Aftermarket modifications for cars are worth a fortune to the automotive industry, with owners around the world expected to spend $486 billion each year on improvements to their vehicles. This goes beyond making repairs or replacing car parts which have become worn out. Aftermarket mods, instead, refer to changes which may improve the appearance or performance of the vehicle but which are not necessary for the car to run.
Not all of the modifications that are available out there are good for your car, though. Some can even end up lowering the resale value of your vehicle or increasing the cost of your motor insurance policy. Many drivers are happy to take a financial hit, however, if it means that they have a faster car or a vehicle that looks more stylish.
However, there are plenty of popular car modifications out there that all drivers should avoid completely, as you can see from the list below. These mods often just make the car look silly and some can even break state laws on what changes can legally be made to vehicles. Then there are the mods which are supposed to improve the performance of a car but just end up doing the absolute opposite!
If you want to know which seriously lame mods to avoid when it comes to your own vehicle, then check out the list below.
25 Rear Wing
Modified rear wings can be a real asset to a car, but only if they are properly engineered. You will often see them on cars which take part in motorsports, especially Indy Car and Formula One races, and if designed correctly, they can increase downforce on the vehicle, improving handling at high speed. However, too many car owners think that when it comes to rear wings, big is beautiful, whereas the truth is that rear wings that are too big can actually end up slowing modified vehicles down, as well as making the car look ridiculous.
24 Racing Stripes
A properly designed and engineered rear modified rear wing can actually improve your car’s performance, and help drivers to drive safely at higher speeds. However, some car owners seem to think that they can achieve the same look with the addition of some racing stripes painted or applied to the hood and side of their cars. There is no performance benefit to be had and most real gearheads will just roll their eyes when they see racing stripes on a car which doesn’t suit them. In fact, you can only get away with racing stripes if you drive a vintage muscle car like the Shelby Cobra or Ford Mustang.
23 Scissor Doors
If you’re lucky enough to have the cash to buy a Ferrari or Lamborghini supercar which comes with scissor or gullwing doors as standard, that’s fine. However, recently, more and more car owners have been getting their vehicles fitted with after-market scissor doors, which just looks a little sad, especially if you get them fitted in a really inappropriate car like a Mini Cooper or an older vehicle that has clearly seen better days. Scissor doors are going to make it harder to sell on your car, as very few people want this troublesome and awkward modification on their regular, everyday vehicles.
22 Oversize rims
Oversize rims may look stylish, but they can actually have a damaging effect on the way your car handles, and can even cause damage to your car in the long run. By definition, if you have bigger rims, then you’re going to have smaller tires, and they will wear down much quicker, costing more in replacement tires over the years. Larger rims and tires also make it harder to steer and can slow down your vehicle’s acceleration, while this mod can even increase your fuel consumption. This isn’t just an expensive mod to get done but one that will go on costing you money for a long time afterward.
21 Bumper Stickers
Bumper stickers have somehow become a socially acceptable way of expressing your political opinions, making other road users aware of good causes, and promoting how great your kids are doing at school. The fact is that bumper stickers are pretty tacky, ruining both the outward appearance of the vehicle and leaving marks on the paintwork if you ever have to remove them, either because you want to sell the car or perhaps because you’ve changed your mind about who you’re voting for! Worst of all are the drivers that cover the rear of their vehicle in as many colorful bumper stickers as they can find.
20 Dark Tinted Windows
Tinted windows became such a popular aftermarket modification that many car manufacturers have actually started to sell brand new vehicles with tinted windows as standard. Auto companies usually build cars with just the rear windows tinted but there are some people who want to go further and get their front windows or even their windscreen tinted. Unless you happen to be a celebrity who is regularly pursued by the paparazzi, there is no need for all car windows to be tinted, and there are state laws about whether windscreens can be tinted and how dark they are allowed to be.
19 Loud Exhaust
Motorists who own a muscle car or a supercar love the fact that their engines make a lot of noise when they step on the throttle. However, even people who drive regular vehicles can get that same effect with a modification to their exhaust and muffler. Aside from the fact that this can be a pretty obnoxious mod for your neighbors if you live in a residential area, tinkering with a car’s muffler can be illegal if the end result is that the vehicle breaks the laws covering environmental standards. Leave the muffler and exhaust on your car alone and let them do their job.
18 Neon Lights
Another modification which could land you in trouble with the law is the addition of external neon lights to your vehicle. Under lighting tends to be the most popular form of neon modifications, which is fine if you are a Fast and Furious wannabe, but it just looks a bit lame on a sensible family car or an old banger that has seen better days. As with the tinted windows modification, different states have different rules about what external neon lights are legal, including which colors are allowed, when they can be switched on, and how bright they can be.
17 Wood Body Parts
There are only a few vehicles which are allowed to have wooden parts without looking ridiculous. Vintage Oldsmobile station wagons were built with wooden panels from the start, and in the UK in the 1950s, the Morris Minor Traveller had an external wooden frame at the back. However, a recent fad seems to have developed among car drivers to include wood in cosmetic aftermarket modifications, whether adding wooden spoilers, wooden panels, or even giving cars custom paint jobs to look like wood. This might seem like an environmentally friendly approach to car modifications but it simply doesn’t work on modern vehicles.
16 Brand Decals
Anyone who is a fan of NASCAR, Formula One, or IndyCar races will know that the vehicles involved in these events are usually very colorful creations, often with the name of the driver placed very prominently, as well as the name of the team and their various sponsors. Also on the cars are decals showing which products the car is fitted with; everything from who made the engine to who provided the tires. That works in motorsports where sponsors pay a lot of money for this kind of product placement, but it is just a bit sad when regular drivers apply these same decals to their car to show off what mods they have had done.
15 License Plate Frames
Novelty license plate frames are about as lame as the novelty license plates that people sometimes put in them. Some drivers have paid a small fortune for a license plate which means something to them, perhaps their initials or maybe something they have an interest in. License plate frames, on the other hand, can be bought and affixed pretty cheaply. These don’t add anything to the car, either in terms of performance or even appearance, and believe it or not, something as innocuous as a license plate frame can land you in trouble with the law if it covers up the plate itself.
14 Spoiler
Many people actually get spoilers and rear wings mixed up or think that they are the same thing, when in fact they have very different purposes. A rear wing is designed to increase downforce while a spoiler is supposed to improve the aerodynamics of the vehicle, reducing drag and even improving fuel efficiency. Most cars are built with spoilers these days, although they can often be a cosmetic touch rather than anything designed to improve the car’s performance. As with the rear wings, it is a mistake to think that larger spoilers are always the way to go; fit a spoiler that is too large for your car, and it can end up increasing, rather than reducing, drag.
13 Rolling Coal
If spoilers are one of the most common features on this list, then rolling coal has to be one of the most unusual. It’s a modification which is usually seen in diesel trucks, and seems to serve no practical purpose other than to create huge clouds of black smoke! Diesel engines can be modified to increase the amount of fuel that enters the engine, which increases the amount of smoke that comes out of the exhaust pipe, which is usually modified itself to be larger and often vertical, to create a more powerful visual effect, albeit a more polluting one at the same time.
12 Interior Neon Lights
We have already seen the problems associated with fixing external neon lights to the exterior of a car, including potentially getting in trouble with the local authorities. You are less likely to get in trouble fitting neon lights to the interior of your car—unless you drive with them on, of course—but there is only a certain type of driver who is going to go as far as to get neon or even strobe lights installed inside their vehicle, and they don’t tend to be the most sensible drivers behind the wheel. Interior neons are all about making an impression when parked up with your fellow gearheads or at street races, after all.
11 Lifted Cars
When it comes to a car’s suspension, there are two ways that drivers can go if they want to modify their vehicle; lifting the suspension or lowering it. Small changes can improve a vehicle’s handling and performance, but go too far and your car not only ends up looking ridiculous but also becomes a liability to drive. Aside from having to clamber in and out of cars or trucks which have been lifted by several inches, you will also find that a big lift equals a less comfortable ride for all involved. There are also laws regarding by how much a vehicle can be lifted before the cops are allowed to pull you over.
10 Lowered Cars
Just as many people choose to spend money lifting the suspension of their vehicles, there are lots of drivers who go the other way and modify the car so that it hugs the ground. Again, there are legal restrictions to keep in mind but there are also implications for the vehicle’s performance if the suspension is lowered too much. A low suspension can also cause uneven tire wear, meaning that some tires need replacing sooner than others, while if you live in an area with speed bumps or potholes, your car’s undercarriage can end up damaged from being too close to the road surface.
9 Fake Hood Vents
While there are lots of mechanical and cosmetic modifications which can make a car look or perform better, there are just as many out there which serve no purpose whatsoever and many of those are fake mods; the addition of fake parts which are designed to make the car look as though it is more expensive or more stylish than it really is. Take hood vents, for example, they often feature on high-end cars and are used to help control and regulate the temperature of the engine. But some drivers add fake vents to their hoods to make their cars appear more expensive, which is about as lame as it gets.
8 Body Kits
A body kit is really several modifications in one, which adds additional bodywork to a production model, sometimes changing the appearance of the car quite dramatically. Standard body kits often include larger front and rear fenders, oversize spoilers, side skirts, and sometimes roof spoilers and hood scoops. It is an expensive modification but it does allow you to stamp your own personality onto a vehicle. Sometimes, people let their imaginations run a little wild when it comes to body kits, adding features that are too big for their car or even mixing and matching their colors. Take a look at some the crazy body kit modifications in Japan to see just how things can go wrong.
7 Fake Badges
Fake decorations and attachments seem to be a common theme among drivers looking to modify their cars, despite the fact that there is nothing quite as lame as pretending to be something that you’re not! Perhaps the worst example of fake mods is fake car badges; when drivers buy make and model badges on the internet which can be stuck to the front or rear of their car. You might be able to fool a few people into thinking that your standard vehicle is a Porsche or a Ferrari at first glance but most people will be able to spot what you’re up to.
6 Aluminium Wiper Blades
Windscreen wiper blades are a vital part of any car. Without them, drivers would struggle to see properly during bad weather—or even during good weather if you live in an area with a lot of flying insects! However, while there are a lot of so-called premium wiper blades on the market, including some which are made with aluminum, there isn’t really any good reason for drivers to shell out all that money to upgrade their wiper blades. They may be an important part of the car, but they are a small part nevertheless and standard wiper blades clearly do their job just fine.