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how do i know if im a ricer? from what im reading it seems that im leaning that way. some help please

Going for Flashy Looks over performance.

Adding Tacky Stickers, wings (nonfunctional), Odd color matches. Big blingin objects...

Anything that makes your car a head turner, but not a showstopper would be considered rice.

However, I say to each they're own, and if you and your close friends like the way it looks than so be it.

Just young. Like all that stuff in your sig.... it's all stuff I might have cared about ten years ago. I don't rip on rice too hard because it's all just kids.

One of my friend insists on pointing out rice everywhere. He's quicker to point out rice than to actually point out a classic or exotic. It's shallow.

why do you care what other people think about what you do? Honestly do what you want, but if I see something I don't like I'll be sure to let you know And when I do something you don't like go ahead and let me know. But don't not do something because someone else said it was ugly, or tacky.

Just don't drive like a typical ricer.

Steve

One giveaway is your headlight bulbs.

In general, I think of rice as hurting a car's performance in favor of some sense of style. Those bulbs, for example, function poorly but have an appearance you may like.

But you probably didn't realize they performed worse...

If you're worried that you might turn into a ricer, spend time before every modification you do to learn how it affects your car and think about whether the money and effort is really worth it. From the very little I've seen it seems like your decisions could stand to be a bit more informed. I don't intend any insult or offense; you're young and that's how people tend to be when they're young. I certainly was, though now I try not to be.

You might decide, for example, that the STi radiator cap doesn't belong on your car because it's subjecting your 12-year-old cooling system to high stresses with minimal (if any) gain in cooling. And maybe that the money you'd spend on a windshield banner could instead be spent on better performance brake pads or something. And ... stuff like that.

You and your lighting! []shaking fist[/]

I hate those blue lights, too.

Steve

I'm trying to make up for all the people who don't respect automotive lighting enough.

Just like threaded fasteners, and brake fluid service...

We all have our fair share of rice somewhere.

Hey i have those blue headlights and the neons under my dash lol am i a rice too i bet lol

my headlights arent blue, they r green and orange, i think they look cool and only for 15 bucks. i have one neon. i wouldnt even think about getting one of those huge wings that just cost alot of money. i definitely go for performance before looks. i would rather have a crappy car that is really fast than a great looking car that is slow. my muffler prolly makes me a ricer.

QuickDrive wrote:Going for Flashy Looks over performance.

Adding Tacky Stickers, wings (nonfunctional), Odd color matches. Big blingin objects...

Anything that makes your car a head turner, but not a showstopper would be considered rice.

However, I say to each they're own, and if you and your close friends like the way it looks than so be it.

I agree with all of these statements. Honestly, the word ricer is like the word "slut," if you think you are one, you are one, but if you're havin fun and don't give a damn what people think, then by all means keep doin what you're doin!

So now I'm a slut?

QuickDrive wrote:So now I'm a slut?

I'm not, but I am havin FUN!

QuickDrive wrote:So now I'm a slut?

Was it ever in doubt? J/K


Do what ever YOU want with your car. As long as you're happy and think the things you're doing are cool then that's all that matters. If you're doing things hoping for everyones approval you're setting yourself up to be disappointed. Everyone likes different stuff, styles and has different goals for their cars.

I for instance currently have a 4" rolled tip on my exhaust, now some of the guys here consider that rice but I don't care, I like it. It's straight ass pimpin'! I am however changing exhausts and I'm going to have a 3" straight tip now. I also have a MOMO Euro Edition Subaru shift knob. Does this make my car faster or shift any better? No, it doesn't. So is it rice? I don't care either way, do you?

I've got my momo shiftboot. Makes me feel like I should be hitting the NAWZ! everywhere I go.

I want some turn signal bulbs that blink REALLY fast so I can turn faster.

I have a 4 1/2" tip on my car ... but it is tucked up under the bumper, not too noticeable. Looks almost like a normal muffler with the silencer in. Oh, and by the way all the exhaust piping is 3" to the muffler which is 4" straight through, so the tip isn't exactly fronting.

TurboLegacy wrote:my headlights arent blue, they r green and orange, i think they look cool and only for 15 bucks.

But they are terrible bulbs. Headlights aren't decorations; they're functional devices, and those bulbs dramatically harm their function.

vrg3, what are your thoughts about that Catz Zeta system? Just curious.

The Catz Zeta "system" is really just a DC-to-DC converter to boost the car's electrical system's varying 12-14 volts up to a steady voltage around 15 or 16 volts.

In my opinion, it's kind of a dangerous thing, for a couple reasons:

1) Increasing the voltage that way increases the heat dissipated by the bulbs. That can melt or burn plastic reflectors, lenses, or connectors.

2) Headlight bulbs are designed for 12 to 14 volts. Although higher voltages greatly increase luminous output, they also result in extremely short bulb life.

3) Most cars they would go into already have a rather bad beam pattern where light is sent to mostly useless places. Increasing the lights' intensity too much actually creates a lot more glare while simultaneously causing the dangerous situation where you think you can see better even though seeing is more or less the same. In case anybody's missed the point -- beam pattern is the important factor in headlight quality. Brightness is of secondary importance (within reason).

Interesting.

While searching on google I found this post on nasioc:

"This is basically a DC-to-DC converter that steps up the voltage supplied to the headlights from 12 to 15 VDC. The price of this system (~$275) doesn't suprise me as DC-to-DC converters with enough capacity to power the headlights would, by themselves, be quite pricey. I don't think you can get these at Radio Shack.

Besides the price, there is another issue to consider. By boosting the voltage you will indeed boost light output (& color temperature), but you will also dramatically reduce your bulb life. Bulb output at 15VDC will be about 220% of that at 12VDC but bulb life will be only about 7% of what you would get at 12VDC. The only way to get around this is to go with bulbs rated at 15VDC, but then you loose all the brightness advantage."

Is this a correct statement about bulb life?

Vikash - What are your thoughts on the HIR bulbs that are starting to come out (the only production car with them is the Dodge Viper at the moment).

They are standard Halogen bulbs with a coating that reflects Infared energy back onto the element to heat it more.

I remember reading a writeup on ScoobyMods.com where a guy was adapting them to work in a newer legacy. They are single beam bulbs (2 for highs, 2 for lows), so I doubt they could be adapted for our cars, but the idea seems really cool.

Any thoughts on them?

Jason - Bulb life usually is (very roughly) proportional to the -12th power of the voltage ratio. So depending on the numbers you use...

(15v / 14v) ^ -12 = 44 %
(16v / 14v) ^ -12 = 20. %
(15v / 12v) ^ -12 = 6.9 %
(16v / 12v) ^ -12 = 3.2 %

So, yup. That guy seems to know what he's talking about. How wonderful to see that on NASIOC!

Note also that "color temperature" is pretty much meaningless when judging a headlight's quality. It's especially irrelevant if you're talking about HIDs or tinted bulbs.

Phil - HIR is a good technology. Your description of it is spot on. Since it reuses the infrared output instead of wasting it, you get more light without using more power. The 9011 and 9012 (the HIR counterparts to the 9005 and 9006) are the two brightest standard-wattage halogen bulbs out there. [edit: This isn't true. See my post below.] Of course, there are plenty of overwattage bulbs that are brighter, but they make more heat and draw more current as well.

You're right that you can't adapt it to our cars. There are no HIR bulbs compatible with 9004 or H4 bulbs. This is not a fitment issue; it is a photometric and geometric issue. It is impossible to make a 9011 or 9012 bulb yield an acceptable beam pattern in our headlights.

I don't know if it's even possible to design HIR bulbs with dual filaments, since an important part of the design appears to be a spherical glass envelope right around the filament.

And, of course, the same warning about worsening performance by brightening a bad beam pattern still applies...

I wonder if HIR will ever be produced with a similar connector as an H4 (even being single filament).

You could always have one HIR "H4" bulb in the headlight housing, and then a set of driving lights as high beams. Like how some HID conversions delete high-beams, something similar could be done with the HIR.

It won't. There would be no legitimate application, since no headlamps use bulbs like H4s with only one filament. No reputable bulb maker is going to spend the money and effort required to engineer a bulb that they can't stamp any legislative body's approval on.

All those HID "conversions" are hack jobs. There is nothing good about them at all.