If you love your car but it looks worn and dated, there are several ways you can improve its looks without breaking the bank. Covering dents and applying fresh paint can transform your car, but it’s the details that count. Here are 4 easy upgrades that will greatly enhance your car’s appearance.
1. Tinted Windows
Tinted windows make your car look stylish and sporty. They also provide privacy and reduce UV rays to help keep your car cool. In order to tint your windows, you must purchase tint film.
One side of the tint film is coated with an adhesive. You stick the film to the interior of your windows and then you use a heat gun to fix it permanently. Tint film comes in uncut rolls or pre-cut kits designed for a specific make and model. There are 4 kinds of tint films you can use.
The most affordable kind of tint film is dyed window tint film. From outside, the film looks black. Inside, you retain good visibility. This method is easy and cheap, but the dye may fade over time.
Metalized Window Tint Film contains microscopic metal particles. This film provides better insulation against heat or cold and is more resistant to scratches. However, the metal can interfere with radio reception and cell phones.
Carbon Window Tint Film is infused with carbon particles rather than metal particles. It does not interfere with radio and cell phone reception and provides great UV protection and insulation. However, it is expensive compared with dyed and metalized film.
Ceramic Window Tint Film contains ceramic particles. It provides the best protection against UV rays and solar heat, offers superior scratch resistance, and lasts longer than other films. However, it is also the most expensive form of tint film.
Before you consider tinting your windows, you must learn what kind of tint is permitted by the law in the State where you live. For example, Alaska requires all vehicles to have a vehicle light transmission rating of 70%, which means that each car window must provide at least 70% visibility.
2. Seat covers
No matter how well you clean and maintain your car’s upholstery, over time it becomes stained, torn, and worn-looking. This makes your whole car interior look shabby. However, this problem can be easily fixed by installing seat covers.
You can choose between universal-fit car seat covers that are easy to find and very affordable or custom car seat covers designed for your make and model of car. Installing seat covers takes less than 2 hours and requires little skill. Custom covers are designed to exactly fit your car’s seats so they won’t slide around and don’t interfere with bolster airbags, but they can be expensive.
Universal covers have excess fabric. Anti-skid rubber is used to keep them in place, but this makes them less comfortable to sit on. Also, they will slip around over time and wrinkle, so they won’t be as attractive as custom-fit covers. However, they are easier to find and cheaper.
If you’re using universal covers, you can choose from a wide range of patterns and even purchase themed seat covers to celebrate your favorite sports team or superhero. You can even order covers with your name worked into the design.
Cover manufacturers also frequently sell matching headrest and armrest covers as well as map pockets and seatback storage. There are even special seatbelt shoulder pad covers you can purchase to complete the look.
3. Replacement Floor Mats
Much like your car seats, your floor mats have seen a lot of action since your car rolled off the factory floor many years ago. If they’re torn, stained, or simply well worn, you should replace them. It’s surprising how much of a difference it will make to the appearance of your car interior when you’ve got new mats beneath your feet.
Also, your floor mats serve an important role. They protect your car’s floor. They also make it much easier to clean your car’s floor because you can simply lift them out and clean them outside. You can shake them out, vacuum them, even submerge them in soapy water if necessary.
The more heavy-duty and durable your floor mats, the less damaged your car floor will be and the easier to keep clean. And more durable and heavy-duty floor mats won’t need to be replaced again for a long time. You wouldn’t want to buy new floor mats only to have to change them again after just one year.
Just like with replacement car seats, you can choose between universal-fit car floor mats and custom-made car floor mats specific to a particular make and model. Custom-made car mats provide optimal protection because they exactly match the interior contours of your vehicle. They are also safest because they won’t interfere with the workings of the car. If you’re on a budget or you can’t find car mats to suit your vehicle, you can purchase trimmable universal car floor mats that provide a better fit when you’ve cut them to size.
4. Auxiliary LED Light
If your vehicle is a 4×4, truck, or jeep, auxiliary LED lights fitted over the windscreen look fantastic. They also vastly improve the amount of illumination your vehicle can supply. Research by the National Safety Council has proved that compromised night vision is a huge danger for drivers.
Auxiliary LED lights provide 3 times as much light as similar sized halogen lights and so provide significantly more illumination at night. This vastly improves both your safety and the safety of other road users and pedestrians. You can also replace halogen headlights with LED lights.
Auxiliary LED lights come in 3 main varieties. Fog lights provide a wide, flat beam to break through fog, haze, and road dust. They are great for navigating around obstacles and through narrow passages. Spotlights provide a focused bright beam that reaches into the distance. They greatly increase visibility on clear days but cannot cut through fog. Combination lights combine both spotlight and fog light to empower you to drive in any conditions.
If you are shopping for essentials like tyres, the best car subwoofers for deep bass or the and cleaning supplies check out Voucher Alarm.