In the UK, motorists modify their cars to enhance the vehicle’s performance, style and safety. However, staying legally safe is essential by law. Also, your insurance company would have reservations regarding how much you can modify your car and stay under their cover. If you have already considered the above factors and are ready to render some power and look at your car, we will give you a list of the most popular car modifications done by motorists in the UK. Remember that getting the right car modifications in a particular order can maximise your car’s power gain and keep your investment outlay as optimum as can be.
Brakes
One of the biggest and greatest car modifications you can consider implementing in your vehicle is to be able to brake faster. Bigger brake disks not only stop your car quickly and efficiently but will also have a longer life. You could also consider brake pads, which render much higher performance. Another modification would be replacing the standard brake disks with grooved and perforated ones. You need to ensure that a certified engineer does your vehicle’s brake modifications.
Engine
If you are a true car modifications savvy motorist, you will bring about engine modifications in the form of reboring, balancing, cryo treating and grind and polish. Reboring involves increasing your car’s engine capacity to increase its RPM and generate more power. Balancing ensures that the engine of your vehicle reaches its fastest speed safely. Cryo-treating your engine will remove all the heat generated by the engine and bring it down to its ambient temperature in a quicker manner. Similarly, grinding and polishing the valves of your car’s engine will render more mileage to your car as it allows more air into your engines, which in turn facilitates the effective burning of the fuel.
Fuel upgrades
One of the most popular car modifications includes stepping up the fuel pressure and, consequently, the flow of fuel to the engine. This will steadily increase the power of your engine. However, care should be taken to set the right fuel-to-oxygen ratio to ensure appropriate fuel burning. The high-performance fuel pumps and large injectors enhance this. You can only look to make these car modifications if you have done other modifications and are facing fuel starvation issues.
Wheels and tyres
Bigger rims can largely improve your car’s look, just as adding alloy wheels can. There are a plethora of wheel fitment options available with car modifiers; however, you need to ensure that you fit the one that is exclusive to your car’s model. If you are looking to fit a larger rolling radius, the acceleration might be slightly dampened.
Lights
The most common and popular type of car modification is the undercard neon lights, which have been around for a while now. However, a few legalities limit this kind of car modification, such as requiring the lights not to be too bright as this might distract your fellow drivers. Also, the tubing should not be visible to ensure that the light source is well placed under the car.
If you are planning to incorporate under-car lights, make sure that you have a switch on/off facility. Certain legalities bind fog lights, headlights, and rear lights, and although these are quite popular car modifications, you can still refer to the lighting laws in the UK to keep your driving license safe. It is advisable to refrain from modifying the lighting system of the headlights and the fog lights to ensure total safety while driving at odd hours of the day and in unsuitable climatic conditions.
Exhaust System
Upgrading your exhaust system will boost the performance of your car’s engine. However, installing big bore exhausts is generally accompanied by increased emissions and noise, which might not be suitable for the UK public roads. In this case, you have to secure an exhaust silencer as well.
Number Plates
Number plate modification is the most common car modification, and in case you are considering changing your present registration number to one which relates to you, you must ensure that your new number plate complies with the current UK legislation of format, font, spacing, characters and size. Your number plate must be displayed clearly and should be made in such a way that it is white reflective on the front and yellow reflective on the rear. Under no circumstances should your number plates be misleading to your fellow drivers and passengers.
Spoilers
Spoilers are one of the most popular car modifications and the most effective way to enhance the look of your car. If you have a penchant for travelling at higher speeds, spoilers can enhance your driving experience. The only aspect to keep in mind is to ensure that this modification is securely fitted to your car’s body and has no sharp edges.
Tinted windows
British motorists love to modify their cars with tinted windows. However, the legalities of this car modification need to be kept in mind. For example, light transmission should be a minimum of 70% through the front windows and 75% through the windscreen, respectively. It is fine to tint the rear windscreen and the rear window doors; however, if they are tinted too dark, you might be hit with a penalty and a prohibition notice.
Just because a car modification is popular does not mean that it is effective for your vehicle. Therefore, undertaking research about what kind of modifications you would like to bring to your vehicle is imperative. Also, it is imperative to inform your insurance company about your car modifications, if they have already been installed when you purchased the car or if you have fitted them after purchasing it. Failure to make these declarations might turn down your insurance claim or, worse, invalidate your car insurance policy altogether.