Best Car Mods Under $100
Horsepower Specs Blog
Horsepower By Drivetrain
Let’s say you have a random $100 bill in your pocket that you really want to spend on automotive upgrades. I hate to break it to you, but that isn’t going to cut it for a supercharger or new wheels. The good news is that there are lots of affordable upgrades for your vehicle, you just have to be a little more selective or know where to look. Get started right here with this list, and figure out where Benjamin needs to make a new home.
Tire Gauge
Sure, you most likely have a tire gauge, but odds are it could use an upgrade. If you don’t have one; get one. This is the best way to know what pressure your tires are at, and that is rather important as they are the only part of your vehicle in contact with the ground. This is important, so throw away that plasticky digital junk and get a mechanical tire pressure gauge. The Auto Meter 2343 is $20, looks great, and will lest you the rest of your life.
LED Bulbs
LED light bulbs are brighter than incandescent, and have many times the lifespan, so swapping out your stock junk for LEDs is a no-brainer. Rather than going the Pep Boys route and replacing your tail light housings with fake chrome gaudiness, just swap out the individual bulbs. Online retailers sell them for about $20 per bulb, and while that is a bit pricey, consider that they are drop-in replacements for stock, and will last 30,000 hours of use.
Better Headlights
If you have a car or truck over 10 -15 years old, you know the frustration of driving at night. Every other vehicle on the road seems to have better nighttime viewing distance. No worries though, as a simple swap will greatly extend the distance you can see at night. Sylvania SilverStars seem to be a popular choice. The Ultra version is even better. $35 each for lightbulbs will be worth it when you see the 50% increase in visibility.
Brake Pads & Fluid
People seem to go cheap on braking parts, as if the stock components can’t be improved. Don’t go that route, and upgrade your brakes. Sure, a big brake upgrade with 15” carbon ceramic rotors would be nice, but a little excessive on a daily driver. A solid set of composite pads will run you around $80, leaving plenty of cash left for synthetic brake fluid. Do the pads and fluid at the same time, and you will love how your vehicle stops.
Synthetic Oil/Fluid
Speaking of synthetics, it’s a good idea to swap out your conventional fluids for synthetics as soon as you can. Okay, sure, there’s that issue about older vehicles leaking once swapped to synthetic, so if you are over 100,000 miles, stick with the liquefied dinosaurs. For a newer ride, synthetic offers all around better viscosity and performance, so you a better protected on cold starts and during extreme service. You might even pick up some MPG after swapping to all synthetic, paying back some of that cash spent.
Short Throw Shifter
If you have a manual transmission, the factory shift lever can sometimes be an annoyance. Vague, sloppy shifting, long throws, or even awkwardly placed throws, are entirely the fault of a lazy manufacturer building a “good enough” shifter. The answer is a performance shifter with a shorter arm. While most aftermarket shifters are well over $100, most common enthusiast cars like the Mustang, Miata, and Eclipse have several options available starting at $70.
Shift Kit
If you are stuck with an automatic (“Nah man, it’s more consistent at the drag strip”), you too have the ability to cheaply upgrade your shifting. If your auto trans communicates a shift, thinks about it, starts shifting, and then finally shifts, and then lets you know it shifted, it’s probably time for an upgrade. A quality shift kit will cost you approximately $90, but the various springs and valves will turn that slushbox into a crushbox. For half the gain for 1/10th the price, just buy a higher pressure boost valve.
Haynes Manual
You simply don’t know how to do it all. I don’t either (just ask my wife). When you are mid project, hands covered in grease, the last thing you want to touch is your iPad Air while in search of the answer to your problem. Fortunately, Haynes makes these little things that are like inexpensive iPads with still-frame YouTube that show you how to do everything from oil changes to crankshaft swaps. These “books,” as the kids call them, can easily get dirty, won’t be destroyed if dropped in the garage, and never need charging. And they are only $20. Amazing!
Body Side Moldings
Also known as door guards, that body colored piece of hard plastic on your door will help keep away an uncountable amount of dents and dings. While they would look out of place on a classic, they look decent on pretty much every modern car or truck. Just a simple 20 minute install, and you well pretty much impervious to shopping carts. Many versions cost a couple hundred dollars, but the China direct version works great and costs just under $100.
SCCA or Driver’s Ed.
The best upgrade you can do to your ride is to adjust the nut behind the wheel. While that humorous bit of advice is older than my driver’s education car, it still holds true. The best way to make your car faster is to improve the driver. A local SCCA autocross event will cost you approximately $55 for one day as a nonmember, but the experience of pushing your ride to the limit will be invaluable. A more sedate version is a classroom driver’s safety class, which start around $20 for a half day. You will easily get that back this year with the insurance savings.
So there are your ten best modifications under $100. If you know of another that should be on this list, let us know. Just keep it under $100 average, and tell us why you think it’s important. Until then, I’m heading to eBay…
