i wasnt sure where to post this, but since these questions require quite a bit of thought, i decided to post it here. theres usually an easily visible line between performance and rice, but here are a couple scenarios to consider:

you see a honda with the ugliest body kit youve ever seen. you comment on his body kit. he then gives you the specific pounds of downforce it makes and also the specific pounds of weight it reduced, never mentioning about how it looks. is this rice?

you see a honda with the chrome altezzas that you see everyday, but hes decided to add led bulbs. you ask him why he put altezzas with leds on his car. he responds saying how led bulbs light up faster and brighter than halogens and how the altezzas are more reflective than the stock tail light assemblies, thus making it safer for the people following behind him; and he never mentions how they look. is this rice?

these are the only 2 i could think of at the moment, but if you have any more just throw them i here.

 

yes

 

If you have to ask then its rice.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Vinceg99 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you have to ask then its rice.</TD></TR></TABLE>
i agree. but if it were a cavalier or sunfire it would be oatmeal

 

OEM-ish parts (for that car) are honda or honda-like and something you wouldnt notice due to its functionality and/or invisibility it would be anti-rice. The opposite of anti in this case would be the term dubbed:

RICE defined as and not limited to:

(IMHO things that are rice and I will try and go for the non-obvious ones)
visible intercoolers (borderline, although black anodized looks so... not there)
visible AEM filters dragging the pavement
grill mesh
redundant badging
stickers of any kind anywhere on car without paid sponsorships
jdm side markers on non-jdm front end converted cars
jdm for jdms sake
type R badging on non-R cars
OEM painted calipers other than FLAT BLACK
slotted and or cross drilled and or dimpeled rotors on stock rims and
crappy pads with lower mu than stock
NAWWWZ usage under denial: without full ownership/understanding of the consequences
red valve covers on non-_r motors: (guilty, mine was a gift although I do own an R block) B16, B18C
mirrored window tint (in most cases)
carbon fiber hoods (in most cases)
cars slammed so low the fenders rub on stock shocks
titanium retainers on non-built/non-race motors that add no real benefit, only issues waiting to happen
no maintainence, all $$ spent on looks
stock radio antennas on clean hondas
stock side body mouldings on DC2s
exhaust notes on stock compression cars that resonate from non-cat
4" outlets
stunna fly bys
hid color from non hid bulbs
clear corner lenses where amber looks good
large throttle bodies on stock 1.6-1.8L motors
vtec lights
indiglo gagues
empty A pillar gauge pods
full A pillar guage pods
pedal upgrades you have to worry about falling off
shift ***** that dont seat like OEM
body roll on a dropped car
stock michelins on a dropped GSR
visible guage pods on a 15+ second car
shoepolished times domestic v8 guy style on window saying...
arrest me for street racing y0

I could go on and on.



Modified by MikeSarr_GSR at 5:17 AM 7/4/2003

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MikeSarr_GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">stock michelins on a dropped GSR
</TD></TR></TABLE>

i have an LS but some of us prefer to USE our tires before they wear out i guess im rice

 

excuse the hate I have for those tires. I do not exaggerate.
they suck so much. honda is to blame, not you for allowing
such a great car to ship with such a crappy tire. the prelude
gets the RE92. the ITR gets the RE010. What do the LS and
GSR get?

195/55/15" crayons.

 

thats very true but i wouldnt consider it rice...now the rest of the stuff you got listed

 

in defense of my statement, thats borderline. when one does suspension... tires are more important than changing suspension dynamics. I understand bugetary constraints, however tires that naturally push like pigs on cars that are designed to push from the factory... will push MORE with a non tuned setup on stock tires. unless drifting sideways through corners into curbs is fun... as far as getting one's money's worth, I understand completely. I burnt mine to the ground after they owned me on a cold/damp night on a 25mph corner I took at 35 and tapped my brakes at an apex with fully stock GSR suspension an insurance claim and 3 years later... I HAAAAATE XGT-V4s

 

well i guess that all depends on how you drive, i dont autox or do anything crazy, i spent around 700 on suspension and am going to get rims/tires at the same time...so why waste what i have now when i can save up for something better. anyway i still dont think its rice more of like you said a money constraint. us damn poor college kids can only afford one mod at a time!

 

I know where you are coming from believe me... I just hate those tires.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MikeSarr_GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">jdm side markers on non-jdm front end converted cars
stock side body mouldings on DC2s
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hmm I must be rice then

Of course you realize those same sidemarkers were used in Europe and Australia on cars that had the same front end as USDM.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hites_05 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you see a honda with the chrome altezzas that you see everyday, but hes decided to add led bulbs. you ask him why he put altezzas with leds on his car. he responds saying how led bulbs light up faster and brighter than halogens and how the altezzas are more reflective than the stock tail light assemblies, thus making it safer for the people following behind him; and he never mentions how they look. is this rice?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have yet to see an LED bulb that would light up the housing brighter than stock. The ones I've seen make only a red dot. The reason is that the LED bulbs don't send out the light in all directions like regular bulbs do, and so they can't reflect the light all around inside the housing and light up the whole thing like regular bulbs do.

Now if he made a custom board full of LED's and stuck them in there, I guess that would be cool.

 

nowadays, if you wanted to truly build a sleeper you would need all that flashy crap. my reasoning is that that stuff has gotten the reputation of it being an indication of a slow show car. thats how you could fool the really fool the racers; it would appear to them that they were beaten by a ricer. the real cars to be cautious of are the cars with the only visable mods being wheels, tires, and exhaust. those are the sleepers to keep an eye out for.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Vinceg99 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you have to ask then its rice.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thank you, this is the moto I always go by, the best advise I can give.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MikeSarr_GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">jdm side markers on non-jdm front end converted cars
stock side body mouldings on DC2s</TD></TR></TABLE>
niether of those are rice, why would u think those are rice?
they both come stock on the JDM DC's wit the bug eye headlights.

 

Anything with a body kit and wing gets no love from me. Ive seen maybe 1 or two clean good looking body kits.