Have you ever seen a car with its wheels slanted outwards? Don’t worry, it’s not broken; the car was actually purposely built like that. People spend countless hours perfecting their stance builds. Stance is when car-owners “drop” or lower their cars, so low that almost the whole car is touching the ground. Along with dropping the car, creative owners add their own special touches, making every stanced car it’s own unique work of art.
One of the biggest promoters of stance cars is Stancenation. Stancenation was founded in 2010 by Elvis Skender. Stancenation travels along the Western United States, Japan, and Europe hosting car meets and shows for all car-lovers to attend.
‘Customization’ is a very familiar word with stanced car owners. The amount of personal touches that exist are endless. However, there are some modifications and customizations that have become quite popular in the stance community. One of, if not the most popular mods is negative camber. Negative camber is the outwards slant of tires, resulting in increased lateral grip and traction. The amount of negative camber, or how diagonal the tires slant, just depends on the owner’s preference. While some people may like their tires at almost 180 degrees, others may not want negative camber at all.
Along with negative camber comes wheel spacing and stretched tires. Stretching tires is the process of fitting a narrower tire on wider rims. The sidewalls stretch from the lip to the tread. Stretching tires does not have negative effects on a car’s performance, and can prevent the tire from rubbing against the fenders.
Wheel spacing, on the other hand, can cause tires to rub against fenders. Wheel spacing, or using wheel spacers, push the wheel further away from the car, resulting in a wider look. The way this is done is by installing wheel spacers on before the wheel itself.
Another modification that is highly popular is also one of the most expensive. Bagging is the safest, most apt, and overall best way to drop a car. Bagging gets its name from the air bags installed into the struts of the car. These air bags replace the coils in the suspension. These bags allow car owners to personally raise and lower their car. Some people have remotes, switches, or even apps to control their ride height. Bagging is effective for stancing cars in states like Massachusetts where there are harsh winters with a lot of snow. Driving a lowered car in snow is highly dangerous, and very difficult. Bagging may be expensive, but overall, it is a necessary modification if looking for a lowered car.
It is common for people to question why some car owners choose to stance their cars. There is no real answer for this question, but stancing is just a way people customize cars to get them exactly how one likes. Creativity drives owners to make their cars their own art piece, to show off during every drive.
