[bjordan]

Hello,

About a year ago a friend of mine went to a local dealership to test drive an Insight. He was just going for the heck of it. He has always been into cars and had followed the Insight for a while. He was afraid it wouldn't have enough power for his taste and that it would feel like he was driving a golf cart. About 3 hours after he said he was going to stop by for the test drive he calls me from his cell and tells me to look outside. There he sat in his brand new silver Insight. I took it for a drive and I must say it is a BLAST to drive!!!! Ever since then, the Insight has been near the top of my list to look at when it was time for me to buy a new car. Well that time is quickly arriving. I'm afraid my current car is going to die on me any day. So the hunt begins. I'm still trying to narrow down my selection but the more I look the more I keep coming back to the Insight. My only real problem with it is the lack of cruise control. I've read over George and Tim's cruise control installation articles. I'm not one to tinker too much with my cars so I doubt I'll take that route. However it is nice to know that the option is available.

Another question I have is about removing the rear skirts. I realize this will reduce the MPG, and I'm not even sure I'll do this. When I was looking at insights last year I ran across this picture:
http://www.micro-fault.com/filedrop/insight_no_rear_wheel_covers.jpg (If this picture belongs to anyone I apologize it has been a long time since I found it so I have no idea where it came from) I thought this was one of the sweetest cars I had ever seen. What I'm wondering is, are there kits to put on the back of the rear wheel cover if you remove the skirt? I hope this makes sense. If not let me know and I'll try to explain it better.

I apologize for the long intro post.

Perhaps I'll go the Insight route and become a fellow member of your community.

Thanks in advance for any info,
bjordan

 

[b1shmu63]

That picture was computer generated. It was in an effort to show what an Insight would look like with larger wheels and no rear skirts. Just removing the rear skirts creates a rather ugly shaped hole. You would have to do some body work or create an adaptor of some kind to round out the hole.

 

[Corey872]

Kind of reminds me of some concepts I was toying with a couple of months ago...

http://coreyonline.tripod.com/insight.html

I have been searching for a set of salvage rear skirts to play around with, but so far, no luck. Don't know how much room there is to mold the skirt before you'd have to physically cut metal on the car. The blue insight shown above would definitely have metal cut from the car to clear rear wheels that big. My Paintshopped photos kept the opening within the line of the original skirt.

Anybody have a set of skirts they'd part with relatively cheaply, or know where some are?

 

[bjordan]

Thanks for the replies.

b1shmu63: Thanks for clearing up the picture for me. I was wondering about it. When I saw the lines around the skirt I had a feeling it wouldn't look right if you removed it. Too bad nobody makes a rear body kit you could drop in the back area where the skirts are. Looks like if I want to do it, it will have to be a custom job.

Corey872: I think you might be on to something. Please keep me posted on any progress you make. I'm really curious to see how it turns out.

 

[Tim Maddux]

more faked photos here:
http://www.insightcentral.net/KB/photos ... yling.html

 

[coolcat]

I think that some modified skirts could achieve the effect seen in the "Middle" Michael Cutts picture (link provided by Tim Maddux, here on IC). I've considered getting a spare set of rear skirts to try it out. They would need to be stiffened so they'd stay on, but that shouldn't be too difficult. The hardest part would be making the edge look nice and cutting both sides so that they match exactly.

Later,

Matt

 

[414 D]

bigger wheels

hey there, so can you really achieve this look by simply adding larger wheels/rims to the insight? are adding the fog lights possible too? thanks

 

[02insight]

Here is one person who actually cut their rear-wheel skirts, http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3312520/2003-honda-insight

I think this photoshop is a bit more realistic.

 

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Here's the original image:

Sourced from what used to be called CarPoint.com:

http://fp.images.autos.msn.com/merismus/gallery/c445407a.jpg

 

[414 D]

perfect rims/tires, suspesion

thanks! thats a nice pic. i'm trying to figure out what the biggest/best overall speed mpg and tractioned wheels i can slap on the insight. as well as lowering springs and etc.. id really like to achieve the look in the pic i sent above, and it seems almost doable depending on the right springs and wheels. id love to have an insight street race car have amazing traction, cornerning, speed, stability, and pothole absorbant thanks!

 

[N2oExpresS2k]

Best thing you can do to with the rims, tires , and suspension, is nothing.. Anything you do with the exception of lowering it is going to lower it's performance (mpg). The only option for lowering it is cutting the springs unfortunately. Aftermarket companies don't think it's cost effective to develop parts for our cars.

 

[red1dr]

Best thing you can do to with the rims, tires , and suspension, is nothing.. Anything you do with the exception of lowering it is going to lower it's performance (mpg). The only option for lowering it is cutting the springs unfortunately. Aftermarket companies don't think it's cost effective to develop parts for our cars.

+1
Plus I think it looks better (and more distinctive) with the stock rims and skirts. So many cars have the spoked alloy wheel look; the Insight-I is the only car with skirts/spats/wheel covers or whatever they are called.

 

[414 D]

modded insight

thank you guys. i'm not so worried about the look so much as i am performance. i'd love to have a a hybrid version of the bisimoto insight "stitch" would definitely love to turbo it, exhaust and such, and maximize handling/cornering. with regards to the weight and materials of the body, the insight has got to be one of the most underrated cars as far as modded performance goes. i bet it could drive like a poor man's porsche if modded correctly. i was just assuming that different rims/tires would give it better performance/handling. correct me if im wrong.

 

[jerrydelrey]

I wonder how low an offset you can get with the side skirts trimed?