Car styling and modifications

There are many different car styling modifications that you can make to a car. They are generally used to make it go faster, look better or both. This article is concerned with ideas that could make your car look better.

A lot of external car styling modifications try to make the outside of the car look smoother. The smoother lines then appeal to our sense of order and purity. To make the lines of your car more even, you may need to remove or cover up some of the design features of the original car.

Some of these original features are easy to change and can create an almost instant effect. One such case is where a moulded rubber bumper strip is fitted, that continues the bumper stripe theme, along the rest of the car. In most cases this is simply stuck onto the surface of the body and can easily be peeled away. If it is peeled away carefully there should be very little of the glue left on the body finish. Removing the bumper strip immediately cleans up the lines of your car. In a similar fashion some cars such as early Fiestas have plastic on the door pillars and round the quarter windows. Once again this can be carefully peeled away improving the image of the car.

A number of cars have grooves pressed into the metal panels of the body especially on the belt or waist line of the car. These are a hang over from when smaller metal panels had to be joined together in order to make a larger body panel. The join called a swage line was then hidden by creating the groove effect along the side of the car. These days door panels can be made using one piece of metal, and the swage line is really redundant. Despite this, it has become a recognised styling form in car design. Just take a look at all the cars that have them as you drive down the road! These swage lines may also be on the bonnet and boot as well. Swage lines disrupt the smooth lines of the car and as a result many people try to get rid of them. The usual way is to fill them in and then respray the panels. The filling can be done using standard car body filler. This can be reasonably successful but problems can occur if the panels end up being vibrated or flexed a lot. In this situation the filler may crack. In cars that have stiff suspension or on bonnets and tailgates that end up getting flexed a lot, filling with lead metal is a better alternative. Although this takes a lot longer to do the results are far better and the lead metal won’t crack or fall out. An alternative is to use a higher grade filler than the standard ones used in car repairs. Fillers from the aircraft industry have proved to be more durable than standard filler in this situation.

Another area where improvements can be made involves the locks and handles of the car. Removing the locks is the first stage. This leaves a hole which can be dealt with by welding a plate over it. The area then needs to be filled and smoothed over before painting. Doors are then opened by using an electronic key fob. These are fitted to modern cars anyway. The only problem arises if the battery goes flat and the electronic key fob fails to work. For this reason the tailgate lock is often left so that the vehicle can be entered if problems occur. Sometimes the tailgate has the lock removed and the other locks are left as standard. This is all personal choice and depends on the effect you want to achieve. The handles can also be removed and the holes filled and smoothed. In this case solenoids have to be fitted so that the doors are pushed open, as well as being unlocked, when the electronic key fob is activated.

The above ideas are really just a start when it comes to smoothing out the lines of your car. However, by doing these simple things you can create a style for yourself that is very pleasing to the eye

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This article is written by Tim Vincent. For further information on restyling, modifications and the car parts that are needed to do it, see the author's specialist web sites at http://www.fiestacarparts.co.uk http://www.cosworthcarparts.co.uk and http://www.subaruimprezacarparts.co.uk