Auto Industry Insider: Turning Your Old Banger Into A Custom Classic

There are few things worse than driving a car you don’t like. This part of life is almost as important as the place you call home, with many people spending hundreds of hours of their life sat behind the wheel. Of course, though, when you can’t afford the latest cars to roll out of the factory, it can be hard to be satisfied with the options that are available to you.

To help you out, this post will explore some of the work that can go into making an old banger into a custom classic that you can feel proud of.

The Big Clean

One of the big problems that can come with old cars, especially when they are secondhand, is that they tend to be a little dirty. Years and years of use will always result in some wear, with things like dust and dirt settling over time and becoming very difficult to get rid of. You can restore a car to like-new condition without too much effort, though, and this is a great place to start when you aren’t sure whether or not you like your car.

General Cleaning: Cleaning the inside and outside of your car may feel like a big job, but it doesn’t have to take more than a couple of hours if you use the right tools and methods. There are loads of companies out there that sell small vacuum cleaners, power sponges, and other tools that are designed to make jobs like this simpler.
Small Repairs/Replacements: Few things make a car few worse than missing or broken pieces of trim. This makes it well worth replacing or repairing things like this in your car, ensuring that it is as close to how you would want to see it new as possible. You don’t have to go for exact matches to the originals, though some people prefer this approach.

Once your cleaning is out of the way, you can begin the process of turning your old banger into something you like. Let’s take a look at some of the best options available to give you the chance to take this on.

Body Kits

Body kits have been a popular choice for car owners for a very long time, giving you the chance to turn your motor into something far more like that you see on a race track than on a road. Some body kits are more subtle than others, giving you the chance to make small tweaks to the way your car looks without having to spend a small fortune in the process. Others, though, will be far more severe, enabling you to make your car look like something from a Fast & Furious movie. It’s well worth spending the time to learn about the brands and manufacturers available when you’re doing this.

Wraps & Tints

Getting a car painted can cost a small fortune, with loads of work going into just about every aspect of a job like this. To solve this problem with track cars, wraps are often used to incorporate sponsor logos and other graphics into the car’s design without having to paint it on permanently. Consumer wraps can also be found, though, enabling you to change the colour of your car without having to get it painted. Wraps like this tend to be semi-permanent, and this means that they won’t last as long as regular paint, but they come in at a much more reasonable price.

Alongside wraps, a lot of people also like to look for ways to tint the windows in their car. This can give the appearance that the windows are black, limiting the view that people have inside the car. There are different levels of severity you can go for with window tints, making it well worth spending the time to find options that will look good with your car. It’s also worth considering the law when you look at window tints. They are acceptable in some places, though you may be subject to rules that restrict the way that you can use them, and you have to be aware of this before you get started.

Wheels

A car wouldn’t be able to function properly without its wheels, though this part of a vehicle often gets ignored when people are trying to choose what they want to do with them. You can change your wheels out for a wealth of different options, and it doesn’t have to cost too much to get something like this done. Looking for wheels and tyre packages at the same time is a smart way to handle this, giving all of your tires the refreshment they need before you put the new ones onto the car. You can choose big wheels, little wheels, colorful wheels, or simple wheels; there are countless options on the market.

Trim

The trim inside and outside your car shapes the way the vehicle looks and feels. Swapping plastic for polished wood or leather change the way you look at your car entirely, and these luxury options may be available as an additional extra for the car you drive. Places like eBay are great for hunting for items like this, giving you the chance to explore your options and choose something that reflects your desires without having to make compromises along the way. There are loads of guides out there that can help you to install your own trim, though pros will usually be happy to help with this, too.

With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to take on the challenge of turning your old banger into a car that you love. This work will always take some time and effort, though this doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun with tit along the way. There are loads of resources around the web that can help you with this sort of work.