Kicker Livin' Loud

There are a lot of ways to update your car's stereo system, but some are so much better than others. The one I would like to elaborate on is Kicker. They have speakers, sub woofers, stereo deck, and amplifiers. Everything you would ever need for a new sound system in your car. There are plenty of different products from Kicker alone to chose from. It all depends on how loud and crisp you want the sound to be.

I, personally, have a Kicker L7 in my Jeep Wrangler. I thought one 10" sub woofer would be plenty more than enough for a small car like that. Plus, I didn't want the sound to pop my ear drums. I just wanted the low accent beat to go along with my rap music. It sounds crisp and still lets everyone know that I can let the beat build in my car.

Since there are so many options, you should visit the website and a local car stereo store to listen to the speakers before you choose exactly what you want. Visit Kicker.com and you can find details and specifications for yourself. If you don't know much about this stuff, it doesn't matter. Kicker's "Livin' Loud" speakers have the reputation for being top of the line and you can't make a bad decision when it comes to Kicker sound systems.

Prices are so different in all different places that you need to visit your local Circuit City or Best Buy. The best way to go is to go there and find out what you want and then but offline at Ebay.com. Ebay is one of the best places to find overstocked items so they will be so much cheaper than what all the retail stores will be charging you. You can let them install it for you because that is a tricky procedure. I am just trying to give you guys the push to look at Kicker for your sound system because it is one of the most reputable and the best quality that you can find in the sound world.

2008 SEMA Post Show Part 2

I hoped you enjoyed my first post about the 2008 SEMA Auto Show because I am back with more! Just to give you a recap, in the first post we talked about how the Camaros ruled the show with a couple of tricked out Camaros including a race car and one tuned for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Then Hyundai showed off their new Genesis and finally, a great video that represented the "green" cars of SEMA. So for this post I want to start with the trucks of SEMA. A company by the name of Xtreme Toyz created a F-150 that is geared more towards the people who like to have fun on the weekend (camping, mountain biking, etc). The truck had an extremely awesome paint job that was blackish-blue with yellow and orange tears across the side. It included bike racks and winches in both the front and rear of the vehicle. Auxiliary lights and a mean grill completed the look of this beast. In my opinion I think this was a great idea because trucks these days are mostly made for hauling stuff and trudging through terrain. Now people can have a variety of vehicles to choose from when engaging in those certain activities.

This next truck has been heavily awaited by many of the truck lovers around the world. Even it's name sounds extreme. The 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor rules the dirt instead of the road. This one includes a wide body, heavy duty suspension, and even a 6.2 liter V-8 engine with 400 horsepower. One of the pictures I posted shows the front of the grill which is my favorite part because the word FORD stands out but also blends in with the grill giving it a mean look.





Alright now I know that this next "truck" is not a truck and that it's really a car but its very similar to a truck to me so I'll just put it in this category. The 2010 Pontiac G8 ST reminds me of a modern El Camino. It's scheduled to be released for sale sometime late next year and is expected to be a big hit. In my opinion, I just like it. Yeah it would be really useful but it doesn't have any appealing factor. Maybe if you lowered it and put rims on it, as I always like, then that will raise the appealing factor. But for the most part it's a great car; 361 horsepower, 6.1 liter V8, really give the car some muscle when hauling things around.




Ok. So SEMA has been pretty interesting so far hasn't it? Ok so now we are going to move on to the sports car area. First up is obviously the new Nissan GT-R. GT-RR.COM brought a fully customized GT-R with a carbon fiber body kit, 20 in BBS wheels wrapped in Toyo tires. Many people thought that this car look "riced out" but that is not what I think at all. It looks like a sick ass tuner to me




All I can say about this next car is...FAST!!! The 2008 SEMA show was very lucky this year to have the presence of the all new Lamborghini Reventon! This baby is a one of a kind piece of work. With 0-60 times of 3.4 seconds and a 212 mph clocked topped speed, along with a price tag of only $3.2 million, this car was the beast of the sports cars at the SEMA show this year. I think I love this car the most because it reminds me a lot of the new bad ass bat mobile. With it's matte gray finish, single pipe exhaust, and ridged body panels it looks like it could be a "mini bat mobile."


Now I know this video is not from the actual 2008 SEMA Autoshow but it's the only video I could find that gave great information about this car.



Did you see those guages?!!! Well, this just about wraps it up for your Hold the Brakes exclusive 2008 SEMA Autoshow Post Show. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you again for choosing Hold the Brakes as your SEMA Highlight site!

2008 SEMA Post Show Part 1

I'm sad to say it but the 2008 SEMA Show is over. But that will not stop us from highlighting some of the events, products, companies, and cars that were there? Hell no!!! This year's show, I would say, was amazing! So many great cars with so little time. With the 2010 Cheverolet Camaro being the official car of SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) this year, many companies used it to show off their brand new and upcoming products. Since GM provided the car, they made sure they came out on top when it came to designing the best one with their version of the 2010 Camaro called the Camaro Black Concept. I think this was the sexiest Camaro by far becuase it had a sick body kit, nice black finish, and rims to match. Some other nice Camaros included the one that was customized for NASCAR Star Dale Earnhardt Jr. and a GS Racecar Concept. Dale's Camaro was a two tone grey and white with an orange pinstripe separating the two colors. It was lowered and tuned to perform the way Dale likes it to. It also was converted to run on E85. The GS Racecar Concept was an electric blue color with yellow lettering and was tuned for racing. The yellow/goldish wheels really set it off which I think is the best part about the car. It looks awesome and I can't wait until they begin racing these beasts.

This video really sums up how much of an impact the Camaros had on SEMA this year:



But enough of the Camaros let's get into the luxury cars, my favorite type of vehicle. As mentioned by my buddie ZR1vette, Hyundai has really been stepping up lately. Obviously there were a couple Hyundai Genesis there but one really appealed to me. It was a DUB edition Hyundai Genesis and it was sick! It didn't even look like a Hyundai when I first saw it. This Genesis was all white with chrome rims and inside of the rims was a color-matching white paint to bring out the wheels a bit. There was also a nice slate color Genesis that was tricked out on the inside with monitors in the headrests and computer capabilites. You could hook up your laptop, check you finances, email, or even facebook.





Just a quick little talk about the green cars of SEMA. I found this video that shows the most impressive green vehicles of SEMA including a 100 mpg, 400 horse power, old school mustang! Its the black one in the video. Check it out:



Make sure to read 2008 SEMA Post Show Part 2 for the rest of Hold the Brakes coverage of the 2008 SEMA Auto Show!

Sick Ass Drift Video

So I was looking at the Cardomain website looking for some SEMA information for my upcoming 2008 SEMA Post Show post and I found this sick drift video, that I had to show you, by this guy named Ken Block. Check it out:


Ken Block Gymkhana Practice

Wasn't that awesome!!! My favorite part was the one where he drifts about 3 or 4 times around the guy cruising on a segway. I also liked were he did circles while going through the hanger!

Cadillac One

Nicknamed “Cadillac One,” a new presidential limo is definitely in the cards for president-elect Barack Obama. General Motors (GM) is considered to be putting the finishing touches on a new Cadillac limo for the president to be. Of course the new limo will come with all the added goodies like several inches of glass for windows, an armor-plated body, etc and from what I have read so far, it looks like the limo is going to be a stretched Cadillac DTS based off of the 2500 line of GM’s trucks. Ok… That is cool… I guess… Actually, this to me seems kind of boring. I looked at a bunch of forums where people were making comical guesses as to what the president’s limo will really be like and all of their predictions seemed a lot cooler than a plain old Cadillac limousine with all of the usual presidential amenities. A forum user on Spike.com took a picture of the GMC Topkick and photo shopped a picture of the presidential seal onto the side. Could you imagine Barack Obama riding around in one of these? I could. You could lower it and put spinners on it. Or instead of going down, why not go up? A member on the Landroversonly.com forum posted a picture of what looks like a lifted Cadillac Caprice limo showcased at the SEMA Auto Show. I thought this was hilarious! Stick some presidential flags in the hood, throw some jet black paint on there and this beast is ready to go.

One idea I had when writing this was a completely green presidential vehicle. Now, I know we have not yet perfected this but why not green up the president’s car just a bit? It wouldn’t hurt right? I don’t think so. I’m not against Barack Obama but shouldn’t he at least have something green about his life if his plan involves making us greener? Look, I’m just spittin’ out ideas, but I’d rather keep the president safe than have a greener car and he not be safe, capeesh? On one final note, I would like to take the time to show you some pretty interesting sites I found while searching for info about the president’s new “ride.” First up to bat is a wiki site that has pictures of all the past president’s limos. I especially like the one with president Bush sitting on the inside. You never really get to see what the inside looks like. Where are all the flat-screen televisions? The final website that I won’t go into much detail about, but is still good to know is the White House website. It gives a brief summary of how the transportation works in the White House. It didn’t really have anything to do with the new president-elect but I’m sure it will have something in the coming months.

Some of the Worst Crashes

Ok this video might make you a little queezy, but it is one of the videos of compiled car and motor vehicle crashes. I am sure that everyone in this video was and will be fine. We have great paramedics and people to keep these kind of situations under control. Don't worry about them. Just enjoy and know that you aren't a part of these crashes. If it is too much, there is always the choice to turn it off. Plus, this isn't near as bad as some of those stories they show on the television show Scars. The music is pretty sweet too.

How Horrible...

Here is a clip of some idiot breaking a window with a rock and then stealing the car stereo in less than fifteen seconds. All you have to do to steal a stereo is put two skinny things down each side of the stereo and then pull it out. Don't forget to disconnect the wires. This was the best video
I could find that helped tell my story. Maybe it will help tell my story from a graphical stand point.

There is a lot to say about stereo systems. Speakers, decks, subwoofers, the whole bit. The one thing that people don't see when they by their expensive stereo decks are that they are easily taken out and stolen. This has happened to me fully once. I say fully because the other times they just stole the face plate, which is dumb because what are they going to do with that. I have had my face plate stolen on two occasions and my whole stereo deck on one.

The first time i lost my face plate was when I was on vacation in Canada at my family's beach cottage. It is a very quiet little place and it is my paradise. One night while we were sleeping in our bunkie, my brother went inside to go to the bathroom and when he came out he saw someone in my Jeep Wrangler. He came back into the bunkie and told me about it and I was like well did you check if they took anything, and he said no there is nothing to take in there. I, on the other hand, had to go check and they had taken just the face plate. Now, whoever did it had no point to just steal that part, it can't do anything for them; it can only make my ride in the car a living hell. So, all I could think of was how I am going to have to ride home nine hours with no music at all in my car. We ended up ordering just the face plate from a local store where they had the same exact deck. I felt so relieved when it came in time for me to have it for the ride home. Needless to say, my brother and I now sleep with a bat and a golf club in our small, nice bunkie.

Now I know that Jeep Wranglers are probably the easiest car to break in to. So why don't I take the valuables out of the car? Well I started to think smarter.

The next time they stole my face plate was while my car was getting worked on. I had locked it in the middle console, thinking that they wouldn't need to open that and they wouldn't see it. I was wrong again. When I got my car back, I looked all over for my face plate so I could listen to music on the way home. It was nowhere to be found and my car wasn't fixed. So, I ended up having to listen to music from my phone for a couple of weeks while the shop investigated what had happened. Well I finally got that face plate back, but at least I didn't have to pay for it.

By this time, I am on my second or third stereo deck. To tell you the truth, I really can't remember how many I have had. I think four.

The final and most recent time was when my car was minding its own business in my drive way. I had just arrived home and I forgot to close the garage door so I went back outside to close it and I heard someone run out of the garage. I was like shit, something is going down. I let my dog run around and i went out there with my friends. I felt like we had scared him or her off pretty good. So we all went back inside and in the morning, low and behold, my car's lock had been pulled out and broken into. My friend's car was fine. My brother's car had been broken into too. I was naturally just pissed off. He had broken into my Jeep that was locked by just pulling out the part where you put the key in. Who would think it's that easy. We decided to have the insurance company pay for this damage, but I really liked looking at that gaping hole in the dash while I was driving around.

Oh well, what can I say now? I am the dumbass that left it in there all those times. I have learned my lesson now though. I take my face plate off every night and make sure I take it inside along with my keys. If anyone wants to break into my car, there is definitely nothing to take, maybe a couple of seats that would make lovely recliners in your home. I hope you have learned that if you are going to spend time putting nice things in your car, either get a security system or take them out of the car when you aren't in it.