Let your rims touch the ground
[caption id="attachment_34307" align="alignright" width="405"] HANGING DOWN LOW: Brennan Abrahams, 19, with his 1983 Volkswagon Caddy. Picture: FREDLIN ADRIAAN[/caption]
WHEN low is simply not low enough, you could always go sideways like one Uitenhage resident who prefers to bump and bounce his 1983 Volkswagon Caddy to the point where his "AJ" rims start feeling claustrophobic.
The "stance" look is a growing trend among the youth of Nelson Mandela Bay. And Gambleville resident Brennan "Nutz" Abrahams is one of the leading trendsetters with his wide cambered 165/55/R13 wheels and speed-bump-hating drop kit.
There are two forms of camber, namely negative and positive camber, the latter is when the top of the wheel squeezes out of the arch on top and negative camber is the opposite – as illustrated by Abrahams' Caddy.
Having already invested almost R15000 since he received the car two years ago, Abrahams said he would not hesitate to spend more if it meant he could go lower.
"I just love how it looks, I mean look at it! The first month I got the car I started changing it. I have done all the modifications myself and spent about R5000 for a new 2 litre 8 valve VW motor, R2000 on the interior, R3000 on the rims and about R900 per tyre," the 19-year-old said.
"I had a special axle made at an engineer workshop to achieve the look. And it is basically bolts and rubbers which are used to keep the wheels at that angle. To complete the look I installed a 60mm drop kit and then cut three of the five springs in the shocks."
Camber angle alters the handling qualities of a particular suspension design, in particular negative camber improves grip when cornering. This is because it places the tyre at a better angle to the road. However it comes at a high price.
"Because of the camber only half of the tyre touches the road at any given time, so my tyres run off very quickly. A set of tyres lasts me about two months and that is with me interchanging them after each half wears off.
"It isn't a comfortable ride either, you are permanently bouncing. And if you take a corner too sharply the rear end of the car bumps and jumps because of the wheel touching the arch which we call 'twerking'. But the way it looks standing still makes it worthwhile," Abrahams said.
His father Ulfonso said he was also a fan of his son's car and tried to support his hobby. "I love how the car looks. And the best thing is it keeps him very busy. Because he does all the adjustments himself he spends a lot of time at home as opposed to being in the street the whole day.
"And even when he enters competitions we try to attend. Like the recent MSA Strictly Street Lowlympics where he was placed second," Ulfonso said.
The Daniel Pienaar matriculant said his next project would be a Volkswagon Fox, which he would probably acquire through his second favourite past time and only means of income, "skurreling" (doing odd jobs for money). - Tremaine van Aardt
