Many car owners love using mods to enhance their cars’ looks and performance. While some are indeed good, like adjustments to airflow and fuel intake, others can harm your vehicle’s resale value. These modifications might suit your tastes, but they frequently deviate too much from the original manufacturer’s blueprint or jeopardize the vehicle’s reliability, safety, or performance.
From oversized rims to bespoke paint jobs, certain upgrades may turn off potential buyers and cause depreciation rather than appreciation. Here are 15 car upgrades that waste time and money and can destroy your vehicle’s value.
Lifting or Lowering the Vehicle
Lowering your car’s ride height increases wear on its tires and suspension components and worsens its ride quality. When slammed, your vehicle will also have trouble getting over speed bumps or uneven terrain.
Conversely, lifted suspensions may lead to increased fuel consumption, poor handling, and premature wear on drivetrain components. Buyers who prefer factory-standard vehicles find these alterations less appealing since they often deviate from the manufacturer’s intended design.
Custom Rims
If done right, these can be okay. However, the risk outweighs the benefits. Many car owners make the mistake of inserting giant rims not intended for their vehicle’s size. This shifts the center of balance and gravity and can throw off your vehicle’s entire performance. They might also accelerate tire failure by wearing down the tire compound. It’s not worth the risk to look classier when driving at the expense of your car’s value.
Hood Vents
Hood vents may lower a car’s value because not all buyers will find them appealing. While some enthusiasts like the performance benefits they offer, many appreciate stock cars with original looks. Hood vents are risky, as improper installation may cause debris or water to reach critical engine, mechanical, or electrical components, causing severe and expensive harm. Such upgrades may void the manufacturer’s warranty, lowering the vehicle’s marketability and resale value.
An Aftermarket Exhaust
Yes, aftermarket exhaust systems sound fantastic. However, car owners often don’t realize that a poorly designed or incorrectly installed aftermarket exhaust may damage your vehicle. Because such systems are usually not designed to OEM specifications, they can cause incorrect backpressure, which can strain the engine or cause heat buildup in the engine.
There is also the fact that your car’s ECU must be remapped to align with the new exhaust system’s flow characteristics. When there is misaligned tuning in this respect, it causes air-fuel ratio imbalances and reduced fuel efficiency. In addition, because the installation of most aftermarket exhausts involves replacing or removing the catalytic converter, your car is bound to produce increased emissions, for which you can be fined in many states.
Custom Interiors
Personalizing a car’s interior with custom headliners, dashboards, or upholstery that differ from its original look may not be everyone’s taste. Unusual features, color schemes, or materials can turn off potential buyers, making the vehicle hard to sell. Also, poorly installed modifications may raise concerns about safety or durability.
Stretched Tires
Stretched tires can turn off potential buyers because they compromise safety and functionality. Although many enthusiasts favor their aggressive look, stretched tires often lead to uneven wear, reduced grip, and increased risk of blowouts, making the car unable to cope with the everyday stress road tires are designed to handle. A single pothole may cause a blowout on a stretched tire, ruining the rim, the tire, and possibly part of the car.
Adding a Sunroof
Adding a sunroof may seem like an easy installation, but there’s much more engineering involved than what meets the eye. To install one, your car’s roof must have a large hole for engineers to reinforce the area around it. This poses safety concerns, especially in an accident where the crumple zones will be compromised. Since it is hard to seal, the sunroof might leak while driving. If you desire a sunroof, go for a car with an already installed one from the manufacturer.Rear Wings
Rear wings are popular among people who want to make their cars look sportier. However, not all vehicles need rear wings. When done the wrong way, rear-wing mods can worsen the car’s performance and ruin its market value.
A rear wing is designed to generate downforce that pushes the car’s rear onto the road to achieve better traction at high speeds. The vehicle needs to move at high speeds to generate downforce. Therefore, a rear wing is pointless for a car that is mainly driven in the city. When you install a rear wing on the wrong kind of car, you will increase drag, reducing the car’s speed and fuel economy.
Performance Brakes
Upgrading your car to performance brakes may enhance wear on suspension parts and tires. Buyers may be wary of the car’s overall condition and maintenance costs, making the car less appealing and challenging to sell.
Custom Body Kits
Yes, a body kit can devalue your car. Professionally-built body kits made from premium materials can be fantastic additions that improve a car’s appearance and aerodynamics. However, cheap, shoddy kits only increase fuel consumption and add weight and wind resistance. This degrades the car’s performance qualities, lowering its mileage capability and slowing it down. Such cheap knockoff kits are also bound to look the part.
Loud Sound Systems
Not all buyers will enjoy turning up the bass and blasting loud music in their cars. A sound system upgrade doesn’t have to be excessive. Most buyers won’t be eager to buy the vehicle if the trunk contains enormous subwoofers. To some, this excessive modification is considered a sign of disregard for the car’s integrity or reckless driving. It may also raise concerns about the vehicle’s electrical system strain or damage.
Aftermarket Electronics
Aftermarket electronics like neon lights, a touchscreen infotainment system, and performance chips can also gradually ruin your vehicle. They put an extra load on your car’s electrical system, which may result in a system overload. This may cause short circuits, blown fuses, and excessive battery and alternator strain, forcing you to replace them sooner than expected.
Speed Holes
These cutouts from the rear or front bumpers are intended to reduce a car’s weight and increase its acceleration and speed by allowing air passage through unimpeded. However, this is a bad idea since the firewall and engine restrict airflow from the front bumper, so the weight savings from the removed plastic components won’t amount to much.
Cutting holes in the bumper compromises the vehicle’s structural integrity, reducing its efficiency in safeguarding the passengers and the car in an accident.
Engine Tuning
While engine tuning can give your vehicle a significant performance boost, it can also ruin your engine. Tuning adjusts engine parameters like air-fuel ratios, turbo boost levels, and ignition timing, forcing the engine to function with a higher intensity or capacity than it was designed to handle. This will significantly strain the engine, causing overheating and increased wear and tear of its components.
Custom Paint Jobs
Exterior presentation matters a lot in terms of color choice and material finish. A flashy finish or color choice can significantly destroy your vehicle’s resale value. Opting for a neutral color and having it done right may not change its value much. But if you paint an extravagant color on it, getting buyers for your car can be an uphill task. New painting jobs are sometimes used to conceal previous damage, so many potential buyers may be wary of this.
Think Twice Before Making that Upgrade
Upgraded cars are a modern trend, but knowing how various upgrades ruin your vehicle and affect its value is essential. Distasteful car upgrades can destroy your car’s value by degrading its functionality, appearance, and performance, as many buyers prefer stock vehicles for their factory-backed assurances and ease of maintenance. But if you’re considering making changes to your car, consult an expert first.
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Mark Muhoro is a car enthusiast and writer who loves everything about automobiles. With over 11 years of experience in the automotive industry, Mark has become an expert in how cars work and what makes them special. He writes clear and interesting articles about cars for magazines and websites, making valuable contributions to renowned platforms like Vroom Magazine, Internet Brands, and Contentmotive.
