What small/mundane car modification is most satisfying to you?
Last week’s According to You was a bit of a downer, so how about we clean your automotive palate with a quick hit of sweetness and satisfaction?
There’s always one modification that provides the satisfaction of a quick hit of sugar from a soda or a pre-packaged treat. Or perhaps a bag of potato chips, if sweetness ain’t in your vocabulary. For me, without fail, that quick hit comes from the ability to yank out traditional “hot” incandescent lights for “cool” LEDs. These lights come in various sizes, outputs, and levels of legality. Understanding what can/should go in a particular location is a passion of mine.
No really, walk with me away from my keyboard so I can prove it to you:
The Ford Ranger presented in the above two photos has LED lights almost everywhere, as I buy them in bulk on eBay Motors, enjoy them in my cars, and hand them out like Halloween candy to classic car owners. Red for the rear, yellow for the front, warm white for older interiors, cool white for newer cabins, and even green for the turn signal indicators. Come one, come all … have I got a cure for what ails ya!
Make note of the singed lamp socket in the first photo: This is commonplace for vehicles with hot incandescent bulbs and inadequate ventilation. That burnt-out plastic is surprising considering this Ranger is from 2011, has low mileage, and is infrequently driven at night. But this proves why switching to LEDs not only looks better, and saps less juice from your charging system, but it also keeps old wiring from cooking itself to death. This is a worthy modification, and boy do you get a quick hit of satisfaction making it happen.
So the question comes back to members of the Hagerty Community: What small or mundane modification is most satisfying to you?
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Are tires small/mundane? Probably not but I vote for them anyway. I dare anyone with a sporty-ish car to upgrade their tires to something on the level of the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S and not be smiling afterward. Assuming you didn’t have a tire that good in the first place.
Definitely applicable! I will also say that adding Bilstein (or similar) shocks can be quick, easy, and make a huge difference. Well, at least when they are on something as easy to work on as my aforementioned Ford Ranger.
Totally agree. Tires are often the most overlooked, but single most important component of your car’s suspension system, and therefore its fundamental handling and ride characteristics. IMO, Michelin MP4S are the best all-around “summer” ultra-performance tire currently on the market. I have them on two cars: a ’00 Ferrari 550 Maranello, and a ’23 Alfa Romeo Guilia Quadrifoglio, and I love them. You get what you pay for. Buy the best.
The best mod I ever did was a replace two Maps to 3 bar and a computer flash. This added 65 HP to my HHR SS getting it to 300 HP. It took the boost to 23 PSI and it was still under warranty.
A for warning on LED swaps. I just completed this on my Corvette. I did it mostly due to the Day Time Running Lights in a C5 will melt the lens on a factory light housing.
What I have learned is this. LED bulbs are not all equal in engineering or performance. There are some specifics you need to learn and stick to in getting the best performance of a LED bulb in a housing not intended for it.
Most of this pertains to the headlights. To make a light have a proper cut off and not blind other drivers you want to get an bulb that will index to the lens.
If you have a projection bulb you want to use a 360 degree bulb.
Some companies like Oracle are now designing bulbs to retrofit older housings much better. They also are now making better cooling so there is no need for fans and other large parts on the bulb that can make them difficult to fit.
Many of the no name bulbs on Amazon are a mess. Some are ok. But I suggest to take the time and do the home work and find the best bulb for your situation.
Also be away some systems need more resistance. Like in my C5 it needed a relay installed on one light to make enough resistance to make the head lamps close when turned of. It was a easy no cut fix but one of those things you need to investigate.
But do your home work and on the headlamps really understand what will work the best for your particular headlamp. Not all of these are plug and play. That guy you may blind may just hit you due to the glare so for both of your safety understand that will work.
Also align the lights after a lift or bulb upgrade to make sure they are correct.
Agreed, LED headlights are a hot mess. Very few application specific upgrades exist that put down an appropriate beam, with a hot spot that isn’t the size of a nuclear bomb. But if someone really puts in the effort to do it right on their vehicle, it’s pretty amazing.
The good news is that some of the major companies are really making progress with these retro fit bulbs. I spoke with the engineer at Oracle and she really gave me some great info.
I was looking for bulbs for my projections in my GMC and she said 360 LED or HiD were the only options they had. The bulbs like i used in the C5 were no good in a projection lens.
She did say other companies offered them but they did not have one yet for my app. I just went to a higher watt Halogen for now. No flashing and much better light vs stock.
Oracle has designed the bulbs to really promote the cut off line and it really works we… I even put them in my Pontiac since I already had Hella housings in the car.
I expect that much of this LED stuff will sort itself out in a year or so. These cheap China Amazon companies will still snag the uninformed but what can you do.
I tell everyone that the best bang for the buck (and generally “driveway accessible”) modification is to add or upgrade the anti-roll (aka sway) bars. Reducing body roll while cornering significantly raises the fun factor of any car. Add good quality brake pads and a nice set of tires and you have the recipe for smiles on a twisty bit of road.
Especially on an NC Miata. The original Michelin Sport tires got deafeningly loud as they wore, and were replaced with Sport A/S 3 Plus. Wow, I no longer needed an intercom. Then installed RoadsterSport sway bars from GoodWin Racing and gone was the soggy, keeled-over, squirmy 1970’s feel on long curves. Can’t imagine why Mazda installed such puny bars in the first place. It still has the unfortunate 4×4 stance due to the too-large wheel wells (see BMW for how to do that), but I don’t want to lower it and drag its underside over every ‘traffic calming’ device installed here by the local nannies.
Way, way back, making the most the mundane – ’66 VW fastback – I added 1″ wider wheels, torsion bar, Konis, and an extractor system, and cam up with an agile, well-handling, small family car, in the euro fashion. She ran well for 10 years and 176K miles.
I changed the giant steering wheel on my 87 MB 560sl to a smaller (about 3/4 inch) from a 90 sl looks exactly the same and utilizes the airbag from my original wheel. Helped tremendously in ingress/egress. Only downside is I have to move my head so I can see fuel gauge, but I just watch odometer and fill it up at 200 miles as she is a thirsty girl.
Our Gen6 Bronco is probably a poster child for modifications. We bought ours nicely-equipped, but even so, there was room for some small improvements. Nearly first on the list was replacing the prop rod for the hood with struts. This seems lame, but it sure is nice not having to work around a prop rod. Not that I’ll have much under-hood work to do, but I do open it up every time I need to connect the air compressor to air up the tires after off-roading.
The second simple, yet satisfying change was replacing the large whip antenna with a little stubby. I found one online that is only about 2.5″–so much better!
Then I added a glove compartment organizer and a center console tray. It already has LEDs all around, but maybe I’ll get some further inspiration from other commenters.
I like different OEM wheels on the same make but different model. I had a set of the 1978 Trans Am gray “Snowflake” wheels on my 1973 Grand Am and later on my 1977 Grand Prix SJ
I changed the headlights on a ’97 BMW M3 as the OE sealed beams were like shining flashlights to see at night. The set of Euro style reflectors with replaceable halogens made such a difference, almost like night and day! I can’t believe the OE lights were acceptable to BMW for US lighting standards.
Depends but some easy changes: reblacking the inner fenders, grille change, seat cover/upholstery, mirrors changed, bumper deletes, exhaust, deleting superfolous body trim, colored glass, stereo
For the last 20 years, every truck i have gets a “bed bar” as I call it. Bolt in or weld on depending on the truck, but basically a piece of box steel mounted to the front of the bed rail. I have tied down loops welded to it in multiple places to seucre loads or act as anchor points for winching. Family members have mounted bicycle fork mounts or wheel chocks for motorcycles. The whole idea is it strengthens the front of the bed so it doesnt dent toward the cab when you load motorcycles, mowers, etc.
I make my bed bars strong enough they also acts as an anchor or mounting point for a small winch that I use to drag scrap, furniture, dead mowers, four wheelers, deer, etc into the bed. My knees and back aren’t getting any younger, so i have to work smarter 🙂
Probably the best small/mundane modification I have come across is to replace the old rubber sway bar bushings with a new set of polyurethane ones. This is particularly satisfying in older sportscars that are a tad past their prime. While you’re down there, if there is an easily accessible thicker diameter bar from a higher-performance or later version of your car, that’s another big bang for the buck upgrade (particularly if you can find it at a junkyard).
Oh – and I forgot de-badging. I have removed badging and lettering from every vehicle I’ve ever owned. It really cleans up the look in my eyes. It’s a LOT easier to do with modern cars where the’re basically on there with two-sided tape. Removing older chrome bits used to mean also filling in the holes they left behind. In the case of the big chrome Nissan globe in the grille of my Frontier, I removed it shot it with a couple coats of flat black plasti-dip, and snapped it back in. Looks great.
This is about as mundane as it gets, but on my pick-up, I mounted one of those steering wheel knobs that I can grip and that swivels in my hand as I crank the wheel back and forth – especially neat when backing up and/or maneuvering a trailer. I can concentrate on watching mirrors and don’t have to worry about crossing hands and/or losing my grip. I used to have them ages ago when driving semi-trucks and they sure came in handy, so I’ve tried to put one on all of my “working” vehicles (including tractors) since.
Suicide knobs is what they are called in the trucking industry. Illegal in semis… not sure about cars
Nah, they’re legal almost everywhere, and you can easily buy them in many truck stops!
https://suicideknob.net/state-laws/#:~:text=No%20rules%20against%20knobs%20in%20Idaho%27s%20vehicle%20code
I lowered my ‘78 Datsun 280Z about 2 inches with a set of Tokico gas struts and Eibach lowering springs. Not only did the car look 100% better, but the handling was greatly improved without sacrificing ride quality.
The finishing touch for a classic 70’s look was to add white lettered tires. The stock tire size (195 70-14) is no longer available with raised white lettering (I’ve looked everywhere!). Consequently, I used oil-based white paint pens (they cost $13 for 12 pens) to color the lettering and the tires, and the car, looks amazing!
I lowered my ‘78 Datsun 280Z about 2 inches with a set of Tokico gas struts and Eibach lowering springs. Not only did the car look 100% better, but the handling was greatly improved without sacrificing ride quality.
The finishing touch for a classic 70’s look was to add white lettered tires. The stock tire size (195 70-14) is no longer available with raised white lettering (I’ve looked everywhere!). Consequently, I used oil-based white paint pens (they cost $13 for 12 pens) to color the lettering. The tires, and the car, looks amazing!
Like the article was about, I recently bought a set of super bright LED bulbs for my parking lights, tail/brake lights, and reverse lights for my 66 El Camino. They have superior daylight visibility, and I like the peace of mind when making upgrades that improve safety which makes it less likely to wreck my dream car.
I’ve added a little throat to the exhaust system of just about all of my cars that didn’t already have a little growl and cackle to them. I’ve left the 1 Series alone… for now