These Are The Car Modifications You Think Are The Biggest Wastes Of Money

To any regular person, it would probably make sense that all car enthusiasts think alike. We just love vehicles and think they're all cool. But that couldn't possibly be further from the truth. If there's one thing we love more than anything else, it's arguing with each other. It's certainly not unique to this particular hobby, but it's also a massive part of it.

Take, for example, last Thursday when we asked what car modification you thought was the biggest waste of money. We got so many responses, we couldn't even come close to including all of them here. And under a lot of those responses, there were also a lot of disagreements, corrections and clarifications. It was a fun discussion to watch play out, so not only have we included some of the most popular responses, but we also added a few relevant replies. Hopefully, that makes things a little more interesting (and promotes even more arguing in the comments).

Window stickers that display the make or model of the car. Gee, I wonder what kind of car that is? Oh look on the window, it's a Charger. Whew, I thought it was a Prius.

Suggested by: J-BodyBuilder

HID retrofits in reflector housings. You literally pay to make your lights sooo much worse for both yourself and everyone else. And if you go with those fucking stupid blue lights, over a normal headlight color temperature, you might as well stay home because the more blue the lights, the less you can see. Dumbasses!!

Suggested by: jstump

Reply from wolrah:

That's actually wrong on both counts.

A halogen filament emits light in all directions, just like a HID arc. The difference that matters there is that the shape of the arc is not the same as the shape of the filament so the emitted beam pattern is also not the same even if you shim the HID bulb to put the center in the same place. HID reflectors exist, though they are rare because projectors really have no downsides. The early Cadillac HID systems were reflectors, as was the Lincoln Mark VIII (which also used weird special bulbs that no one makes anymore).

LED light sources exist that imitate the shape of a filament of course, you can find them at any home improvement store, but you'll notice that they aren't offered in the same power levels as the ones made up of a bunch of normal LED chips which each emit a semi-directional cone of light. The chips are just a lot easier to cool which is necessary at higher power levels. The "plug and play" headlight bulbs you can buy for cars of course use these as well and as a result the closest they can get is something like a Morimoto 2Stroke that places a pair of rectangular LED modules in roughly the same position as a halogen filament.

Unlike a HID bulb or a cheap "cover it in chips" LED unit a well designed LED bulb can work with some lighting systems designed for a halogen filament, but it's something that has to be tested on a case by case basis because while a well designed LED replacement bulb shouldn't be beaming light in places a halogen wouldn't, the intensity of the beam being cast in different angles will be different and thus it may or may not still produce a desirable output.

There are a specific few LED bulbs IIRC made by Sylvania or Osram which are actually officially approved for use in a few specific (mostly German IIRC) vehicles that originally shipped with halogens, those are the ONLY "plug and play" LEDs that are OK. For everyone else, either do it right with a proper projector retrofit or stick to halogen.

If I ever suffer a terrible life tragedy that plunges me into alcoholism and then one day I have an awakening and decide to drop the bottle and reset my life trajectory, my new reason for living will to be a vigilante for dangerous lighting.

Blacked-out aftermarket lighting – and especially blacked out HEADLIGHTS – trade an ounce of style for a pound of safety. Who would want their headlights to be LESS effective? Who wants to give people behind them a LOWER chance of seeing their brake lights at night? I don't know if there is a more self-defeating mod out there.

Suggested by: Stephen

Truck Nutz. All they do is demonstrate that you don't have any.

Suggested by: jrhmobile, as well as many, many more

Reply from Sean Malloy:

Nooo... Let them keep their testosterone substitutes. And besides, how would we know who we should be surreptitiously laughing at without the obvious overcompensation indicators like these?

Reply from TomMetcalf:

I don't think ANYBODY buys truck nuts to look 'tough'. They buy truck nuts because they are a freaking hilarious product. Honestly, if I had a hitch on my WRX, I would add truck nuts. They are not something to be taken seriously.

My buddy was recently gifted a set of nuts for his crocks. We all had a good chuckle.

I'm going to focus on the "biggest waste of money" to be able practical changes. Lifting or lowering or rims are about appearance. They want the vehicle to look that way, that's fine.

K&N filter.

They sell them based on performance and they simply don't do what they advertise. They are messy and honestly don't clean the air as well as a standard filter. Sure, they are re-usable but buying a new filter when they need to be replaced will be cheaper in the long run.

Suggested by: RoRoTheGreat

Reply from jmjr07:

Counter point: I bought a used Mazda CX-5 and installed a K&N cabin filter and an AEM oil-free engine air filter. If I drive the vehicle 250,000 km (which I plan on), the cost of the cheapest filters on Amazon would be $225, while the reusable filters and the cleaning solutions would be $210. So I do save a tiny amount of money, but the more important thing is I don't throw 10 filters into the landfill. I know the drop in panel filter isn't going to gain any horsepower.

Reply from jumbojeepman:

K&N and similar filter let in particles much larger than paper media allow. The most important thing for me is to prevent engine damage, not an extra air filter in the landfill every couple of years.

Anything that promises easy fuel saving or other easy benefits. Especially if it's "install it yourself."

WAY before the fuel shark (and when I was pretty young so I may not remember the details 100%), there was a guy in a booth at our state fair that was selling special wires for your distributor cap that made the similar promises; "supercharging the spark plug" or some such nonsense so that the fuel would burn more completely.

Suggested by: Gin and Panic

I think we can mostly agree on supid mods like blacked out headlights, slammed cars/squatted trucks, etc. But they're for a specific visual taste so even if they're factually wrong they're not wrong in that "community."

The biggest waste to me is a short shifter in any normal modern car. Most sporty manual cars have decent throws and are easy to shift, a short shifter just makes them more notchy and more likely to miss a shift, and I've seen way too many cars especially Vipers with a short shifter that has the leather boot looking all scrotum-ey.

It's not going to make your nonexistent lap/drag times any shorter, and if you put the inevitable huge glass dildo shift knob on it you're completely negating any difference in throw anyway.

Suggested by: savethemanualsbmw335ix

Reply from Wierdisgood:

"If you put the inevitable huge glass dildo shift knob on it you're completely negating any difference in throw anyway."

Everyone knows the real mod here is a carbon fiber dildo

Reply from savethemanualsbmw335ix:

But the carbon fiber ones won't light up to match your underglow so...

I think lifts are a complete waste and all for show, but Carolina Squats have to take the cake for worst modification. Reduced visibility, dangerous, and just looks incredibly stupid. It's hard to believe it isn't outlawed.

Suggested by: Blake

Reply from Stephen:

In some states it is illegal. Rightfully so.

Any visual accessory found in an autoparts store, especially on the clearance shelf. Stickers, truck nutz, fake turbo vents or bits, plastic "chrome", and any "design" that would be a bad tattoo option on reddit.

The more of these accessories I see on a vehicle, the less I think that they have insurance. Double that if found on a Nissan Altima or Dodge Caliber.

Suggested by: FutureDoc

By far the biggest waste of money people put on vehicles are the mods diesel truck owners do so they can Roll Coal.

It's literally illegal, violating both federal and many state laws. It often makes the vehicles performance worse, it causes a lot more wear and tear on the engine, and it'll make the vast majority of people on the road hate you.

Suggested by: Connor

Reply from TRath:

True, but without the ability to roll coal, how are they supposed to express how offended they are when they see someone driving a Prius?

I know there will likely be a bunch of "moar camber!!" folks here, so I apologize a little bit in advance.

Stancing a car is dumb. Your car is now worse in every way. And spending money to do this on purpose?? Dumber. Yes, I know this is one of the many niche car cultures out there that make ridiculous/hazardous mods and have car shows and win awards and have instagram accounts. I think all of those are a dumb waste of money too.

I'm reminded of this because my town has decided it wants speed bumps every ten feet. So it came as no surprise to come across a dude and his stanced 370Z attempting a u-turn to find a route without a speed bump. That guy has maybe 6 roads he can safely use now.

Suggested by: dolsh

All of them and none of them.

Financially, I can't think of any modification that pays for itself. Put in a $1000 head unit to add carplay and a million features and go to sell the car and you might get $200 more for it than if it still had the cassette player. And when you get to significant modifications that impact how the car drives, it's even worse. $20k in modifications might lead to a lower selling price because people are afraid it wasn't done right.

HOWEVER....

If it makes you enjoy your car more, it's worth it. I'm not into a donked pickup with 2 foot diameter truck nutz and a bed full of subwoofers. But if that's your thing, knock yourself out. Sure, the truck's handling and utility might be ruined by the modifications, but it's your damn truck, and if it makes you happy, cool.

We, as a society, need to learn to respect each other's weirdness. We have way too many beige vehicles today. and way too many beige people with beige ways of living life.

Suggested by: hoser68

Reply from jbssfelix:

At least for me, aftermarket modification is a red flag of "oh great, someone fucked with this, and now it's less reliable than before". There are 100 bad aftermarket audio jobs for every 1 good one, so I think it's fair for used car buyers to be wary of modifications and price that risk in accordingly.