Mods vs Wife

As some of us know that the modification bug can be quite an expensive hobby, I wanted to know how you deal with your better half? I dont want to create a seperate account and hide anything from my wife but do any of you bribe them by buying a nice gift before running up your cc or do you get the on the head?

I'm not married but I know it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Just do it and sleep on the couch that night, she'll get over it.

Let me ask you this does she ever buy clothes or a new purse? Does she call and make sure your cool with it? Not much of a difference a Kate Spade, Gucci, LV purse is minimum $500 and change... So buying a new CF shifter for $400 is not that bad right? Always claim it was a good once in a life time deal and you had to jump on it... "look at how much I saved" not "How much I spent" No problems thus far...

The key is to do it so often that she can't keep track.

Marry a woman like my wife......she helps pick out mods with me! God I love that woman. She is also a track junkie.

It is easier to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission. Marc

allow her to get mods- i.e. fakies.

Tell her it does not cost near what a girlfriend would !

Do what I did, buy her a harley, then she'll let you get what you want!

LOL..you guys are great, nothing like some innocent humor. Honestly, she isnt bad at all, we enjoyed limerock, she goes to PCA events with me and supports me in buying a 951.

I have managed to convince my wife that the house is her toy - after all, about 90% of the 'mods' that she does to it don't actually add to the functionality. After a while she agreed. This is good news because I could never spend as much money on a car as she can on the house On a related note - a friend of mine got new cars regularly and I couldn't figure out how he managed to do it. His 'secret' is that he gets a picture of the car that he wants to buy and he makes that his wifes background/screensaver. He says that after seeing it every day for a couple of months it is not as shocking when it shows up in the driveway.

Never Had that problem, My Wife always knew I was a Porsche Nut, Just as long as don't lack in other departments, It has never been a problem, She even helps me install my mods and detail my 996. Not to mention the house is generally a womens toy, So a Million dollar house vs. A $100,000 toy, It looks like I am the one being short changed.... :-)

Very simple...happy wife = happy life. How you keep your wife happy is for you to find out.

Well , I'll be honest , I bribe her, She loves Prada ,Gucci,LV ect..ect and she buys it when ever the hell she wants, It's like christmas at my house 365 days a year, so being the car lover I am , she doesn't say a word, but I did let her pick out the colour of the Benz..She thought that was nice, A little off topic but she picked it cuz it matched a pair of her shoes..LOL . If your wife or girlfriend does not have a fetish for shoes, then Diamonds are a girls best friend

I've got plans for a cat-back exhaust, RoW springs, and an SSK. She's getting quotes for a kitchen remodel and plans to buy a new bed. It all works out.

what if you have a wife AND a girlfriend ? Scratch that idea...the P-car *** mods is STILL cheaper....

Great question...I'll go and ask her ... soon as I remove the gag outta her piehole

she actually tells our friends 'better a porsche in the driveway than a mistress in the bed'

well, if she can justify PCCB, you should be prepared to justify a hermes handbag. LOL

Solved: Separate credit cards. You might as well get frequent flyer miles for all those mods, then buy a free plane ride for you and the wife.

We had this discussion at dinner on a race weekend last summer. A club racing budget can easily top $30k per summer before repairs and mods so it's a real deal with spouses. There seemed to be three camps. Full disclosure, half disclosure and don't ask-don't tell. Full disclosure generally came with a the requirement to spend equal amounts on her stuff so now you've got a $60k a year hobby. Half disclosure was full of problems. Hiding reciepts, separate accounts, etc. Never a good deal. Don't ask-don't tell seemed to be the best policy in our small group. I took a different path. When my wife and I went separate ways, I found a girlfreind with a 84 911 cab, an R1 and a Boxster that she just sold to buy the Cayman S she ordered. Now if I could just keep her out of my racecar. Jim

From a women's point of view...the best advice in this thread is a happy wife is a happy life (I can attest to this first hand being one). If you get to play, allow her to as well. I sorta took the same route with my husband. I gave him the yellow beast (Motive? Oh yeah, you bet! I get to have them ALL in the garage now!). Now we both have one...and he is already modding it and making it his. It's just so cute!! Now naturally this won't work for most ladies...but LV, Gucci, spa days....oh yeah! PS He makes a great pit crew when I go to the track. I love having a water boy!

Can I get a membership to the Robyn fan club ?

Wow! Now that's a lady!

Guys, take note. If you are single right now and looking make sure you find somebody similar to my wife, Robyn, or JimB's girlfriend. Life is so much easier when you have similar interests. YOU GOTTA HAVE THE SAME PASSIONS! It sucks to have to hide and tip-toe around the subject of spending $$$ on a car that she doesn't get. When I met my wife she and I had the typical talk most guys have just get into bed......you know, the one where we will listen to ANYTHING and be compassionate? During that talk and the next several talks I found out that her dream car was a Porsche, she loved sports, etc., etc., etc.. It took me all of 3 months of dating to realize this was the woman I would spend the rest of my life with. Long story short, I have been with my wife for almost 5 years now and have never had a fight about anything....seriously, not even a heated disagreement. BTW....She is the one that told me I need to buy a GT3 (even told me it should be Yellow.....but we'll see about that ) before next spring when the DE season starts back up so she doesn't have to share cars at track days anymore. As was told to Indiana Jones before he figure out which of many cups was the "Holy Grail" the old Knight siad to him........"choose wisely".

Robyn, I hope you let him win when you put up your 996T is up against his N/A 996...you know about the male ego. LOL

Like a woman! Castrate the car (ala remove the supercharger) then give it to the man... Always trying to keep the man down I see how it is. I am glad you kept the car...did he change the Pink Porsche decals?

Thanks guys.... And no, I'm afraid I am way too competitive to let him win. He's got to win all on his own! Do I rub it in if he doesn't? What do you think? Now Eric! I about fell off my chair laughing at the castration comment!! If I had left the SC on, I'd still be driving that baby...and wouldn't have the TT. So it all worked out! And yes, no more pink Porsche decals.

We are not poor, but my wife's dream car is a Corolla--just some cheap, basic, reliable transportation where she'll never notice how many scrapes/curb rashes/dents there are, and she can fill the trunk, back seats, glove compartment, front seats, side pockets with uslesss $#!+ for years. When I drive her car and step on the brakes, tissue boxes, water bottles, etc., roll out from under the seats. Our tastes in cars are not something we have in common. Not a pretty scenario. I usually work it if it comes up as a once-in-a-lifetime eBay type of deal. She has her way of spending money--just in smaller, more frequent, less obvious ways, unfortunately.

Not yet. I am the chairperson of the Robyn Fan Club, so get in line buster.

My last car purchases have involved my wife getting cats.... I quote "If you get a track car, then I get a kitten" Well,...OK. We're not talking bred cats or anything, she hops in her Honda Civic and goes to the animal shelter to adopt.... Ya, my car friends hate me. We're up to three cats !

Here's how I handled my wheels (most expensive mod): Told my wife one day "hey why don't we meet for lunch at that great rib place I've been telling you about" (one of her offices is nearby); of course, its down the block from Wheel Enhancement. After lunch, I said "hey why don't we hang out a bit and go look at the Porsche wheel place down the street?" Went there, then she scared the hell out of me and said she wanted new wheels for her Cayenne S - of course what could I say other than "sure, if you really want them I'll get them for you honey" - emphasis on "really"! I never brought it up again, and a couple months later she noticed my new wheels about a month after I put them on. Of course I acted like she knew about all this a long time ago. And of course I have never mentioned her wheels again.

hahaha, here is my life. wife makes a lot of money. doesn't buy jewelry, purses, expensive clothes. shops at kmart, costco, ross. saves every coupon she can get. doesn't like to eat expensive food, wine... drives a thing that most of us will not consider a CAR.... so i can't use the line "you buy a Dolce, i buy a porsche..." and no she doesn't want expensive kitchen with subzero, bosch and miele. separate and hidden account is the way i do it. robyn, you GAVE whet spot to hubby??? if it's not too late, would you like another hubby? i volunteer myself at your service ;-)

uhhh

I bought mine a Porsche! I got her a Boxster S (she's always wanted one) and now I get to mod the bejeebers outta my 996. I told her if she met a certain goal in the business she could replace her brand new Mini with a Boxster S. It only took her a couple of months to hit her goal - I didn't think I'd see it for a year! Hers is an '03, mine is a '99 so it was not a tough sell to tell her I needed some mods to update a bit. And yes, it is much easier to be forgiven than to get permission. And on another note, a few of the guys have mentioned finding a woman with the same interests - that is exactly what I did. My wife used to race Corvettes and is a car nut just like I am. When I met her she had an '86 turbo cab, triple black - me, an '89 M3. We left our jobs, cars, etc. to move to Hawaii but have since recreated enough abundance to buy a fine home/cars once again. It wasn't hard to talk her into getting a Porsche, but mods have come with a slight bit of resistance each time I've done it. The Boxster S did the trick!