Top 10 Daily Driver Modifications
Posted on November 3, 2009 by Jesse O'Brien in In the Garage
A good modification adds to one aspect of a car enough to offset any downside it carries with it. There are a few upgrades that can be made with virtually no downside to them, and offer a huge performance or mileage boost without too much work.
1. Tires
camber wear
Tires are the best upgrade you can possibly make. Tires have seen the most technological progress out of any automotive part in the past decade, and the right tires will last longer, grip better, and perform in all the weather conditions you’ll be driving in. I’ve ordered tired from tirerack several times, and highly recommend them.
Remember, your contact patch is essentially just the width of your tires, so wider is better. Try to keep the same outer circumference, no matter what tires you use. Your vehicle’s suspension is set up for the stock circumference, and your speedometer is calibrated to tell you the speed based on how far you travel per rotation of the tires. Check the tire size calculator if you’re curious as to how new tire sizes will affect your gearing and speedometer reading.
Stainless steel braided brake lines
2. Braided brake lines
Most vehicles use rubber hoses to deliver brake fluid to the brakes when you press the pedal. Because your wheels need to move with the suspension and steering components, the lines that connect the brakes to the brake lines need to be flexible. Unfortunately rubber hoses are flexible and stretchy so they absorb some of the pressure sent through them. That decreases brake response and how well you can ‘feel’ the brakes working.
Braided stainless steel brake lines address this problem, providing flexible but non-stretchy lines that transfer the maximum amount of pressure you press down on the brake pedal directly to the caliper. They are an inexpensive way to dramatically improve brake feel and response.
949 Racing's 6ul 15x9 wheels
3. Wheels
Wheels allow for bigger brakes and wider tires, which increases your traction contact patch, giving more grip in all situations. Lighter wheels will also improve handling, acceleration, and braking. My last CRX project was centered entirely around mounting 9″ wide 6ul wheels on it.
4. Coilovers (Springs and Struts)
Car suspension is designed to keep the car’s weight distributed as equally as possible between the 4 wheels. Lowering your car will improve aerodynamic efficiency, decrease drag, and improve mileage.
Be cautious lowering your car because driving on public roads still requires ground clearance to avoid bottoming out and damaging any number of components. Tires can also rub against the inside of the fender when going over bumps or turning very hard, and camber changes can cause improper tire wear. Coilovers generally suggest a “kit” of springs and struts (hydraulic shock absorbers) and often allow ride height to be adjusted by moving the perch that holds the spring on the car up or down.
5. Seats
Performance bucket seats grip you more firmly and keep you from having to brace yourself while cornering hard. They hold you right where you belong: behind the wheel. I consider them to be a safety improvement, as well as a psychological performance improvement. You’ll certainly feel more in control with race seats than with an old bench seat that doesn’t hold you in place at all.
6. Camshaft
An aggressive camshaft can dramatically increase your engine’s performance. It causes the valves to open wider and and stay open longer, providing the engine with more fuel and air to burn off.
The downside is that camshafts almost always decrease mileage, and in some cases change the power curve. New camshafts may only increase power output in certain RPM ranges (v8 camshafts commonly increase 3,000rpm-6,000rpm power, while l4 camshafts focus on 6,000rpm to 10,000 rpm output).
7. LSD
Differentials connect your transmission to the axle(s) of the vehicle, and some will limit the the speed of one wheel if it does not match the corresponding wheel on the other side. This helps prevent a loss of traction on one wheel when accelerating (and in some cases, an LSD will assist with braking as well) and lets you maximize the traction you have available (see tires, above).
8. Gutting
Personally, I love hearing the road, my tires, my exhaust, and all the little wiggles and wobbles created when driving. Carpets and sound-deadening have no place on my vehicles, and are actually fairly heavy. Removing or replacing anything extraneous (such as a can of fix-a-flat instead of a 50-lb spare tire) will improve mileage, acceleration, braking, and handling.
9. Body Panels
Most cars have more weight in the front, which throws off its balance and changes handling characteristics. Ideally, a car should be as close to 50/50 weight from front to rear as possible. A fiberglass or carbon fiber hood may drop 50lbs from the front of the vehicle, and fenders will help as well.
10. Lighting
Adjusting headlights and foglights to point exactly where they belong will increase your visibility and keep you from blinding oncoming drivers with your headlights. Brighter headlights will further increase visibility, and lighter composite buckets are lighter than steel headlight buckets, making the car less front-heavy.
What the fuck, why the hell would you ever gut a daily driver?!I think the title for this article should be “first 10 mods for a boy racer”
Well Benjamin, the first response that comes to mind is because it lightens the car. In some vehicles, weight savings can amount to hundreds of pounds cut off just for removing sound deadening and carpets. Less weight equates directly to better gas mileage.Carpets are also very difficult to keep clean. I grew up in New England, where winters can get pretty nasty and there's no way to get around tracking mud, dirt, salt, and water into your car. In springtime, it's almost impossible to get all that gunk out of the carpets on the floors. What's worse, they hold moisture against the metal, making rust even more likely. On the flip side, getting it all off the bare floorboards is as simple as one could ask for: grab a vacuum and suck it away.My most compelling reason is ease of maintenance, though. All those little clips and securing pieces and plastic bits that break off if you look at them wrong get in the way of fixing problems that crop up. In my s30, for example, I can't get to the rear struts without removing glued-on vinyl. All interior upholstery really accomplishes is a feeling of luxury. For those who like very luxurious vehicles, this isn't the place for you. You'll be very well served by purchasing almost any European car and leaving it exactly as-is if you'd like a luxurious, quality car. I view a car as a tool rather than a status symbol, so I tend toward pragmatic solutions to problems I see with the cars I own. Thanks for stopping by, just the same!
what about the carbon fiber hood & fenders vs the snow on a lowered car T__T
This is a good list.
Thanks! I put a fair amount of thought into what changes could be made to virtually any car to make it a better daily driver, and I’m pretty happy with the outcome.
first let me say that i speak from experience with having driven a gutted DD for quite some time in the past. i loved the way i could hear every function of my car.
something quite a few people don’t realize is the effect of minor weight reduction. removing things like the carpet, some sound deadening, and other creature comforts you can do with out is a simple and inexpensive way to lighten your car. and for some cars its just enough weight to make a noticeable difference…
if you like a nice quiet ride, by all means enjoy your carpet, but if you would like to change some characteristics of your car and don’t mind a bit more noise, throw everything you don’t need out
these are just a couple pics of one of my old CRX, sadly the day i took these, i had left the passenger seat in, something that usually wasn’t taking up space and adding much unneeded weight
Every time I see those spine-compression harnesses I cringe. You really needed a harness bar for them pretty badly.
this i know, and i actually had them mounted close to a 45 degree angle….but in these pics they’re hanging free
“A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster.”—-Jeremy Clarkson
I don’t entirely agree with this list, but heres my personal DD mod list.
1 Lights. If you can see what is in front of you you are safer at night. Living in Michigan’s Upper Pennisula, I need to see deer or other obstacles in the road. A pair of large driving lamps controlled by the high beams will greatly increase range, without blinding oncoming cars.
2 Seats. You will spend every moment in your seat, you should make sure you enjoy it. Some enjoy race buckets, I personally like the Recaro buckets included with most 80′s German cars. You can adapt most to securely bolt into your car, and have a more desirable place to be.
3 Music. I always have the stereo on in my car, so I always make sure I have decent speakers and a head unit with the features I need.
4 Tires. Again, I live in the UP so set of dedicated high performance summer tires, and a spare set of wheels with snow tires are the most desirable setup. The summer tires allow me to out maneuver some accidents, and enjoy the commute. Snow tires let me actually get around in the white stuff.
5. Brakes. Larger rotors will let you stop in a shorter distance, along with better pads you can cut your braking distance down considerably.
6. Oil / Transmission cooler. Most cars on the road today are automatics. Automatics generate more heat than manuals, and as such, towing or other heavy load can create a large amount of heat. A transmission cooler can vastly increase the life time, keeping your car on the road.
7. Steering Wheel. Along the same lines as the seat, you will be using this every time you drive your car. If you have a beat up, ratty wheel, replacing it makes your drive nicer.
Things I don’t recommend.
1. Racing Harnesses. A 4 point + harness will keep you completely vertical in your seat, and in the event of a roll over your head will become the new B pillar, usually resulting in death. You shouldn’t use harnesses on the street unless you have a roll hoop installed, but most don’t daily a car with a cage.
2. Harness Bar + Back Seat. If you want proper harnesses for track days or autocrosses you install a harness bar. If you happen to have a back seat the bar needs to be removable or your back seat is no longer safe. With 3 point belts your rear passengers could impact the bar with their head, causing severe injury or death.
3. Gutting Interior. If you live in cold climate you need the sound deadening as insulation, or else you car will be incredbily cold all winter long, southern cars may need the insulation to keep the AC in, if used.
e30, I like where your list is headed. You reminded me of how awesome the seats were in a Scirocco that I drove a few times and had completely forgotten about. Seats, music, steering wheels, and a gutted interior are all personal preference and you have some good points. I live in New England, and our summers get pretty hot and humid (it may be worse in other climates, but +100F with 95% humidity is brutal no matter how you slice it) and the winters are regularly sub-zero with a few feet of the white stuff all over. I’m trying to figure out a good AWD/4WD solution for a winter daily driver myself, the BMW I currently drive won’t cut it.
The points you make on harnesses and harness bars are completely valid. It’s one of those modifications that needs to be done 100% or not at all.
I hadn’t really considered automatics as daily drivers (you could call that a reflection of my own goals in a daily driver), but an oil cooler is a phenomenal idea that I would never have thought of (especially for trucks or anything that may be towing at any point).
As for brakes, larger rotors will not stop you in a shorter distance. In many cases, pads won’t either. The limiting factor on braking in the vast majority of cars on the road is tires. If slamming on your brakes brings you to a screeching halt or activates your ABS, you need to upgrade your tires before considering the brakes. The biggest advantage I see to upgrading to a big-rotor brake kit is that many of those kits actually end up weighing significantly less than the stock kit while providing equivalent cooling (to prevent brake fade). Better calipers will offer a more predictable braking curve and more consistent behavior, but for street cars it’s almost never a concern.
Thanks for stopping by and giving such valuable input!
I too have to disagree with gutting a daily driver. I think of the term “Daily Driver”as meaning “Nice enough to drive around everywhere, everyday”. Maybe you are taking the term Daily Driver to mean “economical”, or something different than what I would.
I do have cars that I have changed a lot of components on, as I like to drive a heavily modified sports car. But for my daily driver I like to drive just a simple get me down the road, avoid the tickets, and something that says “Not worth racing”.
Dang I use a lot of quotation marks!
ok, i have to say for the guy with the CRX
you must work at either Wendy’s or McDonald, part time, and are 17.
how do i know?
you dont commute every day, nor do you get stuck in rush hour.
not to mention, you will NEVER see a car in THAT shape as a DD of anyone making more than $12/hr
it might be a project car they brought in b/c their DD was having an issue, but that is not a DD of someone who works F/T at a good job.
when you get into an accident with that car, you will be MAIMED IF NOT KILLED. the harness will break your spine, do nothing to hold you in place as the seat collapses and you are impaled by your steering wheel.
The problem with replacing your seats and calling it a safety feature is that a lot of stock seats include built-in airbags now. I’d love to replace my seats with something nicer in my DD but only if I could replace them with something with airbags.