Tips for pimpin' my ride

June 2, 2008 10:52 PM

I have this fantasy of deckin out my car... fast and the furious style. I drive a '99 Chrysler 300M fully loaded (minus the sunroof). I was thinkin of getting some ground effects to give it a tougher look, but still maintain it's classy appeal, and some nice rims to complement the classier (yet aggressive look). Also for interiors, I was hoping there is some kind of heads up display to show engine stats, radio info and more, as well as a nice receiver. How much would I be looking to spend? Any tips,pointers, links, are literature would be great!
posted by FireStyle to sports, hobbies, & recreation (6 comments total)

Pretty much every car has a message board dedicated to it. here's one for the 300M. They have a Big section on body mods.
posted by delmoi at 11:07 PM on June 2, 2008

Pimpin' a soon to be 10 year old ride is a poor financial move, so whatever you spend on this, you should chalk up to entertainment expense. Rims and body kits you can find easily - the problem with 10 year old cars is paint. If you don't want your new body work to look like Zircon ear studs, you're probably going to have to do something about your paint, way beyond buffing. 10 years of sun on Detroit paint won't match any current body parts. So, figure $1,000 for a basic Razzi kit if you bolt it on yourself, and another $1,500 for the paint job that you'll need to pull it together.

I'm really against cheap heads up displays, for street cars. Unlike military displays which use precision coatings on windshields/canopies to refract the display, bouncing light off your windshield is a really bad idea for general visibility in a street vehicle.
posted by paulsc at 11:46 PM on June 2, 2008

This is a problem.

Your car is neither fast, nor furious.

Don't buy into the fallacy of "custom" car modification. Here is a genuine tip: save up some money and swap in a SRT-8 6.1 Hemi. There's nothing worse than a car that tries to look "FnF" (barfed in my mouth a little) but is just a gutless, nutless family car with a Folgers can muffler.
posted by crunch buttsteak at 7:47 AM on June 3, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

If you don't want to go fast, and just want the look.

Bare minimum $1k for wheels and tires.
$800+ for lowering/suspension (less if you leave the factory shocks in)
Body kit, YMMV, depends on what parts you want to install. And unless your paint is abused, don't worry about repainting.
posted by wongcorgi at 11:11 AM on June 3, 2008

True, a fart can exhaust, a phony hood scoop and a rear wing would indeed look stupid. But there's nothing wrong with a nicely modded ride as long as the mods don't try to make it look "FnF" per se. For instance big fat rims, maybe with a wide or staggered offset, a lower stance, and a nicely done body kit, could make your car look unique.

Expect to pay as much as you have in your bank account. There are as many mods as you have time for, and plenty of people do crazy things like buy 4 sets of rims that they switch around depending on their mood. Slippery slope.

Consider learning about your car's mechanicals while you're at it. There's nothing wrong with a 10 year old ride assuming you can keep it running properly. It's heck of a lot more "green" than dumping it and buying a new car (even though that's what G-W wants you to do with your stimulus check).
posted by drmarcj at 4:11 PM on June 3, 2008

Well I want to clarify that I don't want to make it fast... the FnF reference is really about the look. My car is in excellent shape with mostly highway miles on it. But I still have a few years left on the the payments (got it used) so I thought I'd pamper her a lil bit.

Lots of nice wheels on these sites i've seen... but I'm not sure which ones will maintain its classy appeal... I don't want it to look like a fake street car... any brands to look at?
posted by FireStyle at 9:42 PM on June 3, 2008