Do you guys think that aftermarket parts (CAI..etc...) effect how long a car lasts. I have a couple friends that have maximas with over 150,000 miles, and I have done some mods to my car, I just want it to last as long as theirs.

Look at it this way...is there any way that these parts are going to extend the life of the car? No.

The parts themselves may not hurt the life of the car any, the aggressive driving and racing that people with modded car's usually do will.

I don't know about that. Things like an intake and a Y-Pipe allow the engine to work less to create the same amount of power, so I would think that just having those could extend the life of the car. However, none of us put those mods on the car for that reason, so you're right in the sense that the aggresive driving will have an adverse effect.

How is the engine working less? At the same speed before and after mods, the engine is at the same RPM's and everything's doing the same amount of work (injectors, valves, pumps, etc.).

Unless there's something that I'm just missing...

Good point. In steady state, like cruising at a constant 65 mph, the difference between a modded car and stock is nothing. However, when accelerating to a new steady state, like 80 mph, the modded car will do it faster, so it will spend less time wearing out in the dynamic acceleration mode as the stock car will. Therefore, the modded car can wear less quickly. Will the modded car wear less?? Probably not b/c we added the mods for power, not longevity

DW

As for longevity, my car has 138,000 miles with mods. The only major thing that has died on my car has been the tranny bearings, totally not modification related.

DW

I agree with that. I totally believe that mods (enhancements) will make your car run and last longer. Look at the use of tranny coolers. The can extend the life of your tranny by reducing heat. The VB reduces wear between high RPM shifts for autos. Cross-drilled and vented rotors reduce heat and fade in the overall brake setup.

But NOS & turbochargers don't ... it depends what you do.

..and the quality of work.

Very true.

An intake and the Y-pipe help the engine breathe easier. The RPM might be the same, but it should use less fuel to maintain that RPM vs. an engine that has more restriction in the system. My car with those mods, if I take it easy, can attain almost 30mpg with very sticky tires on it. I could never get that mileage before the mods even with tires that offered less rolling resistance than what's on there now. Less fuel being consumed means less work being done by the engine under the same conditions. Of course, the majority of the time I use that extra breathing capability to create more horsepower, but it's nice knowing that if I drive like Grandma I save money