Sunway car mod experts says......

Danger on the road

BY ROYCE CHEAH

PETALING JAYA: Thinking about souping up your engine or fitting bigger wheels on your car?

Well, think again! You are not only flouting the law but also endangering your life and those of other road users.

“Don’t gamble with your lives and just follow the rules,” warned JPJ director-general Datuk Emran Kadir.

He said the technical rules on car modifications were listed in the JPJ website. “The rules state our stand on the matter. They should be followed.”

Car modification experts Aaron Goh and Ben Mah, who run a car modification shop in Bandar Sunway here, said a radical modification like upgrading a car’s engine meant that the car’s suspension and brakes have also to be upgraded to match the increase in engine power.

“However, there are many people who do not do this,” said Mah, adding that changing engines and the size of wheels required JPJ approval.

“If a driver increases his engine capacity by 200cc or 300cc, it would not really affect a car’s safety.

“But what many people are doing is upgrading their 1,300cc engines to 2,000cc turbo-charged ones.

“This will dangerously affect the handling of the

car, unless the brake system and suspension are also changed,” said Mah.

He added that the danger in changing wheels would arise when the diameter of the new wheel was different from that of the original.

“This will affect how the speedometer registers a car’s speed,” said Mah.

He said changing the colour of the car, adding a new body kit and other exterior changes to the body did not need JPJ approval.

“However, you need to inform your insurance company about changes to the exterior of the car,” he said.

Regarding the change of colour for signal lights – for instance, giving the colour of the brake lights to the signal lights and vice versa – and adding blinking brake lights to the car, both experts said these were illegal alterations.

Goh said that this was common among drivers from the lower-income bracket.

“Car modification is a way for someone to get noticed. Since they cannot afford expensive modifications that run into thousands of ringgit, this is a cheaper way of getting attention,” he said.

hey!!!what they mean by these phrase'

“Car modification is a way for someone to get noticed. Since they cannot afford expensive modifications that run into thousands of ringgit, this is a cheaper way of getting attention,” he said."

Means lower income people like me will simply do illegal mod to my car and then endanger my life.Let me stress this...though many people are not from the higher income community but we are not that kiasu want to simply mod our cars and endanger our life and other road users...We might not be able to pay for the modification cost from those shops in sunway...but what the heck?from wat i know the shop in sunway only proposes expensive items which is way above our budget...
Take braking option for example...i want a better braking system for my lower end car...go to sunway...they qoute me a brembo brake front set...and a brake booster from Cusco...ok...i accept that...might be too high price for me...
So i go back to my friends workshop and he qouted me for a pair of VR4 brake set with Evo master pump...Cost a lot more less and less appealing that using brembo...extremely good value to money...I get the same braking efficiency and it was costing me way lower...

haha... he has a point there... i jz dont look up on ahbeng cars with colourful LED/bulbs blinking around the car.... i prefer my car look stock standard....

as we discussed before previously, changing car bulbs to different color endangering other road user... someone from zth previously mistaken a reverse light as braking light, hence almost rear ended that car....

modifications are allowed, but make sure it compiles with jpj rules and regulation... simply changing the indicator lights color will be dangerous for other road user...

“Car modification is a way for someone to get noticed. Since they cannot afford expensive modifications that run into thousands of ringgit, this is a cheaper way of getting attention,” he said.

hahahaha this statement..........nothing to say hope u guys don mad at me since i am also Goh.

no need to mod ur car..just buy a classic ride eg. bug, mini, moris minor, 120y, ke-30 also can..then restore it to full glory..sure everybody on the road noticed you..

well.. i think that both those mod-shop owners are morons, generalising that all "lower income bracket" people are idiots who yearn for attention by doing illegal stuffs. Of course being interviewed by the newspapers (free publicity) they will sound all angelic and start dissing people who mod from the "lower income bracket" and also talk about how you should-do-this-but-do-it-legally, but do they discourage these people when they come into their shop looking for these cheap mods? being in a business, heck no. do they care if you kena saman or die in a road accident. hell no. if they're so ethical and law abiding, they'd probably not be selling all these things..but we know what's reality

I think what that article means is that some people who cannot afford to have expensive mod to their car can only make some minor and non-expensive modifications to their car without the knowledge of knowing whether is illegal or not to JPJ compliances. Even some smallest mod to the car might not be legal on the road.
Well, no office, but u know lah...reporter nowadays might not interprete 100% of all what they had interview. So its a matter of putting it in sentences.
I don't think that the car owners would want to give such a comment which might jeopardize their business ma.. stay cool..brothers..

Aaaron Goh and Ben Mah is from which workshop ah?

Good question i wonder which shop in sunway.. hahahaha no way its from the big shops in sunway.. must be those shops without a signboard.. hahahaha... anyways is very bad that they generalize the local income group like this.. anyways i think most of us mod our cars for our own satisfaction right?

change rim oso must ask jpj.. dahsyat

It sounds harsh but i don't think that 2 shop owners meant to insult the people from the lower income bracket. Also, i think devious17 have misintepreted the article wrongly.

However, you've got to agree that you modify because you want to stand out among the rest, be it aesthetic purpose or performance purpose. And for the people from the lower income bracket, they resort to cheap and illegal modification to stand out from the rest not knowing its silly and endangering others life for instance changing the signal lights and blinking brake lights.

I'm also part of the lower income bracket but i don't take it as an insult because at times you see those morons on the road with modified brake lights and so on. You just feel like telling these idiots of.

just hope they dont insult us...we just didnt give business to them...no need to look down on us...

Hello, did you guys read the whole thing in context? They didn't say people who put on bodykits and transplant more powerful engines are 'drivers from the lower-income bracket'.

They say;

"Regarding the change of colour for signal lights – for instance, giving the colour of the brake lights to the signal lights and vice versa – and adding blinking brake lights to the car, both experts said these were illegal alterations."

before saying...

"Goh said that this was common among drivers from the lower-income bracket.

“Car modification is a way for someone to get noticed. Since they cannot afford expensive modifications that run into thousands of ringgit, this is a cheaper way of getting attention,” he said."

So if you didn't add some blinky LEDs or brakelights to your car, why are you guys so pissed off? Unless you do that lah...then arr...no comment.

true.. i've got to admit that those ppl who use strob lights as their headlights or neon lights under the car while driving are utter idiots, but the fact that the article seems to generalise that all the 'lower income bracket' people mods their car like that is kinda disappointing to know. i might not earn a wad of cash like some people do, but i do think seriously how i mod my car..be it for performance or for show