What are your required mods for a daily driver?

My past 3 DD Civics have all been lowered.

I still have this aversion to stock ride height. Wheelgap makes me anxious.

Other than that, I just want AC and a working stereo.

gamby wrote: Other than that, I just want *AC* and a working stereo.

You mean windows, right?

Every car I get as DD, I say something along the lines of, "This car is ONLY getting wheels and some suspension, etc" But its a slippery slope! Every single car has turned into a project with the exception of most of the SUV's I have owned.

My MDX and RDX stayed stock....not really a lot you have to do to either car to make it "liveable" My jeep has a couple little things, navi, exhaust, intake and HIDs, just gonna put some bigger tires on it, lift it a little, and use it as a tow rig only.

Knurled wrote: I would like to use this thread to point out just how incredibly awesome it is to have a hardwired inverter. Don't skimp out. Get the biggest one you can justify. If you find yourself with the ability to plug floodlights or power tools into your CAR, as well as the usual consumer electronics, you find more and more useful things you can do. Still need to get one for my VW, but I hardly drive it except for parts hauling and when my Mazda is broken (see previous post re: cams) I know someone who, during an extended power outage in Columbus, plugged *his house* into his Legend.

I forgot about the inverter. I have had one in most of my DD's. It was especially handy when I had a couple businesses. I nearly had a full office in the RDX, laptop, printer, external harddrive, etc. That was awesome! I still find a need to use my mobile office now and then.

I think I'd have to be rich to own a dedicated DD. I'd have a somewhat-streetable car for every motorsports role imaginable before I'd buy one otherwise.

gamby wrote: My past 3 DD Civics have all been lowered. I still have this aversion to stock ride height. Wheelgap makes me anxious. Other than that, I just want AC and a working stereo.

Oh, to have reliable, well functioning AC in a daily driver again....

I go through vehicles like loaves of bread so I don't often mod them. I have a few long-term cars in the stable that I'm modding the heck out of, but I usually spend all of my money keeping my DDs alive.

One thing I won't tolerate is a crappy sound system. Right now my DD is a 99 Ford Powerstroke cargo van. It came with an AM/FM radio with two speakers. The left speaker is disintegrated... and I mean gone. I pulled the door panel off and the cone fell on the ground. The right speaker is badly damaged and I only get the really high frequencies and even they distort. As soon as I scrape two dimes together I'm getting some good 6.5" components and building boxes for some 10" subs I have sitting around. Then I'll round it out with a good head unit and call it a day.

Snow tires (can't miss work), GRM sticker (i need all the power I can get), tool kit, jumper cables, coat, blanket and pillow.

They all seen the be lower, stiffer, on wider tires, with noisy intakes and exhausts, sometimes noisy clutches, and they generally have a roll bar and inconvenient seat belt. Sometimes the steering wheel can come with you.

Getting them, and keeping them, running.

Upgrade tires and wheels including a full size spare. Tinted windows as Texas can be tough! Holders for my stuff...sunglasses, cell phone, pens, cups, flashlight etc. Often upgrade interior lighting as stock usually is pretty sucky.

Just installed a new stereo with one with all the bells and whistles. Hands free phone capable, USB port, and a bunch of other stuff that I haven't figured out yet.

Put some custom wiring in to run chargers, GPS, even an inverter for 110 in the trunk with a 12 volt port included.

Proper lug wrench and jack as part of my tool bundle. Repairs are always checked to see if a desirable upgrade is available...better tires, shocks etc.

Lets see...Ventshades, swapped out drivers seat for a more comfortable ride (It may be brown with my gray interior, but its my butt!), decent steering wheel cover.

Being in a little car I seem to obsess on being able to see so headlights cannot be glazed over with that yellow mung and my windows get cleaned regularly.

12 years as my DD in a 1991 Escort....My poor 95 Mustang just lost out as a DD from day 1 of ownership.

Bruce

The DD is my work van. It mostly gets gas and oil. I have replaced the AM/FM with a HD Radio CD and XM, and the speakers with something Alpine. The back windows are limo tint and the front are as dark as allowed. I also have a 5000 watt inverter with dedicated batteries, but it's on a cart so it will be portable. Other than a good set of shocks, the rest of it is stock. I'm using it up as fast as I can and mods would be a waste.

The Roadmaster got a set of wheels recently. It will be getting paint at some point and possibly a front valance and bumper cover. It will also be getting tint. Any other mods to it will be to help it survive towing the race car, or tow it better. The suspension will probably stay mostly stock. Getting beat to death for hours on end gets old.

The RX-7 will be going under the knife starting this fall. Nothing will stay the same, and I do mean nothing. It's still in the planning stages and subject to change almost daily.

The wife's car gets nothing. Sometimes not even an oil change.

Wally wrote: Snow tires (can't miss work),

Absolutely

Cold A/C, good tires and a decent sound system. Window tint to help keep things cooler in these stinking hot summers. That reminds me, the Trooper needs to be retinted.

curtis73 wrote: I go through vehicles like loaves of bread so I don't often mod them.

I had my Golf ("going to leave this one alone") for about two weeks, and then a 24"x3"x1/8" plate welded itself into the rear beam.

I could lift the inside rear tire in a fast food drive-thru after that

The Nissan I had, though, I left alone. People talk about radios? It had an AM/FM/cassette that didn't work, and funky Nissan double-antenna system that kept an aftermarket unit from going in.

I've been thinking more about this. I'm always day dreaming about my next DD. The closest I'll ever get to driving a race car is playing GT5 with the guys on the board. Cars come out of the factory full of comprimises. In a perfect world I would take a factory car and remove the comprimises I can live without to make the car closer to what my mind envisions it to be.

Example, This 96 Impala SS becomes my new DD

There is a lot of knowledge about how to make these things go faster but I'll lay out my plan on how to make it the ultimate DD.

Step 1. Breathing

They come from the factory with a maze in the intake tract designed to keep it quite. I believe I would rather have a nice smooth path for the intake air rather than a little bit quiter intake tract so a nice CIA would be going in.

I would also ditch the factory exhaust manifolds for lighter and better flowing headers. I would replace the rest of the exhaust with a nice mandrel bent system with free flow cats andlight wieght mufflers.

Doing this would drop some weight while freeing up a little more power. The downside is it will be a little louder than stock.

Step 2. Tuning

At this point I would be having the thing tuned. Optimizing timing and fuel. Paying close attention to part throttle cruise.

Step 3. Handling

I don't think I would touch the springs. They feel good to me as they are. I would be putting ZQ8 bumpstops up front. Makes a big differance. I would also do front and rear sway's and get a good set of shocks on it.

I would buy a set of summer only wheels with summer only tires. In the winter I would run all seasons on the stock wheels. If we had a real winter with snow here I would be putting steel wheels with real winter tires on it.

Step 4. Interior

Don't need a fancy stereo so would leave the stock one alone.

I would be at least replacing the drivers seat, maybe even both front seats. The so called seats in these things are horrible. I would try to find somethin lighter than stock but comfort would trump weight in this situation.

Step 5. Exterior

Keep it clean and waxed.

That would pretty much be my ultimate DD. In fact you could replace the Impala with just about anything else and use the same formula to have what I would call a good DD. All in all after looking at doing this to several differant types of cars I came out to an average of around $5k in mods on top of the price of a car. In my mind it's worth it to be happy in a DD adn hopefully keep it a little longer but some of you maynot see the value in it. Especially if you have a race car, I'm sure that $5k would go a long way over a season.

I forgot the aftermarket steering wheel the last few DD's I have had were a MOMO or equivalent wheel. just feels so much more connected with a solid wheel.