Yesterday we talked about window tints, a mod that some people like, and others find distasteful. Today we want to build on that latter theme and discuss other common car mods—factory or otherwise—that raise your rancor. What common customizations really make you cringe?
Image: CarThrottle
Hooniverse Asks: What Common Car Mod Makes You Cringe?
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71 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: What Common Car Mod Makes You Cringe?”
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I may be a tad on the rational side with those things, but everything that does not improve usability, comfort or, on the opposite extreme, lap times, makes me wonder – why?
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s–hHc4u7Ec–/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/wkaq125d6cmpxsl1cxfv.jpg
At the same time…let people do what they want to their cars. The same “as long as it doesn’t hurt others”-rule that’s worthwhile everywhere else in life applies here, too.-
The direct opposite end of the spectrum is just as stupid. What impression are these people even trying to make by raising their car by the height of a whole other car? That they’re giant douchebags who want to be above everyone else?
It’s one thing if they actually use it to go offroading, but that’s not the impression you get.-
Of course, when I was a kid, I thought both ends of the spectrum on the same car was super neato.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c7b30c2de953c5c3593ab721ee0d278c523fe00d757432a64cc9cb82bc660bbf.jpg-
Funny how reduced usability looks better in older photos…
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Compensation.
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There’s a few cars like that around here. When we spot one, the kid says “idiots” under his breath.
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If your modifications make your car handle unpredictably, as I imagine such extreme camber would, then that disqualifies it under the “as long as it doesn’t hurt others” clause if they drive it on public roads.
Same goes for the brodozers.-
I saw a lifted Hummer H3 the other day (the roads were wet), and the driver went through an intersection with a slight dip. Coming out of the dip, the thing almost went airborne, there was a crazy camber change in the front, and I thought he was going to lose it (but somehow, he didn’t).
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A car like that would simply not be road legal around here. Try to pass tech inspection and you’ll be laughed at.
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That modification fits pretty well with the person that thinks that hieroglyphic font is going to be the best way to promote one’s website.
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Stick-on fender vents.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d3/02/8f/d3028f9c28cc57a36419cccb188ef94c.jpg-
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7c982dde86972f2c547099611d0fd328930e2e37d95d7a3f0fc449f441d099c0.jpg But all those vents actually made this Kia Amanti look better.
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At one time I considered setting up a blog just, so I could post pictures of those stupid things.
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Spoilers, especially the factory ones. All they do is decrease the mpg. Big race car or stability ones are ok, but most are not. The trend seemed to rear a high in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$T2eC16VHJGIE9nnWqrq0BRY0oD(HO!~~_35.JPG-
Always a controversial one, but the affect of aero is often underestimated, not saying they all work, but I wouldn’t jump to conclusions either. Some spoilers are designed to reduce drag too.
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Those wretched “=” bumper stickers. If you think you car is “equal” to mine, I’ll meet you at the track next Saturday! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dda3fd79fa2bba5d1148a586e22f8a26eeab1c5c2a2a9702104dfd0243ade9cb.png
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Not sure if serious.
I hate this one more, because most folks with it aren’t police supporters, just someone who thinks “I’ma drive like a bag of dicks and hope that a cop will notice the sticker and go easy on me or not pull me over at all.”
http://i3.cpcache.com/product/128654650/thin_blue_line_rectangle_decal.jpg-
Virtue signalling is obnoxious in all forms.
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Eh, when minorities of all ilks are accepted and treated as full equals to white men in society, then the = sticker will be considered vanity. Until then, it’s still a rallying cry and a sign of support.
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I stand by my statement: “Virtue signalling is obnoxious in all forms.”
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Good for you!
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Around here they just roll a stripe of blue painters tape across the entire rear window.
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Every time I see one of those “=” stickers, I can’t not see a set of butter bars lying on their side. Not that I’d do it, but turn it 90 degrees, and you’re supporting Police Captains.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0a9fbda98048e919f567255264bc65f8c245b4a34e80f39ff1abba7e34f2281f.jpg-
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I am more tempted to grab a Sharpy and strike a diagonal line across them. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5f9aa4f283a4697bcde9d852d6af1a463d782fceec29a14198cc85b114225582.jpg
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Showing me your family. Just don’t show people (strangers!) who lives in your house, or where you go on vacation. Makes a good target for someone with bad intentions.
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Worse is the cheerleading and dance team emblems with the daughter’s name below it.
“Hi Amber, your mom asked me to pick you up from practice a little early…”-
Man, no kidding.
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Blue (or other coloured) bulbs in sidelights. It draws attention to your car in a way that can’t be justified by any other reason but ‘that it looks pretty’.
Also, seldom seen on a car being driven well.
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And red halo lights, like I saw on a Challenger the other day. Aren’t laws regarding lighting enforced anymore?
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I had a Nissan Patrol coming towards me with a red LED snake draped on the inside of its roof the other day. “Rolling bordello” was my instant reaction; so far removed from what I could do myself, even totally drunk, that I just can’t understand it. Rationalized it by figuring that guy must have lost a bet…
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Yes, they are, but that’s like trying to bust all the prostitutes in a boomtown.
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Silverstars (and similarly poorly aligned bright lights), if just because they blind the rest of us.
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Aren’t Silverstars just halogen bulbs with a slightly different color temperature, or have I been missing something?
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Maybe I’m thinking of something slightly different, but I thought they emulated Xenon brightness without having such focused light, and were the most common assaulter upon my retinas.
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“Cold Air Intakes”
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I know, but that intake noise almost makes it worth the -5hp!
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The PO installed a CAI intake on my car… I asked if he had the stock box.
I don’t trust the oil elements, not since they were killing AF sensors on the Audis back in the day.-
Well, to be fair, you’re working with VAG stuff there — they don’t take kindly to hamfisted tuning like “add an intake” the way my ’98 Saturn did with its understressed, 100hp, 5400-rpm 1.9L that probably spent more time smacking the rev limiter than it did idling.
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The kit sounded like hell on the Coyote 5.0.
It wasn’t worth the hp to sound like a thrashing machine.
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I inherited one of those with an Alfa parts car. I’ve resisted installing on my Spider it because the little Nord doesn’t have HP to spare. Always wondered what it would sound like, though.
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I forced a cone filter I had lying around onto the end of my Volvo 960’s intake tube just to hear it. Wicked sound, +elevety butt dyno horseponies.
Used my scangauge to snoop IAT sensor readings. Near as made no difference on the highway. +25F in traffic (and attendant greater fuel consumption, even noticable at idle). Stock air box went back on.-
Shouldn’t the increase in intake air temperature cause the car to meter less fuel resulting in potentially greater MPG, or did the loss of power cause you to use more throttle input?
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I am not an engineer, so I can’t really explain the reasoning, but that is counter to my understanding.
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Not just cringe, but swerve as far wide around them as possible.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a0703febc566f59d1e43787e7da026baea4032873dbfce6ef51f4e7efbce7314.jpg
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I have one of these that holds my phone when I’m using it for navigation because Mercedes didn’t include navigation with the tape player in my ’81 300SD.
Do I get a pass?-
Weird, BMW wasn’t forward thinking enough to install a modern cell holder in the 80s/90s either, but they did include a tray area forward of the ash tray that holds one almost perfectly.
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Fancy.
I prefer to keep my eyes closer to the highway line of sight when using nav, so I’d still have one in aforementioned bimmer.
Also, I am currently distinctly lacking a full interior. So there’s that. -
See that little rubbery tray here? It’s a ridiculously simple and just as perfect solution for phone based navigation in the Volvo 240 (1974-1993).
http://cleanflametrap.com/dashpix/dash391.jpg
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I hope other motorists avoid me when they see that on the dash of the 50s Ford. They don’t have anything to fear, though. I just use that phone for the speedo app – doesn’t even have service.
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Not sure I needed to know you wear Speedo apparel while driving your ’50s Ford, but that would definitely cause other motorists to avoid you… 😉
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I’ve used one like that for my dashcam. Gotta get some use out of that old Galaxy Nexus.
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Right? Who paints a Camaro onto the side of their K1500?
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A cringe-worthy means of adding lightness.
Fender flares. All the fender flares. Usually you see them on Datusn Z cars, but also many other japanese classics. Additionally, on first gen Broncos. They make the car worse 100% of the time (except when they are for an actual race car.)
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On the other side of the coin, a lack of fender flares on trucks always makes me embarrassed for the poor fool driving a 4 x 4 with wide rims wider tires. Anyone who takes a vehicle like that off-road will learn that the flares are there to keep the mud off your glassware. So you’re just advertising the fact that you’re a pampered pretender when you drive around without flares.
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There are a few cars that are legally required to have fender flares to compensate for wheel offset changes, especially in the case of early originally RWD to AWD stuff like an ’80s 325ix.
Enough of the idiotic LED light bars:
http://b.cdnbrm.com/images/products/rell/lights/putco_led_light_bar_roof_mount_bracket_ford_superduty.jpg
I’ve had it with being blinded by some douchebag. The things don’t have any kind of optics, so what’s the point?
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I’ve actually been looking to add something like this to my Justy. The factory headlights suuuuuuuuuuck, even with expensive bulbs. Stopped at a light at night, the headlights from the car behind me cast a shadow in front of my car.
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There’s got to be something better. In ye olden days, there were halogen head, fog, and driving lights, with an actual beam pattern, cutoff, etc. Now it’s mainly about how bright you can make things, and screw the optics. Hella is still out there:
And of course, they sell LED light bars, like everyone else. But, they also sell halogen and Xenon lighting. You might also communicate with Daniel Stern:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html
He’s just a guy that’s researched lighting, and offers his take. It’s been like 20 years since I talked to him, but his Web site is still out there.
People (including me) used to bitch about sealed beam headlamps, but at least you could replace them with something drastically better in the aftermarket (I used to have a set of Cibie’ Z Beams, and I loved them). With today’s composite lamps, you’re at the mercy of the manufacturer. If they were clueless about beam pattern, cutoff, etc., you’re screwed, because you can’t just swap them out for something better.-
Let me just second the thought about rallye lights. And you want the road lit up, not the sky in front of you.
http://www.rallybc.com/photos/2004/RallyX/Feb28/mclaren_maxetak_justy.jpg
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Smoked light covers. “Let’s diminish the performance of this necessary safety item! It’ll look cooler!”
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b44335b13cc7cd9fb1139f87608351fc0c39c6fccf98b3aec3da301eca91eb6d.gif
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Or black spray paint over the taillights.
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Night Shades, the must have spray on modification for the discerning sunglasses-at-night wearer.
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fake vents
Bumper stickers.
Window visors.
Stick on chrome trim of pretty much any kind, but especially b/c pillar trim and wheel arch trim.
Glue-on angry headlights and debadge grille inserts with an ugly piece for the badge recess in the hood. The teenage tough guy starter pack. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7a85c0f348c3e7555834c06263be593eb78264bd7ce2c310a39ac67388b92806.jpg
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