Unfortunately for most of us, buying a brand-new car each year is simply not an option. The same can be said about expensive upgrades to the body, interior, or mechanical aspects of the car.
Keeping all that in mind, there are certainly three outstanding ways that you can give your car a new look.
With a little bit of know-how, hard word, and a couple dollars in savings here and there, you can easily get any one or all of these upgrades applied to your automobile to make it look new, expensive, and most importantly great!
Purchase seat covers and floor mats
If you’re most interested in giving the interior of your car that luxury vehicle feel, seat covers and new floor mats are an easy and effective way to fix deteriorating upholstery.
Of course, there are loads of tacky sets of seat covers out there – or ones that look nice online but are quite cheap looking in person – so it is your job to do your due diligence when it comes to online reviews to make sure you are getting an honest and objective take.
If you get the right set, you could easily take your car from looking drab to fab in a matter of minutes!
Clean your engine
This might be more for the real motorhead compared to those who simply want their cars to look great and feel great. That being said, if you are driving a classic car and are not a stranger to being asked to open up your hood, you could do a lot to impress those car fanatics by cleaning out your engine.
Now, if you’re planning on making such an improvement, don’t even think about simply taking a hose and a bucket of soap to your car’s engine. That being said, you can easily look into how to safely and successfully clean your engine.
Not only does a clean engine look great, cleaning it free of leave, grime, oil and corrosion can both improve your engine’s performance and extend its life! Certainly worth it if you ask me.
Get a new paint job
Getting a new paint job for your car can be a lot like getting a face lift for yourself! With a paint job, you are undoing years of sun damage, damage from toxins in the air, or covering up any nicks or scratches that might be on the surface layer of your car as well.
While getting a professional painter to paint your car for you can cost thousands upon thousands of dollars, there are a lot of ways to perform a paint job on your car yourself.
If you opt to paint your car yourself, one thing you will definitely not want to skimp on is a paint booth. This booth will not only make sure that the potentially toxic paint gets anywhere else outside of your working area, it will also protect your car during the painting process.
All you have to do then, is make sure you’re getting the right paint and get to work!
Fix out the dents
Nothing detracts more from your car’s appearance than a big dent. If you make other repairs or additions but leave dents on your windows or side panels, it’s akin to getting a brand-new haircut while you’ve got a huge, red pimple in the middle of your face. People simply won’t be able to look away!
On top of that, having large dents on your car will make other drivers reluctant to drive near you or park near you. It will also mean that if you get additional dents, other drivers will be able to more easily make a case that the injury was your fault.
The good news when it comes to dents? They’re 100 percent fixable. Hop on your computer and start searching local auto body shops such as Elite Campbell that have great reviews and offer competitive prices. If you’re lucky, many of your dents will only need a bit of treatment with a dent puller at an auto shop.
Wax your car
This is one of the easiest fixes that you can get and will make the most impact if your car otherwise looks great. Getting your car waxed will not only give your car a like-new shine, it will also hide small scratches, remove swirl marks, and protect your car’s paint from elemental damage such as rust, fading, and small scratches.
It’s pretty cheap, especially if you decide to read up on how to do it yourself, buy some high-quality wax, and spend a weekend afternoon applying it to your freshly washed car.
Get your car wrapped
This is basically the flashier option then getting a fresh and new paint job to your car. A wrap is a flashy way to completely overlook your car’s look.
The reason? The options are pretty much limitless.
Wraps are becoming more and more popular in the auto aficionado world, and it is a great way to make a pretty much risk free change.
Car wraps are vinyl warps that can either completely cover the exterior of your car, or just a portion if you desire. It is not uncommon for people to get their hoods wrapped, or just the top of their car, or obviously the whole thing either.
Most vinyl wraps nowadays are totally undamaging to your car and can be removed at any time. There is a limitless option of things to get your cars wrapped with. From awesome decals, to pictures of your favorite sports team, to something even more out of the box. Just make sure that you are working with a trained professional who really knows what they are doing.
If you are looking to add some flare to the inside of your car, interiors such as dashboards can also be wrapped.
Get new headlights and taillights
If you are sporting an older car, one fantastic way to make your car look sharper and fresher is to replace your old headlights and taillights with new ones.
By adding a new set of great looking lights, you can make your car look years younger. On top of that, it is not only useful to the appearance of your car, replacing foggy and dirty headlights also makes you safer while driving at night. It will help you spot any hazards on the road ahead of you and will help you feel confident that cars behind you can see you driving ahead no matter how foggy and old their lights actually are.
Now you can drive with confidence knowing your car looks great while you can see perfectly.
Get your windows tinted
Now this is not a recommendation to get your car obnoxiously tinted to the point where it is not street legal (typically 360 tinting with 80 percent limo tint will assure you an added fine from a cop), but getting your car professionally and tastefully tinted can both add a great look to your car and offer you some added privacy and security.
Not only to tinted windows tend to get broken into less likely (primarily because break-ins occur when valuable items are easily within view), tinted windows can also slightly reduce the UV damage that you might face while driving during a bright and sunny day.
New wheels
This is another improvement that you can make when other jobs on this list have been taken care of. New wheels on a car can always make it stand out.
Not only do shiny new wheels help make your car look newer and more expensive than it might have actually been, it also allows you to add personality and a unique quality to your car.
Best of all, it allows you the opportunity to toss out the cheap hubcaps you’ve been driving around with the past few years.
Swap out your stock car emblem
Getting a personalized emblem on your car is a really nice touch to a car that has a unique color them or paint job. Augmenting the style and color of your stock car emblem is a pretty cool way to stand out and catch the eyes of passersby.
Stock emblems should not be made at home (obviously) but can be easily ordered online. Even sometimes, through the dealer! If you are not ordering through the dealer, make sure that you do some research on the brand you are buying from, what material they use, and get some pictures that other customers have taken of the emblems so that you can better understand what they look like in real life as opposed to just the airbrushed and photoshopped advertisement images.
Install a body kit
This is a major change to make and you want to be sure that you are going to love the look before you invest in purchasing and installing a new body kit.
While a lot of body kits are centered around the side panels and ground effects, getting a new hood or bumper for your car can make a lot of difference too! Custom hoods can contribute a lot in making your car look fresh and fancy, however, you have to make sure that you choose one that would perfectly your ride’s overall look.
One word of warning, unless you are really in need of a spoiler for your car, you might want to leave that out of your additions. Spoilers often make cars look silly, clunkier, and slower than they actually are.
