Customised Cars Styling Tips

Any kind of styling is really dependent on three things:

• Budget

• Starting Point

• Taste

Obviously, the amount you have to spend is going to have a dramatic impact on the scope and scale of your ambitions. One of the many attractions of styling cars is that it can always be done in steps; added to as and when finance allows.

Your starting point in this example would (obviously) be the car you have. For sure this may have been dictated in some degree by your budget in the first place and indeed, by your taste, however, taste won’t be the only thing that governed your choice of ride. Peer influence and even advertising will have played a part.

And so we come to taste. Now that you have your ride and the initial wave of euphoria has tempered a little with time, you begin to take a look around at what others have done to theirs in an effort to individualise their car. To style it.

Altering the body, either with reworked panels or bodykits, lambo doors, wheels, tyres, exhaust systems, interiors, seats, steering wheels, ICE, lights, stickers, gadgets, paintjobs, engines and hotrodding… these days, the sky is pretty much the limit. Well, either that, or the flexibility of your Mastercard…

Different cars have definite directions that they tend to be taken in. A Mercedes will tend to go on a different tack than say, a Honda. In the overall scheme of things though, there are two approaches: alterations to car appearance and improvements in performance.

Generally, people opt to start with appearance, as engine alterations tend to be quite expensive, not only in terms of initial outlay, but insurance implications and then the ongoing running costs. Let’s face it, whatever you decide to do, it’ll always end up with your pride and joy drinking more fuel. And once you start down that road of a performance exhaust, well, you get the bug and the rest of it inevitably follows.

In terms of appearance, the cheapest and most immediate transformation is in the wholesale use of decals; usually ones that imply improved engine performance under the hood, whether or not it’s actually true. Then, it’s customising the interior and tinting the windows, followed by wheels, tyres and changing pipe sticking out the back end, then by dropping your ride to skim the tarmac. None of these things need to be hugely expensive though.

Indeed, the most immediate and striking transformation can be made by simply changing the standard wheels for a new set of rims. That would be my number one choice, beyond stickers or a new exhaust system and is de rigeur on any ride transformation, however big or small. It’s the launching point, if you like.

There’s also a great tradition for altering a car interior. Either going for something very slick and smooth, or just the plain outlandish. It’s often the cheapest and most striking option for someone to express their individuality. You only need to travel in a taxi in Cairo, New York, Moscow or Mumbai to witness how an ordinary car can be transformed by cunning use of shag-pile carpet and an unfettered imagination. 

Seriously though, the sky is the limit if the wallet is willing. Whatever you want your car to look like can be achieved and there’s an infinite supply of inspiration awaiting you online.

My top tips would be losing the door-handles, dropping the suspension, beefing up performance with a turbo, a deep candy spray-job and widened bodywork to house the new outsize rims. Oh. And a nitrous kit. But then, I always favoured the understated.