Over the last weeks, I have constantly been looking at car parts. This has become more than an addiction, I'd be pushing to even say obsessed. Every single day I do the casual routine, check my 7 or so sites, apply for the giveaway, and search for deals or look for new cool parts. If you are a bit confused, I recently bought a Dodge challenger and my modding obsession has devoured me.
Over my short time driving this, a big problem has swiftly shown its' way and that is the headlights. Compared to the Jeep I previously owned, the lights are garbage and show less than a 200-lumen flashlight. It has gotten so bad that many times I cannot see the road at night, especially when others are driving toward me and my view disappears. This is not to mention during the rain, or a compound mixture of the 3. (My brights are worse than the base night lights)
I have looked over a ton, and I only have a couple options, one is to replace the bulbs and hope that solves it. However, I face this problem persisting as the lights are the cars standard in the manual, and halogens are bad in general these days. The upside of doing this is it could fix the problem, and it would be cheap.
On the other hand, I have found this pair online and I love the demon eyes (halos) from the 15'+ models (left pic) and that also have sequential indicators. Again, feature that I think would look sick. What isn't sick is the huge price tag that they have for just the housing, not even the LED headlight or conversion it needs to work. (headlights I want on right, Dang near $500!!)
At some point I will probably buy the new housings, just soo hard to be content with that purchase, in nature being cheap and spending every dollar with days of intense research.
The headlights aren't even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ideas. The next biggest purchase is a $600 conversion kit for the tail lights to match with sequential indicators (wow, car mods are absurdly expensive)
Now this is completely unnecessary and I understand that, but if you are at all interested in vehicles and all of that, I am sure you understand the feeling there is to just get it because you want it.
I've already made my mind on this purchase but I am going to wait and treat it as a reward for saving a ton in my bank account before putting myself in a bad situation.
The video below shows the sequential and different modes it has.
I can go on forever but it is safe to say this car has given me a virus of wanting to customize and upgrade every single bit I can get my hands on. Just on eBay alone, I have found probably $5000 worth of cool things. (albeit probably junk that isn't worth the cheap price) And then of course the most demanded upgrade from my friends and car guys I am around.. exhaust. Oh yes, I have one that I want, but it is almost impossible to justify the $1500+ price for a V6 car that will sound like a wannabe V8. The exhaust is a Borla S-type Cat-back kit, it would give some better airflow and HP from what I've read, but its not enough to really push me into putting it in the to-do list completely.
As much as all of this is cool to want and look at, I am still happy to own this car and I would be completely fine keeping it bone stock. (besides the crappy headlights) All of the available parts to upgrade is cool, having a car that is now reliable is amazing. I never really looked too much into cars until now, but I completely understand why some people love working on their cars, the feeling is unbeatable. (Although I do agree, some people take it too far.. like this pic, embarrassing honestly)
Until next time...
Ahhh brings back some fantastic memories. Expensive memories for sure, but awesome ones!
Had an awesome turbo Chevy Cobalt SS. That thing was awesome! We would meet up with a bunch of Dodge guys driving SRT4's or Mazda guys.
I got HID's myself, it was an awesome purchase but the things are expensive for sure.
One of my favorite mods though was swapping out my exhaust with a custom! I got rid of the factory exhaust and air intake. Put on a short ram and went to a catless exhaust. The car sounded unreal. For me it was all about the sound, not the need for speed. I don't want to die, I'd rather make my car sound cool lol.
Mine sounded kind of like this one!
I've been getting more fond of the Dodge's as of late, they seem to not cave to the crap trying to force companies trying to go electric for cars. The electric mustang makes me cringe...
Haha I love the car, but knowing its gonna be here awhile and I can mod it is making me stir-crazy! If only I won the lottery
I never really talked with the car guys back when I was in school, they were the ones that just ruined it for everyone by being the most annoying and over-confident people to talk to.
That's kind of the vibe I'm thinking of going with, nothing too crazy but add some cool sounds and a bit of performance if possibe. CAI by Injen most likely, and I would LOVE a whipple supercharger but I wouldn't even know where to start.
I'm not sure what I want yet, I'm happy but everyone has to ruin it with there un-asked-for opinions or remarks "Not a real engine" "Wanna-be-V8" "unreliable" so I cant say its fast but I cant say its slow either. The sound kind of comes with it, giving me those remarks or just not sounding like I want it to.
My previous car (Jeep) was a hunk of junk but Dodge won me over when it came to the purchase of the challenger. Dodge sometimes can be way behind in tech but somethings got me hooked. Still a big Chevy truck fan though (2008-style and the 2020-style are beautiful imo)
The Mustang Mach-E is disgusting in almost every sense, I like the idea of less pollution. BUT do not make American muscle cars into SUV's, it ruins the symbolism that these types of cars have built. Imagine a dodge caravan having the exact front end of a challenger.
Hahah a caravan with the front end of a challenger is a great way to say it. The quasi-SUV of the mustang is atrocious. I see them here and there and just shake my head.. lol
I hear you on the people hating other cars. The only cars I really dislike, with a passion, are Honda Civics. Throwing a 4 inch cannon exhaust on it makes it sound like you're blowing your nose, not something that's cool... lol I respect them for their passion for the car, I just dislike their choice personally.
I know there are people who are putting down other cars for not being the biggest and best but at the same time we do what we gotta do. I can't afford the v8 so I opted for the v6 and will make the best of it. Yeah the thing might not be as fast or anything like that but some compromise helps.
CAI's were good but for me, it was a little sketchy. Living in the Boston area we have a lot of rain and snow and stuff. I know there are filters to prevent water from getting your engine hydro-locked but I wasn't comfortable sticking the end of the CAI down near the wheel-well. Sitting right ontop of the engine was nice. I think it sounded a little louder from that, less stuff to remove some sound!
With these mods, obviously besides the Whipple, are you doing the work yourself to it? That was one of the most fun times I had working on cars. Modding my car myself! It was an awesome feeling. A little scary at times but really fun to do it.
Exactly! Feels good to know you relate with the feelings I have. Also its my daily driver so a V8 would be even worse than it is now on fuel econ.
Of course! The only thing that I am not sure if I want to do myself is the Exhaust. I have a buddy that was a Master mechanic, and now he works on trains and their electrical systems, so if I ever need help or anything, he has my back. Currently, I have replaced 4/6 speakers and added an amp with subs which was done with him. Something that I will never do myself is messing with the 20+ airbags in there. Scares the crap out of me and costs a ton if unhooked wrong.
Mods are incredibly tempting bro. Some are closer to being essential than others. I can say that I know what it’s like to have shitty headlights. I’ve been managing with mine, but I wouldn’t do that unless you are extremely confident in your driving skills. If you do go for mods, it sounds like headlights would be the certain first choice. Not just the bulbs either, new housing as long as they are HIDs.
An alternative to the exhaust would be just a muffler. It’s not going to give you any power boost, but a catback power boost is extremely minimal anyways. You can probably find what they call an axelback on the same websites that you’ve been looking. Or for an even cheaper route, go to a local muffler shop and have them build you a custom muffler on the low. It’ll still sound good.
Personally I wouldn’t recommend going with straight pipes. It sounds decent on a v8, but v6 wouldn’t be the best. It is however the absolute cheapest option to get a louder sound from your exhaust.
I always go for new wheels as soon as I get a new car. I personally love my VMR wheels. A really solid brand with lots of spoke and color options if you’re ever in the market for rims.
Yeah I'm in the same boat, trying to manage for now. I do trust my skills and not letting my ego get to me but first year with a RWD in winter is gonna be more than enough to worry about, a deer with these lights and the snow is an immediate ender for the car.
I have heard about a shop doing that, I definitely have had it on my mind a little bit but honestly with my age. I feel that many people take advantage of my lack of knowledge. (I caught a dude do a full 180 when he screwed my tire and did a bad job on the Jeep, then here I come in a challenger lmao)
Ugh disgusting, too many no-life losers from highschool to make me want to straight pipe, the sound of 2000's Chevy Cobalts / Pickups ruined it for me.
I would love to get new rims! But also I like mine a ton right now, they are chrome unlike the typical dodge vehicles come with being an alloy. (Not sure if that's right, but my friend has a charger and his are way more dull and aluminum looking)
You should be fine, I’m sure you’ll baby the car in the winter. Be sure to keep salt off the chrome wheels as much as you can.
Only remedy I can think of when it comes to shops trying to rip you off due to you being younger is to bring an older friend or family with you who knows what’s going on. Surely there is a local car scene in your area. Even my shitty small town has regular meet ups. Try to find a car group on Facebook that is local to your area.
Wow, that is pretty expensive for a set of headlights. They do look pretty nice. I know with my old Jeep I had huge issues with the headlights because the plastic was all scratched up. The first thing my buddy did when he bought it off me was swap out the headlamps. It made a huge difference.
Yeah definitely! For the headlights I promised id wait until November 15th at the earliest to save and make sure I cant figure something else out (so I can see in the dark when it gets dark at 6)
When my buddy and I upgraded the audio in the car, we immediately cleaned the lens but it didn't change all too much.
It seems like it would help if they weren't set back in so far, but I guess that is part of the look, so you don't really want to mess with that too much.