Do you "beat" on your car?

[CincinnatiFiero]

Sort of a non sequitur, but someone was giving me unsolicited advice on my own car (literally my favorite thing ever, ermagerd.) and they said well since you don't "beat" on your cars like I do, you should just be good with an OEM part instead of some absurdly priced reinforced part.

Am I the only one who doesn't see a cool factor in the statement "I beat on my car"? I autocross, I go to track days, I regularly see the redline in many of my cars, but I have never self described what I do as "beating" on anything. Is beating on your car a byword for abusing a car that you can't afford to maintain? The definition of the word beat to me implies that it's something you shouldn't be doing. It also always seems to spill from the mouths of the owner of the shittiest Miata or 240SX at the local cars and coffee that is in total disrepair, that despite owning no other car and never attending a track day they have dubbed their "drift missile" or "track slut".

Random rant, but it annoys me. Take care of your shit or buy a bus pass.

Thoughts? Probably that I'm the asshole.

[Aaron]

People associate "beating" on their cars as like, flooring them. By that definition I beat on my cars all of the time. But I take care of them, keep up on maintenance, upgrade failed components, and never let RPM's go above 2,000rpm until oil is above 160*. So in my eyes, I don't beat on my cars. But it sees 20psi on a fairly regular basis.

[Shaun41178(2)]

going to track days and roadcourse racing or drag racing I would constitute as beating on it. Suspension, brakes, and engine all get a hard workout in that environment.

street driving with the occasional WOT is not beating on it. Donuts in a parking lot isn't either.

For some reason people thinking hitting redline daily or taking a suggested 35 mph turn at 50 mph constitutes beating on your car. Not to me.

Thats my opinion.

[The Dark Side of Will]

To me, "beating" on a car would be behavior that reduces the service life of the vehicle or some of its components.

No amount of throttle and RPM on a fully warmed fuel injected engine will meaningfully reduce the service life of the engine... so hitting redline regularly is basically meaningless to engine life.

However, it's very easy to reduce the service life of a clutch, transmission or rubber driveline components like guibos through improper use. I could drop Bad Idea's clutch off the limiter at every stoplight, but it wouldn't be too long before I'd have to replace the clutch and guibos (and control arm and subframe and differential mounting bushings, as well as maybe the engine mounts) doing that. Similarly, improper clutch technique can kill clutches and synchros quickly.

More bumps and g-forces will result in shorter service lives for rubber exhaust hangers.

Obviously being a careless buffoon who hits things tends to reduce the service life of a wide variety of components.

[CincinnatiFiero]

To me, "beating" on a car would be behavior that reduces the service life of the vehicle or some of its components.

This was my definition as well, apparently, it makes me less of a car enthusiast because I don't do it.

[Emc209i]

No, more an enthusiast, less a fool. You have a healthy respect for your machines. Someone who "beats" on their car, has none.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I think we all post here because we believe the average enthusiast to be an idiot.

To finish first, first you have to finish. How well do the drivers who are hard on the equipment do in endurance racing?

I test drove a 3.4 Mondial right after I bought my 308. I had to double clutched the shit out of it to downshift at high RPM without grinding because the shift linkage was out of adjustment. The owner said that I was *WAY* more comfortable with it than he was.

[webbrowan]

I agree what you're saying about the connotation of the word "beat" but I'm sure that in some way, we do abuse our car a little. Whether it's eating in the cabin or flooring it like what some of the guys here have mentioned, we all have our own little quirks about how we use our vehicles on a day to day basis. But of course, as long as you take the pains to maintain it and make sure that it still works at the end of the day, I'm sure we can escape from being considered tyrannical...

[The Dark Side of Will]

I didn't built an 11.5:1 Caddy Northstar to drive around at 15% throttle like a typical Cadillac owner.

[Emc209i]

...eating in the cabin

Someone get a rope. Heh. (Welcome, by the way)

[The Dark Side of Will]

...eating in the cabin

Someone get a rope. Heh. (Welcome, by the way)

Only some of us have nice enough cars that eating in them is an issue.