March 28, 2011

When Parts is More Than Parts

Today, I crossed a major threshold of adulthood and motor-head maturation. I inquired about parts for my car. Not just any parts, but after-market performance suspension parts that until recently I could not adequately describe if asked even basic questions. I emailed the customer service reps at two major after-market suppliers for BMWs with reasonably cogent questions about parts that I will purchase from them for sums of money that I previously would have reserved for house payments, the acquisition of large amounts of luxury fibers (think qiviut), or rare-breed puppies (cough *Sabine* cough).

It took a bit for me, I will admit, to email these anonymous sources of automotive wizardry. I pictured the under-employed, track-rat, mid-twenties male service reps on the receiving end scoffing at my lowly 325xi and the silly soccer mom who wants to know about bump stops and front strut mounts. "It's not an M3 or 335i ...why is she bothering?" I would imagine. "Stainless steel braided brake lines for *that* model? Preposterous!"

"Screw it!" I thought, "I'm asking the damn question."

And I did. Several questions, in fact, and I received prompt, courteous and informative responses from male service reps of indeterminate age and unknown weekend pursuits. After all the angst ... it's really just about the cars and making a sale. So shortly I will order a Bilstein Sport Strut & Shock set, as well as H&R Sport springs, stainless steel braided brake lines, rear brake pads, and a mildly naughty air filter (really, really mild ... I drive some dusty roads). I'm not linking to those last two, because they are kind of boring.

Where I'm truly throwing caution to the wind here is that these upgrades will kick me out of D Stock for autocross and into the Street Touring (ST) class. ST is the domain of racer-boys and grizzled veterans, only surpassed by Street Prepared (SP) . I'm a novice in a small commuter sedan with only moderate horsepower (215 bhp) and a predisposition to AWD weight. I am under no delusions about my prospects for the next season if I run this car. Many, many competitors will blow my modest times out of the water. To be honest, though, I wasn't that competitive in D Stock and my region does not run a novice class. So I can suck in ST just as well as in D Stock, and still mod my car as I want to for the other 99.5% of the driving I do.

And point to the pretty blue and yellow parts peeking out from underneath my skirts. Ain't nothing wrong with a sleeper.

No comments: