According to You: What small/mundane vehicle modification is most satisfying?

We asked you for the most satisfying small, mundane, or quick modification you like to do to a car or truck. The answers we received ranged from adding more power and improving handling to cosmetic upgrades, lighting improvements, and interior upgrades. This list is so good it might even inspire you to make some changes of your own to your own vehicle. So let’s see what everyone in the Hagerty Community came up with.

Tires

@Marc: 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.

@David: 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. In my opinion, 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 Giulia Quadrifoglio, and I love them. You get what you pay for. Buy the best.

ECU tuning

@hyperv6: The best mod I ever did was to go from a 2-to-3 bar MAP sensor and a computer flash. This added 65 hp to my Chevy HHR SS, getting it to 300 hp. It took the boost to 23 psi and it was still under warranty.

Antiroll bars

@David: I tell everyone that the best bang for the buck (and generally “driveway accessible”) modification is to add or upgrade the antiroll (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.

@Yes Dear: Especially on an NC Miata. I installed RoadsterSport sway bars from Good Win Racing and gone was the soggy, keeled-over, squirmy 1970s 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.

@David: 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 sports cars 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).

Steering wheels

@Rick: I changed the giant steering wheel on my ’87 Mercedes-Benz 560 SL to a smaller (about 3/4 inch) from a ’90 SL. [It] 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 [the] fuel gauge, but I just watch odometer and fill it up at 200 miles as she is a thirsty girl.

Some vehicles make anything easy!

@Tim: 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 inches–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.

OEM+ the wheels

@Douglas: 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.

Headlights from other regions

@RauckyM3: 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 U.S. lighting standards.

Bed bars

@Binksman: 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 secure 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 doesn’t dent toward the cab when you load motorcycles, mowers, etc.

I make my bed bars strong enough [so that] they also act 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. 🙂

De-badging

@David: 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 as they are usually installed 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.

Necker/Brody knob?

@DUB6: This is about as mundane as it gets, but on my pickup, 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.

@TG: Suicide knobs are what they are called in the trucking industry. Illegal in semis … not sure about cars.

@DUB6: Nah, they’re legal almost everywhere, and you can easily buy them in many truck stops!

Springs/shocks

@Trekker: 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 percent better, but the handling was greatly improved without sacrificing ride quality. The finishing touch for a classic ’70s 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!

LED lights, again

@Steve: 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.

A stick for your stick?

@02 original owner: You asked for simple changes … being old school, I love the feel of a wood shift knob (a real stick shift) so that’s the first thing I change. Have turned a few on a wood lathe to get exactly the shape I want. And what goes better with a wood shift knob than a wood-rim steering wheel–on pre-airbag cars, of course! Or maybe not …

Audio upgrades

@ap41563: I had an over-hour commute one way and a nice full-size comfy sedan, with just an AM/FM radio and CD player/cassette. Even in 2003, you could still get a tape deck in your new luxury car.

Wanting good tunes for the commute, I added a SiriusXM Reciever that fit nicely in the ashtray cubby. I could easily look down and see to change stations but hide it out of sight for a clean look. After seeing a Mitsubishi Mirage place the antenna on the dash (from the factory), I decided to do the same. Just a little one-inch square on the dashboard, in the corner of the windshield it was perfect. I always had a great signal.

Monochrome all the things!

@Brian: My favorite mod is strictly cosmetic and addresses my number one pet peeve—ugly, unpainted black plastic. It’s ugly and makes the vehicle look like the manufacturer was too lazy to finish the car’s styling. Favorites in order of preference is body color, gloss black, or even some DIY carbon-fiber-look trim. Almost anything is better than unpainted black plastic.

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