How Not To Overdo Your Car!

[raj_5004]

These days a lot of car owners like to customize their cars. Customization can be -

• Basic Alloys
• Wider tyres
• ICE
• Carputer
• Performance mods like FFE and chips
• Even basic sticker and chrome add ons

I agree that looks and style is a subjective preference but ultimately, there is a thin line between making your car stylish and classy or making it trash and cheap. You maybe a millionaire and may have the ability to buy the best available resources to modify to expensive car, but even then it can look like this-



On the other hand, you may have limited money to spend on your budget hatchback, still it may end up looking like this-



Both cars will make heads turn on the road, but obviously for different reasons! One would make the mouth open in amazement whereas the other would force the mouth open to puke!

I have seen a lot of people overdoing their fantastic cars with too many cluttered and cheap elements. It not only makes the car look bad, but it also poses a big question mark on the owner's sense of style IMHO.

Things to avoid -

• Avoid too many stickers on the car. Stickers are passe now and dont gel well with most modern's car beautiful body lines and creases.
  
• Avoid bumper protectors. They clearly look aftermarket and cheap. You are driving a private car, not a call centre cab.
  
• Again avoid cheap and ill fitted muzik chistem which does nothing but produces blaring loud music. Trust me, chicks are not attracted by this.
  
• If you are upgrading your headlamps, go for proper bulb upgrades. If you are going for HIDs, do install a projector. HIDs without projectors scatter the light and blind oncoming drivers.
  
• Underbody neons are again a thing of the past.
  
• Please dont write your family's name on your cars! They do nothing to safeguard them or your car.

Instead, things you can do on a tight budget -

• Get some nice and classy alloys. They go a long way in enhancing the stance of your car.
  
• Upgrade the tyres to a safe limit. They will not only complement the alloys, but also offer more grip and stability, at the expense of fuel economy.
  
• Get a decent ICE with SQ as priority. The music should be for you, not for the entire neighborhood!

Things you can do on a healthy budget -

• If you own a sporty car, get proper projector headlight kits with inbuilt DRLs or angel eyes. I would always prefer the white angel eyes instead of red, green, blue, etc. as I believe they look classy.
  
• If you wish, go for a subtle performance exhaust, the ones that aren't too noisy. If you wish, go full fledged with performance headers and cold air intakes. Diesel car owners can opt for performance chips or remaps.
  
• You can go for a full custom body kit. Get customized front and rear bumpers with diffuser kits and integrated slots for your performance exhausts.
  
• You can even go for a full body wrap or paint in exquisite colours. Confirm with RTO regulations before hand though!

 

[ss80]

These days a lot of car owners like to customize their cars. Customi.. fore hand though!
[/LIST]

Wow, what a thread. Thanks a lot for starting such a sensible thread that simply speaks the truth and nothing else. Especially the part about Mushik Chistem . I see too many people using Dapic, Katara and Pioneer look-a-like some local oval speaker and trying to impress on lookers (especially at traffic signals). The sound from those HU is horrible, the volume makes matter worse.

Hopefully more and more people read this thread and save themselves from entering the "Weird modifications thread"!

 

[ZenandEnfield]

A couple of other ugly mods are,
- oversized spoilers.

- extra wide mud flaps.

 

[Johny]

@ raj_5004 I appreciate your sense.
I am going to buy my Swift VVT by December and still confused about the accessories including a Navigator to assist my vacation trips (probably Megaaudio). I wish to get the 15” alloy wheel.
So friends, it will be appreciated, if you can give your advice and experience.

 

[quantized]

Even if you wan to write family members name, find out a better and new styling rather than the typical Bangalore/Karnataka style (Four names on all four corners of rear screen angled at 90 degree in italic font)

 

[kinshuk.arya]

raj what are you planning for the XUV?

 

[raj_5004]

@ raj_5004 I appreciate your sense.
I am going to buy my Swift VVT by December and still confused about the accessories including a Navigator to assist my vacation trips (probably Megaaudio). I wish to get the 15” alloy wheel.
So friends, it will be appreciated, if you can give your advice and experience.

A navigation unit is hardly a mod. It is an essential item. If you have the budget, you can go for a double DIN touch screen head unit with inbuilt bluetooth, navigation and reverse camera. Benefit is that it integrates in your dash.

Of course a standalone unit from Garmin and MMI has it own advantages like timely updates and upgrades.

If you are going for 15" alloys, also consider upsizing your tyres to 195 section.

raj what are you planning for the XUV?

I am planning absolutely nothing for the XUV. It will always remain stock.

I have a belief that premium vehicles (XUV is a premium vehicle for a person of average income like me!) are best kept stock. Would you like if you see a Merc/Audi/BMW with aftermarket stickers, chrome fittings, etc.? If at all you want to modify a premium car, you should opt for the most premium accessories and be ready to pay a bomb for it. Like genuine AMG or ///M aftermarket add-ons.

I would not even touch the ICE of the XUV as it has a pretty advanced and complicated system in place. I would not change the alloys since it has tyre pressure monitoring sensors in it.

Civic will be gradually modified, though I would stick to subtle enhancements like alloys, lip spoilers, etc.

 

[kinshuk.arya]

I was thinking of going for matt black alloys either by spray painting them or getting a carbon fibre vinyl wrapped.

any ideas if the TPMS will be an issue with tyre upgrade to 255/45 R17?

 

[vijay]

Nice thread Raj, as you said any overdose kills the car from getting into stylish and classy to making it trash and cheap.
most common mods we have seen happening is spoilers, overdose of tyres sizes, stickers jobs, too much of LED,s/light works inside out in car.

 

[raj_5004]

I was thinking of going for matt black alloys either by spray painting them or getting a carbon fibre vinyl wrapped.

any ideas if the TPMS will be an issue with tyre upgrade to 255/45 R17?

If you are not changing the alloys, changing the tyres would cause no problem to the TPMS sensors.

I would avoid wrapping the alloys as they can easily chip off because of stones and other stuff.

Again, painting should be done by a professional, else even that will fade or chip off.

 

[jihu123]

Nice Thread but I don't think the people would learn from these.
And the worse part is the owners think that they look really good & some people too think the same.

Once I was travelling in a car with my cousin & his friends. And we saw a swift behind us, with big grilles, extra side mirrors up front & a big 4x4 Offroad sticker job in the front. It was more than ugly & when I was about to say how ugly it looked. One of the guy in the car said, "that swift has been well modded. Looks nice!" .
The moment he said that, there was a 30 sec silence in the car. I felt like shooting him .

 

[SankarNarayanan]

[*]Get a decent ICE with SQ as priority. The music should be for you, not for the entire neighborhood!

Excellent thread Raj.

To be very frank SPL setups are more attractive than a SQ setup and more of a crowd puller at demo shows and auto shows. Also it's kinda personal preference on which one to go for SQ vs SPL. I am moving from pure SQ setup to a heavy SPL setup

Regards,
Sankar

 

[amit1km]

One more thing I do not like (may be only me) soft toys on the rear parcel tray.I don't really get the necessity of that.These soft toys blocks the rear view.I think people think that those soft toys as more important than the rear view of the road. They just do not bother who are coming from behind but they want to see the soft toys when see in the rear view mirror.

 

[raj_5004]

Excellent thread Raj.

To be very frank SPL setups are more attractive than a SQ setup and more of a crowd puller at demo shows and auto shows. Also it's kinda personal preference on which one to go for SQ vs SPL. I am moving from pure SQ setup to a heavy SPL setup

Regards,
Sankar

SPL setup is good if you are a installer and need to show off your skills. For a normal car owners, such setups disturb the neighborhood and nothing else IMHO!

 

[SankarNarayanan]

SPL setup is good if you are a installer and need to show off your skills. For a normal car owners, such setups disturb the neighborhood and nothing else IMHO!

I am not an installer but i am associated with a car audio shop which seems why i am so interested in SPL setup

But jokes apart you don't need to have 4 2000w RMS subwoofers and a big monoblock amplifier to own a SPL setup. Now a days SPL setup can be done with the same budget as high SQ setup and if properly installed (meaning neccessary damping done to car) will not disturb your neighborhood too much.

Regards,
Sankar