5 months ago 03rd Jul 11:16
"Car modification offers people an easy way to make their car stand out from the crowd," explains Nicola Johnson, Manager of RAC Inspections. "From fancy paintwork and chrome trims to more serious tuning under the bonnet, car modification is becoming more and more popular. But this poses some new challenges to the used car buyer. Extra weight from oversized exhausts, different wheel dimensions and amended aerodynamics produced by body kit parts, all impact on a car’s performance for better or worse, depending on the quality of the job. When modifications are done well, they are done very well, but when done badly, they are illegal and dangerous."
RAC Inspector, Ron Waldock, remembers inspecting a typical boy-racer Peugeot 106 that had had a set of big wheels and sport springs fitted. "The car had been lowered so far that the extra-large wheels were rubbing against the wheel arches and had rubbed away the inner liner and paint on the inner wings, so that they were rusting. The inspection was also hampered because the car was so low it was hard to get the jacks underneath.