Adding Sun Flares, Yay or Nay?

I've been experimenting with adding sun flares and I am wondering what the current consensus on their use are. Is it "cheating" or is it just another tool to help portray the vision you want to portray? I have posted the original and modified photos. What do you guys think? Look too fake? I also have a less warm flare to match the color temp of the photo. Attached on next post.

Here is a version with a cooler flare.

You have nice highlights in the car, but there are a couple other bright areas in the shot that tend to pull my eye away from it. Personally, I would have cropped off all the sky at the far left.
In #2, the flare tends to concentrate my attention on the car, so I think it works.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #17973318
You have nice highlights in the car, but there are a couple other bright areas in the shot that tend to pull my eye away from it. Personally, I would have cropped off all the sky at the far left.
In #2, the flare tends to concentrate my attention on the car, so I think it works.

Good feedback, thanks. Hows this:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/For8​Aa

MY first thought is that it wasn't over the top so that was good, but then I looked around a a bit, and the sun flare was a different colour to the sky, was from a different direction to the natural light, it just looked odd the more I looked at it, but then, I was analyzing it rather than just looking....

JMG703 wrote in post #17974432
Good feedback, thanks. Hows this:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/For8​Aa BMW F80 M3 Sunrise Under the 6th St Bridge - Los Angles by JMG, on Flickr

I like that much better! Do you?

PhotosGuy wrote in post #17974589
I like that much better! Do you?

This

The direction of the light flare as opposed to the lighting on the car is completely wrong.

rrblint wrote in post #17974825
The direction of the light flare as opposed to the lighting on the car is completely wrong.

How do you figure that? The cool sky, away from the "sun", is lighting the car. The flare, behind it, shouldn't have any affect?

PhotosGuy wrote in post #17974833
How do you figure that? The cool sky, away from the "sun", is lighting the car. The flare, behind it, shouldn't have any affect?

Just a personal preference. I should have put "IMO" in my post.

Here's what I would have done with it: (I'll remove if OP objects to my editing)

Makes sense to me, if the natural light lighting the car is coming from top left just in front of the car ( easily checked look at the shadow cast by wing mirror ), then that's where the sun should be, not low to the right and the other side of the car. Also, if the sun was coming from there, the car should be partly in silhouette, at the very least in the shade, and it isn't. Like I said earlier, only noticeable if you're analysing the pic really........

Works for me - I'd say there is shadow/darker area to the right of the car, it's therefore lit by diffused daylight from the left & the sun is setting behind the car/bridge.

The reality is the situation was that the sun was actually located in that area of the picture, but it was obscured. The light direction is coming from the left instead of the right because the sun isn't the only source of light. I was under a bridge, so even if the sun is on the right, ambient light will spill from the left, since the right is almost completely under the bridge.