra; Chrysler’s PT ness, you don’t want to acquire a work and some is in custom sound Cruiser and Dodge Neon and even stream of unanticipated headaches. systems. But there are plenty of other the Saturn ION and (gasp!) Chevy For openers, if you want to draw cus- 34 August 2004 tomers, you have to “show the mer- ket—about $6.5 billion—with much of more common and some as large as 26 chandise,” and that means you should it for trucks and SUVs. The highly to 28 in. are on the way. Unless you’ve be prepared to start with your own styled, often oversize aluminum or bulked up in a weight room, you also vehicles as display pieces. They’ll be chrome wheels, really big wheels for need other help with these behemoths. the best way to tell people you’ve trucks and SUVs, are not only expen- They’re not only heavy, but they done this work and you’re ready to do sive, they’re definitely not DIY. In fact, must go on equipment that won’t dam- it for them. What you do on your ve- right now your shop may not even be age the bead-sealing edges during tire hicles will pretty much define the able to handle them safely. mounting and demounting, a particu- range of tuner services you can mer- Larger wheels also are becoming lar issue with aluminum wheels. And chandise. original equipment. And the larger because a wheel might cost hundreds There’s a wide range of appearance special tires that are just coming out— of dollars, you don’t want to just drop it and/or performance enhancements— such as the Goodyear Run Flats on the on the machine. from wheels and tires to suspension Corvette and Michelin Pax tires on the That’s why equipment that accepts a kits and custom exhaust systems— new Cadillac XLR—can’t be handled tire roll-on, then grasps and lifts the your shop may want to provide. Let’s safely on conventional tire equipment. tire into place is not just a convenience look at each in some depth. You’ve got to consider new equipment item. It isn’t cheap, with prices in the to work on what’s coming from the ve- $10,000 to $13,000 range. But manu- Wheels & Tires hicle makers. That same equipment, facturers who showed the equipment If conventional tires and wheels are a although expensive, also will handle during last year’s Automotive After- measurable part of your business now, the larger wheels and tires that are go- market Industry Week in Las Vegas it makes sense to look at the custom ing on tricked-out cars and pickups. found large, attentive crowds. ones: They carry a much greater Note that 17-, 18-in. wheels today of- If you’ve run a conservative tire op- markup. SEMA estimates wheels and ten are standard stuff, 20-in. wheels eration to date, you probably will tires are a quarter of the specialty mar- (popularly called dubs) are becoming want to continue with one. Tires that August 2004 35 TUNED IN: AVOIDING VEHICLE UPGRADE POTHOLES The factory can do it all and provide a full warranty. In this Mazda Miata from MazdaSpeed’s factory perfor- mance division, the engine is IHI turbocharged and inter- cooled, boosting the 1.8L Four to 178 hp and 166 ft.-lbs. of torque (from 142 hp and 125 ft.-lbs.). The body is lowered 1 just ⁄4 in., but there are special springs and shocks and a strut tower brace, plus some engine dress-up items and Hunter Engineering’s TC3500 tire changer features a 17-in. racing wheels and performance tires. Mazda took polymer mount/demount head to protect the wheel. Au- this project in-house (made in Japan) instead of as a tomatic lifting of the wheel/tire assembly is a Power Lift dealer or field-available kit. Most owners with stock Kit option. The changer handles wheels up to 26 in. in di- models won’t want to go this far, of course. ameter, with a 28-in. adapter on the way. are too wide will bind in the wheel mend one of the tire pressure moni- sic black, the typical owner chooses a wells on sharp turns; tires that are too toring systems coming to the after- bright red, yellow, silver or black satin. large will throw off the speedometer market as a worthwhile add-on. Larger wheels can accommodate reading beyond what the customer heftier brakes, and the premium after- may have anticipated. If a vehicle still Brakes market brake systems will be no heav- is under warranty, the mileage read- High-performance brakes sound like a ier; they might even be lighter. Howev- ings will run short and that could sure winner. After all, what’s the down- er, the biggest brakes you can install are cause disputes. General Motors, side to making a vehicle stop better? not necessarily the best choice. In fact, which is starting to sell specialty And there are some well-known brand if you overdo it (and install larger rear wheels for its vehicles through its names with aftermarket bolt-on kits, brakes, too), you could upset a vehicle’s dealers, also provides dealers with such as Brembo and Stop-Tech. The braking balance. The leading makers software to reprogram vehicle com- prices of front axle kits are in the provide engineered packages that work puters to adjust speedo/odo readings $2200 to $3800 range, and four-wheel properly with existing antilock brakes accordingly. kits are $5000 and up. So it’s not pock- and vehicle stability systems, and origi- However, there are lots of stylish et change when you add your installa- nal rear brakes. The front brakes do wheels and tires that will comfortably tion charge. You’ll find the kits are most of the work; in many cases, super- fit most wheel wells without raising available for everything from a Dodge sizing the rear brakes is overkill. these issues, and the potential income Viper to a Hyundai Tiburon. While some manufacturers offer definitely is good. Because it’s an area The brakes definitely look great, and race-oriented kits, a standard sport up- that requires a lot of care, however, in most cases that’s what sells. The ro- grade is your safest choice. The brake SEMA has introduced a program to tors are cross-drilled or slotted, which shoes that go with these upgrades are train and certify technicians. continuously cleans the lining contact specific to the application, so when the Note: If you’re installing new tires surfaces, improves cooling for reduced linings wear out, the replacements with short-profile sidewalls, so the big fade and lowers weight.

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