Intro

Whats up all. Usually when I would type in a search for something to do with my car, your forum would show up so I figure you guys know what you're talking about and it would do me some good to join and start exchanging info. I'm a 20 year old college student in San Francisco, CA. I have a titanium gray 3G Eclipse Spyder GTS V6 that I've nicknamed "Charlotte" (you know, the gray spider from the movie by the same name. Yea yea, how stupid I know). I also call her my "Grey Ghost" because when I'm done with her, the only thing people will see in a race with me is a blur of gray whooshing by. Haha, yea I got big aspirations.
I got my car almost a year ago and have AEM CAI and Tanabe exhaust. I've lowered it on Progress springs (almost got top-of-the-line TEIN but the store had the the Progress in stock so I snatched them up) 1.7 inches in the front and 1.5 in the back. In a week or so I'll have a set of black rims, the specifics of which I don't know yet (I'm visiting the store next wednesday).
What you don't see anymore is all the damage I've had to fix. I was naive and in a 'buy-everything-cheap-and-quick' mindset when I bought her and I lowered her on some cheap springs (made for civics and integs) and let some of my friends, who only know civics and integs try to lower it. You can guess the rest, and I spent the better part of 4 months driving in a bumpy and loud (as in bangs and squeaks on every bump on the road) ride. When I finally got the money to get it fixed, I found my whole suspension system was messed up. All my savings and paychecks pretty much went to zip after that, as well as a few friendships. I learned the hard way to spend the necessary money for good parts and to go to professionals.
Now I know enough to get by, I've been into cars for a few years now, but I'm still learning so if my questions seem amateurism at times, please go easy on me (c'mon, my first 2 cars were a Chrysler van and a Ford Explorer). Now that I have a car worth loving, I'm willing to learn everything about it. Plus, I'm a big fan of Eclipses (if anyone knows where to get a cheap 1st gen, let me kno. I want one as a project car). I have a few questions already, but I'll browse around and save them for a later, shorter thread. Feel free to respond to anything in here, including any damage horror stories of your own to make me feel not so bad about mine. Haha.

just a quick comment. in my opinion, black rims rarely, if ever look good on a car. just my $.02 but i am definitely not a fan.

the konig holes 17" look pretty good on black gs
black spokes with polished lip.

well if this makes you any better about the damage to your car. A month after I got my eclipse, I t-boned a jackass that pulled out infront of me from a parking lot.

I had just put my plates on the night before and the next afternoon I was picking up my front plate from the other lane.

Basically what happened, was I just got off the freeway and was crossing an intersection and the intersection is like a Tand at both side of the T is a gas station. So I'd just crossed the intersection and some dumbfuck had stopped to turn right into the gas station right after the light, and that gas station has 2 entrances/exits on this main road, both of them for 1 car only with no signs saying which one to use to go in and out. REALLY STUPID. I refuse to use this gas station now. So anyway, some dumbfuck stops at the 2nd entrance/exit to turn into it, I guess there was a van sitting there trying to turn left across 5 lanes of traffic on this busy street. And so the right lane gets back up really quick and right as I cross the intersection this guy in a lexus goes to pull into my left lane and he stops b/c he saw me, but I had to hit the brakes b/c he almost pulled into me. So just as I let off the brake, not even 30ft infront of me this guy in the van just pulls out and STOPS across my lane! I hardly even had time to hit the brake before I slammed right into the middle of him. And he was looking my direction and didn't even try to pull nito the turning lane to get out of the way. spun his van like a fucking top, he was facing me when he stopped across the turning lane, my car just stopped where I hit him. I started to get out of the car to kick his ass and my husband stopped me lol. So I threw on my flashers and pulled over into the center lane.

The asshole ddin't have a license or insurance and the van wasn't even his! he got nailed with a bunch of tickets, failure to yield, etc. I thought my car wa totaled though. I was so fucking pissed!!! The only thing that kept me from beating the shit out of the guy was my husband and I knew cops would show up.

Obviously they were able to fix my car, but the whole front end was smashed, and on thd drivers side it was crunched up to my door b/c I hit him mainly with the drivers side of the car. It cost $8,000 to fix it. I was pretty worried about my frame, but they got it within 1mm, and they used lasers and computer stuff and whatever to get it as perfect as possible. And I've been driving it now for 2 months and I haven't had a problem. A friend of mine manages the shop and they fixed my previous car that some dumbass backed into while it was parked, with no license and insurance again. And I drove the car for over a year and never had a problem with it and that had bent my frame too. So I'm not too worried about my car now.

That guy tried to get my insurance to pay his medical and pay for the vans owner to get a new van. But since it was his fault my insurance told him no and that he'd be getting a bill for my car and for towing it and everything else.

dude...whoa...that sucks fairy dust...i had a car accident earlier this month...i just got my car back...like a couple of days ago...new paint...new hood...new front bumper...and new rear bumper...and i got my car vaccumed! :D hehehe...well anyways...heres my story...hehehe...

i was coming from my house in forest lake...its about 36 miles from st paul...i was heading to work...i was going south on 35w...the speed limit there is 70mph...but people are always going 80 to 90 mph...well anyways...35w merges into hwy 694...and theres four lanes for about 500 ft...and then it becomes only three lanes...well i switched lanes to the middle lane...and that day i thought...ill just stay in the middle lane because it splits up ahead so you can continue on 694 or get back on 35w...the hwys are kinda funky around there...and they are also fixing this bridge...so theres all of these orange barrels on the sides...for about a couple of blocks...there was quite a bit of traffic that day too...but it wasnt stop and go traffic...it was just busy...and as i was in the middle lane right before the bridge...the asshole in front of me in a maroon oldsmobile SLAMS on his brakes...so i, obviously slam on my brakes as well...and the car behind me slams on his brakes...my beloved car dives underneath the guy in front of me and his car jumps up in the air and rolls over my hood...while looking at the rear view mirror...i can see the dudes face behind me...hehehe...he has this terrified look...like OH MY GOD! IM GONNA DIE...or something...things start going into slow motion for me...you can hear the tires squealing....then BAM! i hit the dude in the front...and the BAM! again...the dude from behind hits me...or at least thats how i remember it...the dude behind me might've hit me first...i dont know...hehehe...felt like slow mo...but couldn't tell the difference...we all then pulled over to the side and got out...the dude in front of me supposedly said that the guy in front of him slammed on his brakes and drove off...and i was like wtf! then why didnt you let go of your brakes?...the surprising thing was...was that my hood got bent a little bit...the cracks between the quarter panels and my hood was only like an inch...to an inch and a half?...my license plates were bent up...but still on with two screws still holding them...i popped open my hood and everything still seemed to be intact...my radiator wasnt cracked...no leaks...i had to pry the hood open though...my front bumper was scraped...no cracks...my hood also got scrapped...no cracks...my headlights weren't cracked and my fog lights were fine...on my hood...you could see the wax that i put on it...hehehe...for some reason...i luv waxing my car...hehehe...makes it look all nice and shiny...hehehe...well anyways...the dude behind me...he had a blue ford taurus...his quater panel got flattened..and his door...well lets just say i was amazed he could open it...my back end wasnt too bad...the only thing that got cracked was my passenger side signal light...but all of my lights were still intact...and only the corner got scrapped up...and cracked a little bit...but yeah...it was pretty crazy...it felt like bumper cars...but now i sorta have a fear of mutha fuckers slamming on their brakes in front of me...hehehe...so i leave plenty of space between now...nobody got tickets though...

Damn!! So the guy insfront of you, his car basically went over yours, like your nose was under his car? That'd be freaky. I'm so paranoid now when I drive through the area where i got into my wreck. Hell the first day I got my car back I had some moron with a trailer behind him pull out infront of me just like the guy that I hit. He was turning left and I had just turned onto the street, I was like a couple hundred feet back and ther was a car next to me. So he must've not been looking our way b/c i thad been clear and so he was just looking right and he just pulls out, SLOWLY too to turn. we both had to slam our brakes to a stop and shit. I flipped him off, I was so pissed.

Ya I love waxing my car too! When I bought it it had a shitty coat of wax on it. So I stripped it and rewaxed it. I believe in waxing twice a year and since I had waxed it in August, its good now until spring. Which I'm glad b/c I can't wax the areas they repainted for 3 months.

Funny thing, my drivers door, one day the paint was fine. Then one day I'm opening my door and look down and there's all these white looking specks on my door. I was like WTF? so I pull it out into the sun (was under the carport) and look at it and it was paint chips. I have no idea how it happened. but since my accident crunched up the left fender up to my door, I got my door redone lol.

I'm really big on paint, I have no idea why. Even my old car, even though it was a POS the paint looked great lol. My old neighbor kids were kids from hell, but they knew if I caught them near it I'd be on them. Thankfully here the neighbor kids are nonexistent and the few kids we have are really good. But now my car stays under the carport next to the house anyway.

I just can't stand crappy paint or paint that goes bad b/c people don't take care of it. How hard is it to wash a car weekly and wax it twice a year?

dude...hehehe...maybe its just me...but i like to wax it every time i wash it...hehehe...is that a bad thing? or does it not matter? i dont know...i just like it nice and shiny! hehehe...what i find the most annoying though...is seeing all of these civics and integras with mutil-colored pieces on their cars...a red quarter panel here...white on the other side...a green hood...all sorts of funky colors...like this dude that i knew...he had the crappiest CRX...the paint was peeling on his hood...all multi color...the interior was completly stripped...except the drivers seat...he drag raced with it...he ran 13.1 though...pretty quick for stock dx motor with NOS...or at least he was only quick when he was shooting his NOS...hehehe...dude was crazy though...had all stock internals...but oh well

omg wtf is up with that? That makes me laugh that your talking about this car all lookin like crap today. B/c I went to pick up my husband (he'd been gone for 3 weeks) and driving towards his squadron this 3gen eclipse was coming my way, I thought it was, but wasn't sure cause it had all these different colors. And I was thinking WTF? and it passed and it was the cream color (can't remember the name of it) originally I think, with a black hood, a piece on the other side was another color and then they'd put some ugly ass spoiler on it. I couldn't help but stare as I was passing. It was pretty ugly. So why do these cars have different colors? Do they get a section damaged and just pull a piece off a car at the junkyard and slap it on or what? And why would that guy that ran 13.1 keep his car so crappy?

How long does it take you to wax your car everytime you wash it? Cause when I wash and wax my car, its like an all day event lol. I make sure my car is completely dry and cool, etc. Then I remove the old wax to make sure I'm not trapping any dirt and stuff, and then I put on a new coat of wax. Then I detail the interior lol.

My husband laughs because one day I need to clean the house, but my car was dirty. Guess which one I cleaned? :evillol:

I didnt get in an accedent but they did make me pissed. Halloween night i went to the corner store to get some breakfest. At the corner some punks were chillen. the next thing i know they had trown like 10 eggs at me. i was so pissed that i pulled the e-brake and did a 180. i chased them but they went throgh apartments. out of those 10 eggs only 4 hit my car. i was so pissed that i bought some eggs my self and went looking for them but didnt find them. i went to the car wash at around 12 midnight to clean off the egg. my dad told if i didnt it would eat my paint. Not a big deal but you would get pissed too if they did it to you. F***ing little Punks

oh hell ya. I would've been after those little damn punks too. I don't take shit like that too well. I'm a natural blonde, but I dyed my hair a henna red and black, it matches my temper :evillol:

I'm pretty laid back, but if someone pulls that kind of crap with me I flip.

DUDE!...HELL YEAH! HEHEHE...WITH ME...I NORMALLY CARRY A BAT WITH ME! SERIOUSLY...its a metal one...this one winter...my gf was driving and i was in the passenger seat...and in north side mlps...its hella ghetto...some dumbass kids were throwing snow balls at peoples cars as they passed....and they threw one that hit MY CAR! it hit the drivers side window...we turned around and rolled up in the parking lot that they were in...i guess they didnt recognize the car that they had just hit...they were a bunch of middle school kids...and some might've been older?...i dont know...but i dont really care either....i jumped out of my car and was bitching the fuck out of the lil kids...and they ran like pigeons do when you chase them...hehehe...the street that they were crossing was pretty busy...so not all of the kids got away...i took my bat and knocked two of them down...with my foot on top of them....i was like wtf did we do to you guys? we didnt do shit! dont fucking go around starting shit when there is none...you fucking N*****S! yeah...i tend to go into road rage mode...hehehe...when people do stupid shit...like this other time...hehehe...these dumb ass little girls were sitting in the back of a truck...and we were behind them...they were talking all of this shit towards us...and we were like wtf? so we tailgatted the truck and then turned so i was close enough...i took a full can of pop and chucked it at them...and the funny thing was...hehehe...it smacked her right in the face...then we just peeled off...annoying ass people...always trying to start some drama...GRRR

Damn dude your worse than me! I get serious road rage, but I've never hit someone in the face with a pop can or chased them with a bat and shit. But hey if your gonna do something, do it right! Also I think my husband would use the bat on me if I kept a bat in my car lol. He doesn't see the point in that lol. Some people just don't understand... :evillol:

lol you beat the crap out of some little kids? that's fuckin' hilarious! kinda wrong but hilarious.

dude...hehehe...they werent little little kids...they were old enough...old enough to know whats right and whats wrong...to me...i normally would not hit someone...unless they are seriously asking for it...throwing snow balls that could've had rocks in them...what if it broke my window and blinded my gf? are those lil punks going to pay for it? hell no...so i gottah teach them a lesson...not everyone is just going to drive off...and just because your some punk kid who thinks your ass is hard...HAHAHAHA...that doesnt mean anything to me...no matter how strong you are...how fast you are...or how hardcore you think you are...theres someone out there thats bigger...faster and a hell of a lot stronger than you...like when i was able to bench 300lbs...i was pretty proud of myself...been busting my butt off to bench that much weight...and then there was a guy next to me...who was benching 300lbs as a WARM UP! now wouldnt that make you feel a lil salty...hehehe...and people mad dogging me...i dont like mad dogging...people mad dog me EVERYWHERE I GO! like im some "gangster" or something...like when i was in chicago...some bum at the gas station tried to step up to me...HAHAHAHAH...just because i had a big red hilfiger coat on...like that means anything...a bunch of losers...gang banging is a thing of the past...you just look retarded now with a rag on your head and your still sagging your pants...hahaha...that died in like 95' nobody cares anymore...

hahaha shit we still have losers around here do that. I live in this city that you got a street with million dollar mansions and then we live off that street and its middle class. you go to the other side of the that main road with the spendy houses and you got ghettoassville! And there are still like gang bangers and shit with their damn rags on their heads and saggin and whatever thinking their like the shit. it just makes me laugh. And then we got a bunch of homeless people around who are freaky. There's a lot of drugs around in that part of the city and like the other night I was coming out of a teriyaki place and some dude was standing behind a telephone booth, I had my 2 dogs in the car and they were barking and I guess at him. I didn't see him until I was almost to my car and he all steps out and is like are they racing dogs? (don't laugh but they were wearing sweaters, how fuckin gay huh? lol) and I was like um no and I was opening the door and of course my dogs are STARING at him like they were ready to rip him to pieces. And he all comes closer and is like oh what are they? and I was like the white one is germand shepherd mix and the black one in the back is a pit bull mix (with lab, both of them) and he was like oh. and he stops when I said pit bull (hehehe chicken) and of course he's freakin me out. and then he was like are they nice? and I was like no and neither am I and I got in my car and as I was shutting the door he all came forward really quick and was like hey you got any weed???? and I just ignored him and shut my sunroof right away and left. fucking freaky people around here.

And myd ogs are actually really nice. But the pit mix is really protective and so ya I think he would've ripped the guy to pieces if he thought the guy was bad. Which the guy was a total creep.

I like where we live, but shit not even half a mile away its freakville with all the drugged up homeless people and all the wannabe gang banger losers and whatever. And of course I get a lot of shit cause oooohhhhh a girl driving a real car and not some hyundai or some POS. morons.