Aftermarket car accessories is a huge business and there is a wide range of products available in the market for any kind of vehicle. However, there are a few accessories that can do more harm than good to your vehicle. Here are six such accessories which should be avoided at any cost!
Bullbars
In India, bullbars can be found in every type of vehicles. Thanks to the congested traffic situations of the country, where cars often bump into each other, car owners play it safe by installing bull bars on their vehicles. Even though the bullbars may save the vehicle from minor scratches, it can be a huge problem in the event of an accident.
How? If the car gets involved in a collision, the bullbars take the first impact and transfer it to the vehicle’s sub-frame. Cars are designed to absorb the impacts and have crumple zones that reduce the transfer of energy to occupants. Bullbars can cause major damage to the vehicle’s sub-frame or monocoque and even the occupants feel the impact more fiercely. Bullbars also stop the air bags from inflating in time, further injuring the occupants.
Spacers
Wide track tyres look quite good on any car but using spacers to get the desired look is not recommended at all. Spacers can give you a wide track without spending much but it does more harm than good to your car. To start with, the wheel bearing life becomes a lot shorter and in a few cases, the studs can get sheared off. Such cases can be extremely dangerous as the wheels can come out while driving and it can turn out to be catastrophic. Wheel spacers are something that should be avoided at all costs unless you want to risk your vehicle and your life.
Lift kits
Lift kits are installed on off-roading vehicles to increase the ground clearance, making the vehicle much more capable. Such vehicles are often purposely built and are kept off the tarmac. However, there are many who get the lift kit just to get the intimidating looks on the road. Lift kits can be dangerous as it affects the handling of the vehicle. Lift kits increase the centre of gravity of the vehicle and make it unstable.
During off-roading, the speed of the vehicle remains very low and the centre-of-gravity plays a very limited role in it. However, at high speeds, the high centre of gravity increases the body-roll and it can even turn the vehicle upside down. Making an emergency move or braking suddenly can throw your vehicle around and it can be scary and lead to accidents.
Body kits
Body kits do make the vehicle look different and expensive but it can do extreme harm to your vehicle if it has a low ground clearance. Indian roads are not exactly very suitable for low cars and even the infrastructure, like the parking ramps, speed breakers and other things, are not designed to accommodate the low ground clearance cars. A body kit dangerously lowers the car’s ground clearance even further and decreases the approach and departure angles of the vehicle. If one is not extremely careful with body kits on the cars with a lower ground clearance, it can be harmful to the vehicle.
Tuning box
Tuning boxes are illegal in India but there are many such boxes available in the market. A tuning box uses software to fool the diesel car’s injectors that in turn sprays more fuel than required to the engine. Diesel engines are designed to burn the extra amount of fuel, which generates more power and torque. A tuning box increases the performance of the vehicle for sure but it can be extremely harmful to the engine.
A few advanced tuning boxes can even control the turbochargers to create more boost that induces even more power in the engine. The engines are not designed for handling the extra power and boost and can give up after a few thousand kilometres. The engine is put at more stress that in turn reduces the life. Also, as they are illegal, your car can get seized and if the service centre finds out, you can bid goodbye to the vehicle’s warranty.
Oversized tyres
While upsizing the tyre by a few millimetres is not a problem, putting very oversized tyres can be extremely bad for your vehicles. If the vehicle comes with a certain size of tyre, everything including the brakes, suspension and other parts are designed for that tyre size. Oversizing the tyre can lead to increased rolling resistance that can negatively affect the car’s performance and mileage. Also, you get a different speedometer reading and if the service centre finds out, the warranty can be made void. Also, a bigger tyre size can increase the wear and tear of the ball bearings and reduces the life exponentially.
Also Read: Yamaha RX100 modified into a Cafe Racer is retro chic