As huge as SEMA is, we’re bound to be able to make a “good-bad-Oh My God” list in short order. It’s one thing to have our favorite cars or to have a list of must-see stuff, but SEMA is actually a great barometer for trends that are happening in the automotive world, and we also get to see updated ideas on how to do things the old-fashioned way. Here’s some things we found that certainly were prevalent around the show…whatever your disposition on them.

Good Idea: Urban Assault Vehicles

Maybe it’s because we’ve seen full-size SUVs on huge chrome wheels for what seems like a decade now at least, but seeing them slightly lifted, set up as a pre-runner or a safari-style vehicle makes us happy. Sure, the likelihood that they are going to do any more off-roading than skipping a curb isn’t high, but put into the right hands, there’s hope.

Bad Idea: High-Dollar Bro-Dozers

These things were EVERYWHERE, in many different colors, setups and heights. We get the idea behind diesel performance and lifting a truck, but dozers are just comically overcompensating. Remember, a diesel truck is supposed to be function first and looks second, not lots of pretty with a tow rating.

Good Idea: Factory-Built Hot Rods

Having the OEMs at an aftermarket tradeshow sounds like a counterintuitive idea, but they are the ones bringing the cars that are built to market and if they are smart, have their finger on the pulse of what is going on. The LT-4 powered 1970 Camaro RS that Chevrolet brought would get our nod of approval, but the Dodge Challenger GT-AWD and at least half of Ford’s display were just as tasty.

Bad: Factory Lowrider

See also: “trying too hard”. Scion is fighting for relevancy and for the iA, they contacted Eddie Huang and had him build a lowrider out of it. Certain elements are cool, like the paintwork and the etched sections in the doors, but overall this was just …no. It was bad. Leave this one to the professionals, guys.

Good Idea: JDM Done Right

JDM stuff has been a joke far too long. While we won’t let up on rice anytime soon, we do know what good Japanese cars look like, and we found several desirable items at the show this year. This Datsun 510? Trans-Am material, baby! Any BangShifter who knows their history would want this mean little bastard in their garage!

Bad Idea: Aftermarket Re-Skin Kits Year after year, we wonder how many of these kits are sold. C5 Corvettes into C1 and C2 Corvettes, mid-2000s Mustangs into 1969 Shelbys, and fifth-gen Camaros into the Trans Am that should have been. Admittedly, the quality seems to have gotten better than the first ones I saw, but I’m still not 100% sold on this concept.

Good Idea: Audience Participation!

Even if SEMA remains a closed-to-the-public show, there is plenty of value in getting people directly involved with activities. It’s a marketing reach, it’s putting money where your mouth is, whatever you want to call it…it’s fun and it gets people to remember your brand. Ford and GM put on ride and drives (and in Ford’s case, some excellent stunt work) and this year BFGoodrich put on a deal where teams of two performed a simulated pit stop on a class 8 buggy for the chance to win a set of tires, impact gun and all.

Bad Idea: Stick-On Tire Lettering

I want to be clear: we are not 100% sure what this deal is. If they are custom, one-off tires that have special raised-white-letter patters, like we suspected this Dodge had, that’s one thing. But a lot of cars, especially higher-end cars with super-stretched tires like this Aventador, had what appeared to be glue-on lettering on the tires to simulate white letters. No. Get white-letter tires or don’t. Do not glue crap onto your tires.