First Car like First Love

A friend of mine told me that a car I own for the first time in my life is like my very first girl friend. You maybe immature. Sometimes, you make mistakes and hurt your lover, and finally you could possibly ruin the relationship. But that’s ok. That’s how we all grow up. People say the first love usually end up by leaving a mark, right? However, the truth is that later you realize your first love becomes the most unforgettable memory.

Behind Story

When I came to Canada with my family, I was only 17. We were looking for a car. Yes, our first car which was going to be a great new member to my family.

2002 Toyota Camry LE

In 2002 November, my mom purchased a Toyota Camry because it had a great value for money and the reputation of its reliability sounded quite promising. Back then, I never expected this would be the car I could register my car insurance under my name.

My family was planning to go back to Korea and I was supposed to stay here in Vancouver and continue my study in university. I was excited to become a college student and have my own part time job to buy my first car.

I was hoping to drive the Mazda RX7 (FD3S) which I always dreamed of. One day, my dad told me that if I had a sports car as my first time ride ever, you would definitely get into a lot of troubles.

He Said…

‘Can you handle such a fast car without hurting yourself? You got your drivers’ license only about a year ago. To make it worse, you do not have much experience to drive these kinds. Why don’t you just keep the Toyota and start to mature your driving skills?

I was quite disappointed. However, what he told me was completely true. It may not be a nice sports car, but it was still my first car with lots of good memories with. A car that I could drive out anytime I wanted. Fair enough. In fact, I must appreciate my parents to give me a car for free.

Started to Change

I really liked driving, and as time passed, things started to change in my mind.

‘Can’t I just modify it a little? There is no such a car that was meant to be modified from the scratch. Why the Civic is ok but the Camry?

People tune their rides in order to improve areas where their cars are lacking, right? So the type of a car doesn’t really matter after all. Could I just make it run better and look nicer?’

I personally had no idea how to start. Since not many actually modify the Camry, it was bit difficult to find a reference car. I had to come up with my own plan. The main theme was to improve its look along with better drive feel.

Modifications

I first tried the Tein S.Tech lowering springs. In terms of lowering the ride height, it did work. However, simply installing the springs may result in poor ride quality. The reason is simple. The shocks were designed to match the stock springs, but not the springs are way shorter now with higher tension rate. Hence the shock gets continuous stresses and may blow up sooner or later. Once the shocks are gone, the ride quality indisputably bad. Imagine you are driving a car that is relying only on springs without properly absorbing any shocks from the road. Later, I decided to go with the D2 Coilovers. It was lucky that there was a company manufacturing suspension parts for a family car. With the new suspension, I reinforced the chassis with the front strut tower bar.

For the exterior, I decided to keep the stock feeling but much better than the current face. Since my car was LE version, I installed the upper model, SE version, black housing headlights with a new HID kits and 2005 SE’s front grill. I kept myself away from extra ordinary super outstanding looking Ebay body parts, yet the only thing I put on was the lip trunk spoiler.

As I mentioned, first trial usually comes with unexpected issues. After I lowered the car and put 18 inch Enkei wheels, my brakes felt too weaker. Frankly speaking, I had to step the brake pedal way harder to gain enough stopping power. I still don’t know exactly why this happened. I guess the coilver reduced the body roll which is good, but since the weight shift to the front when braking became less as well. In other words, the shifted weight to the front was not enough, resulting worse stopping ability.

I had two options. Upgrade brakes or back to stock suspension. I ordered new rotors with better cooling system from Brembo and installed them with ceramic brake pads. Come to think of it, the brake mod was the most bang for buck upgrade. I was very much satisfied by this modification. One thing I learned was that a car that doesn’t stop well is more stressful than a car with not much power to run strong.

Looking Back..

The new intake and exhaust system were more like test trials. My conclusion is that a sedan is still a sedan. It was equipped with an automatic transmission killing the effect of these so called ‘power-up’ parts. Funny. Some say ‘now the car sounds better’. So what? Yours isn’t a race car. It may be a great sound to you. Remember, it can also be noise to others.

This car had to be comfort and quite. Bigger engine noise and louder exhaust note are not plausible for such a car. I didn’t hate the modification but I would reconsider those parts when I am working on a sedan.

Well it may sound like I was a complete ricer, but I really enjoyed my time by replacing parts to upgrade its exterior and driving capability. Although sadly it was equipped with an automatic transmission, this car did improve my driving. In addition, I tasted a little bit of car modification. My family’s first car in Canada and my first ride ever in my life.

2002 Toyota Camry (acv30l) 2.4liter Inline4

D2 Coilovers
SPW front strut tower bar
Brembo front rotors
Axxis Ultimate ceramic brake pads
Enkei EV5 18″x7.5
Toyo Proxes4 Tires
TRD Short ram intake
Tsudo Catback exhaust

0-100km/h Run