The First Steps to Modifying Your Car

New Car? Maybe you just started getting into cars, maybe you’ve been into them but haven’t had the resources to actually modify your car. Starting out modifying a car can be extremely exciting. A lot of us have been there where you get that new project home and you are just itching to get started. You got a whole list of goals in your head and you’ve seen all kinds of builds both online and in person and now you don’t know where to start. Some people fire off the credit card buy up a bunch of stuff and have all kinds of shiny parts come in. While having a gleaming pile of expensive parts all spread across the house is super sick to you your family or roommates probably feel otherwise. Beyond just hopping in and spending a ton of money on parts it’s nice to know just why you are doing it. Are you buying that shiny stuff cause you want to actually make the car better or is some of it placebo stuff just to make you feel like the car is more yours? You’re not wrong in either case, but here at Zero Camber we have a tendency to build with intention. For us every aspect of a build should be seeking to prove itself as the best resolution for the circumstance. Sometime the best parts are the ones that are already on the car. So if you are ready to get modifying with intention and building a better car for you to enjoy read along.

Why Mod?

For some modifying a car is necessary, Maybe you need to make adjustments to a cars engine or suspension system because your are competing in a race class with certain rules. Maybe you just have a car and wanna have fun or be the fastest guy in your city. At the end of the day there is plenty of reason why someone may want to modify their car. What’s important is paying attention to what you are modifying and why you are doing it. Throwing on some new wheels for the look is sweet but what’s the point in looking good if the quality of those parts are subpar and lead you to damaging the vehicle. Unfortunately it’s as popular to push aftermarket parts with no real world testing as it is to modify your car in the first place. Now keep in mind there’s a lot of products on the market that work absolutely fine, but there are also plenty of products that don't and it’s important to be weary of that. You are supposed to be modifying your vehicle to make it better and to make it yours and subpar modifications that ruin the experience, or potentially damage your vehicle aren’t what you are looking for.

Before we get into modifying I want to urge you to do some research on your car. No I'm not just talking about the brochure stats, I’m talking about the systems in the car. How does everything work in it? Do you have adjustable suspension? does your exhaust have valves that work in different modes? Are there controls or features that are only available from your steering wheel? Why are we asking this? its because all of these things can make modification become more challenging on certain platforms. Let’s say your vehicle has electronic damping suspension. When driving and switching modes say between sport and comfort the vehicle may electronically change the damping settings in order to give the car a smoother ride. This is actually a fairly common feature in a lot of modern vehicles, and if you just go throwing any random set of coils in the car you very well may end up with a service light for that suspension feature. Now what you spent all this money on a set of coils but you’ve made a function of the car unusable and left yourself with a service light which in some places may impede you from registering the car or passing inspection. The purpose of this is to have you think about components that work with those features. Maybe you can obtain some low by running a set of lowering springs and utilize the factory dampers to achieve the look you want. This could save you money and hassle, or maybe you can opt for a set of higher end coil overs that maintain that functionality.

Understanding the Application.

Now that you’ve grasped an idea on how things on your vehicle function it is time to start considering for what reason you actually want to seek out modifying your car. Understanding the application may be the biggest make it or break it to your modding experience. Understanding the application goes beyond just your wants but it really dials in your “needs”. When you first get into modifying your vehicle it might be pretty easy to just think you can slap all of the high end racing tier bits all over your car. Decking it out in super aggressive tires and wheel fitment with Track brakes and a super stiff suspension and all of those things might be really awesome when you’re out on the track. You do have to consider though, Just how much time are you spending getting laps vs sitting in drive thrus? Those tires might be sticky but what about when you gotta do that several state journey to drive home to visit mom and dad for the holidays? That stiff suspension is super awesome too until your significant other is asking to take their car cause they don’t like how noisy and harsh yours is. In a lot of cases you can get better than OE Performance without having to extend to the heights of some of the drawbacks of vehicle modification.

For instance, Well tuned dampers with a set of lowering springs will be significantly more cost effective than buying a super high quality set of coils that won’t immediately make your NVH go through the roof. Having Polyurethane bushings instead of heim joints can be the difference in having to do routine hardware checks and face squeaks and other odd noises coming from your suspension in daily use. So when we say understanding the application we really want to focus in on what the cars primary functions are, How is it being used, and how many things does it need to do and do well. Sometimes you can be willing to accept some compromise especially if you find yourself limited to a single vehicle. If you have more than one then it might be easier to go more full force into a track setup since you won’t have to deal with the types of headaches that can arise from dallying a vehicle thats extensively modified. So think about what your goals are for the vehicle, and the use cases. Keep in mind these need to be realistic to some degree as well. If you have a Civic SI as your only vehicle and you have to get back and forth to college classes you probably shouldn’t be trying for 1000 Horsepower since thats not likely to hold up in a reliable sense.

Drafting the Build Plans.

We got an idea of what we want the car to do and how it’s going to be used. Of course the easiest place to start is going to be deciding if these modifications are something you want to do personally or let a shop with tools and experience handle. Now theres nothing wrong than letting a shop handle the work If you can afford it, After all thats literally the purpose of them. But a lot of enthusiasts enjoy doing the build or as much as possible of it themselves. So assuming you are going to undergo the challenge of tackling things yourself consider a few things first. Firstly, are the mods you are looking to do something that can be done quickly? Will you be having people help you and do you already have the tools and knowledge to complete the job. If you think you might need more time schedule it for some of your off days or a weekend or arrange to borrow/have another vehicle to drive in the meantime. From experience I can say it’s not exactly enjoyable to find yourself at a loss for time or stuck at wee hours of the night all cause you didn’t have the right tools for the job. So watch some installation videos, Maybe reach out to some friends or people that have installed the same parts before and see if they have any guidance to offer you before you tackle things.

With all that in mind you should be able to start modding. Now I know a lot of these things kinda sound like common sense or basic principles to anyone who’s done any kind of mechanical work or modification before but its important to understand that everyone starts at a different level of experience than others. I myself was fortunate enough to grow up in a shop environment and so a lot of things i was taught and shown at a very early age but some people may not have the opportunity to get into the scene until a much later time in life. If you use a lot the principles here and forethought to planning out your build and keeping realistic expectations of goals and what the chassis you are working with is capable of then you’ll be able to take your first steps in your modification journey. Understanding that there is always more to learn, whether it’s about new tools, a procedure or process or technique to solving a problem will help you get pretty far. In the future well talk about more ways to take the appropriate steps into other aspects, share resources on where to find things and offer advice on tooling and ways to make your automotive experience the best that It could possibly be.