daily driver dilemma

DarkSideAccord · Oct 12, 2006

as u guys know, i got myself a 1992 celica for a daily driver.... well, i'm doing routine maintainence on it now, and i have a problem....

it's a DD, so i shouldn't really care too much abt it rite? should i buy parts from autozone (brands like Duralast, etc) OR buy the normal branded stuff i usually buy for my accord (Axxis, Brembo, etc)? i feel tht the autozone parts are ok, but a part of me just doesn't want to do it

theaccordian · Oct 12, 2006

its a slippery slope, aftermarket battery, brake pads, oil, air filters, soon you find yourself buying a turbo lol. Buy whatever is cheaper and adequate to get the job done, its a dd you dont need "performance" brands.

DarkSideAccord · Oct 12, 2006

well, nothing i buy for the accord is "performance" based..... just OE replacements eg: brembo blank rotors.... wat do u guys think abt brake pads and spark plug wires from autozone? i know their valuecraft line is cheap and prob crap, but the duralast line looks alrite.... i dunno

Browntown · Oct 12, 2006

Buy autozone stuff..... the $$ you save on performance parts could go towards the Accord.....

dynasty · Oct 12, 2006

well, if it's a daily driver car, i recommend buying 'good' and not the 'best' stuff just so the car will last. you know what i mean? kinda like, buy 'oem' parts rathern than 'hks, greddy' parts. just so it'll last longer.

Jeffro · Oct 12, 2006

jdm_dynasty said:
well, if it's a daily driver car, i recommend buying 'good' and not the 'best' stuff just so the car will last. you know what i mean? kinda like, buy 'oem' parts rathern than 'hks, greddy' parts. just so it'll last longer.

I agree with this. If you want the car to last long (which I assume you do, since it's a DD) then just get standard OEM parts designed for the car, because odds are, for daily driving, they will last longer anyway. Unless you are planning on racing the car eventually

then get the performance parts

shavedaccord · Oct 12, 2006

as I said on AT

There isn't anything wrong with Autozone parts. You need to think of it like this. Brand names 50% of the cost is the name on the part. It's a daily driver. And once you plan on selling it i'd much rather purchase a car that was maintained on a regular basis than a car that was maintained with performance upgrades. First thing that would come to my mind is "Was it beat on?" "Was it ran hard?"..so don't waste your money on high-end brand names..you'll be just as happy with AutoZone, NAPA or other similar parts house brands.

and_one · Oct 12, 2006

yeah i would go with the autozone parts...there is nothing wrong with them and it would hold up i believe with the daily driving you are doing as long as you keep up with the maintenance

talontsiawd · Oct 12, 2006

It's fine to buy autozone stuff. Just don't get the cheapo no name stuff. Once you get to the decent stuff, which is still cheap compared to nice aftermarket stuff or oem, you are dealing with very marginal gains for the money. Like you can get regular brakepads for like $25 and slightly "better" ones for $50, etc. Just be diligant with the maintainance. That's one thing people sort of have trouble with for a DD. They have their nice car they always work on so they start to skimp on their normal car.