Ricers: An Epidemic

      Many of you who have heard of the term "ricer" probably think of a crappy old Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla with an awful muffler and an even worse pain job to match.  Although these cars fall underneath this term, the term actually covers an even broader spectrum of cars.  There is also a distinct difference between ricers and tuners, and we will address that as well.

      The true definition to the term "ricer" is any car that has been tastelessly designed and customized with things that give zero advantages to the performance of the car itself.  For example: that "custom homemade" body wrap that you and your buddies got that has the cool flames you wanted that you put on your car in you mom's garage with a hairdryer and putty knife isn't fooling anybody.  Another prime example to spotting a ricer is the immediate presence of a ridiculously over sized rear spoiler that adds no performance advantages to the car and actually impedes the performance of the car by adding extra weight and drag.

      What was once just a small enclave of mostly Japanese drivers expressing their own views on car styling has turned into a worldwide epidemic in the automotive world.  The types of styles that now fall under this category vary greatly.  The most obvious is the tuner impersonator, which employs the same main spotting points discussed above with a few more added details.  These go on to include a muffler that does about as much good at making the engine quieter as an empty soda can would.  Also, many ricers add stickers to the front panels and rear windows of the car that sport products usually not even in the car, or stickers promoting a sportier version of the actual car.  This usually comes in the form of different logos like V-TEC or SVT or something along those lines.

      Another smaller group of ricers that has become more prevalent is the "donked out" cars.  These cars have been given lift kits and over sized wheels with the thinnest tires available to the owner.  These wheels can range in size from 24'' all the way up to 36'' and above.  Also, it is usually typical to see customized rims and/ or spinning rims on these cars (if that helps you identify who mainly drives these cars).  They also usually have very extravagant and extremely customized paint jobs.  These can take the form of anything from just some good pin striping, all the way up to full-on themed paint jobs attributing to things like McDonalds, Tampons and Kool-aid (i kid you not they actually pain cars like that).  As a nice final touch, these cars are also accompanied by even more loud accessories like questionably legal exhaust cutouts to solid gold truck nuts.

      There are many other smaller groups of cars that fall under this category.  The most commonly "riced" cars include the following,  The Ford Mustang, the Honda Del Sol, the Mitsubishi Lancer (non-evo version), the Acura Integra, Eagle Talon,and the king of them all is the Honda Civic.

      With this knowledge now vested within you, i challenge you to go back out into the world more aware of how these cars are dragging down many other types of car owners that i will discuss soon enough like Sleepers and Tuners.