Your car is your pride and joy. Don't cover it in tacky crap. To help you avoid disaster, Jalopnik readers picked out the ten worst products that you might mistakenly purchase at your local auto parts store.
Welcome back to Answers of the Day — our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!
Photo Credit: Abdullah AlBargan
10.) Added badges/decals
Suggested By: Kiwi_Commander
Why it's so bad: You're not fooling anyone with that GT-R badge. We know you're driving a Chevy S-10. This category also includes fake bullet holes and any other decal that you can find.
Photo Credit: Raphael Orlove
9.) Steering wheel covers
Suggested By: Viperfan1
Why it's so bad: Car steering wheels are ugly enough nowadays, so don't make it any worse with an Ed Hardy, Hello Kitty, or any other steering wheel cover. They look worse than even the most busted up old wheel.
Photo Credit: CuteSense.com
8.) Aluminum tire valve caps
Suggested By: Rob G.
Why it's so bad: They might look cool, but reader Rob G. explains how they ruin your wheels.
There is a reason if the original valve caps are in plastic. Once I found that one was missing on my old Daewoo Nexia, and instead of going to a tires shop I bought four of those like in the picture. Blue. To pretend that my tires were filled with nitrogen. LOL.
Problem is the valve stems are made of brass and sure the aluminum makes a galvanic reaction on them, when in presence of humidity. I'm sure as hell of this, because it happens on the refrigerator pipings as well, between copper and aluminum. Whatever. I (wrongly) though that if they made and sold them, they had to be good. Until the first time I needed to check the tires pressure.
All four caps were like welded on the threaded valve stems, and traces of oxidation were visible under them. I had to use the pliers, to remove those little fuckers. And I damaged a valve, so that the next morning I had a flat. And I was missing the spanner to remove the wheel, because I forgot it on a curb, the last time that I had to replace a tire.
So I needed to call for the tires shop and they came to my home to change the tire. Than to the tire shop to replace all four valves, to be safe. €30 for the tires valves job, plus €1.50 for the damned aluminum caps. All this for not going to the tires shop, were I could have got a plastic valve cap for free.
And I know that many bikes and the VW and the Bimmers have standard metal tire valve caps, but those are made of STEEL, not of fucking aluminum.
Photo Credit: eBay
7.) Truck nutz
Suggested By: rawtoast
Why it's so bad: Having a simulated pair of testicles hanging off the back of your truck will not prove to the world that you're a real man. It will prove that you waste your money on junk.
Photo Credit: whizchickenonabun
6.) Fake sunroof
Suggested By: Jagvar
Why it's so bad: The Decano self-adhesive sunroof retails for $25, which is a small price to pay for making other people think you have a sunroof. You don't even have to suffer through the inconvenience of actually being able to look out of your car.
Photo Credit: Decano
5.) Chrome fittings
Suggested By: waveridin1959
Why it's so bad: No matter how much you spend on chrome trim, no matter what kind of chrome trim - chrome door guards, chrome window frames, chrome headlight surrounds, anything –- it's going to make your car look even cheaper than before.
Photo Credit: Rex Gray
4.) zMAX
Suggested By: Countryman or Genesis?
Why it's so bad: There are all kinds of snake oil you can find in your local autoparts store, but the worst offender must be zMAX Micro-Lubricant. It supposedly raises your engine's efficiency for more power and economy, but it probably does nothing.
Photo Credit: zMAX
3.) Flexible exhaust repair tube
Suggested By: SLP JT
Why it's so bad: A flexible exhaust pipe might potentially work for, say, your shop vac, but don't expect that technology to work on your car. Quit pretending like you've found a cheap way to fix your car and go get your exhaust repaired.
Photo Credit: alibaba.com
2.) Wiper wings
Suggested By: lonestranger
Why it's so bad: The wiper wings fad started out in the ‘80s under the presumption that adding little spoilers to your windshield wipers would give them downforce, pressing them to the glass. If you think that'll make your car any faster or better I've got some blinker fluid to sell you.
Photo Credit: alibaba.com
1.) Fake brake disc
Suggested By: sdvictor
Why it's so bad: They might fool people at twenty paces, but what do you think is going to happen when your friends or prospective girlfriends come closer and notice that there's a hunk of plastic behind your wheel pretending to be a disc and caliper? Do you think that's going to go well?
Photo Credit: supercarkits.co.uk