Car Modification Research........

[silver_spoon]

Hello all,

I’m doing some research into creating a profile of the high end car modifications industry in the UK & beyond. I’d like to canvas a bit of opinion from a range of car enthusiasts if thats okay?
I’d firstly like to ascertain:

• Your thoughts on car modifications desired but notably unavailable in the market place?
• In your opinion, what are the most popular upgrades both aesthetically & mechanically?
• In your opinion, what are the worst offered modifications out on the market?
• High end market modification businesses currently known to readers rated by quality of
offerings and website design.
• Your magazine of choice for the car enthusiast?

Your comments and opinions would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks,

S_S

[signia]

silver_spoon said:

• Your thoughts on car modifications desired but notably unavailable in the market place?
• In your opinion, what are the most popular upgrades both aesthetically & mechanically?
• In your opinion, what are the worst offered modifications out on the market?
• High end market modification businesses currently known to readers rated by quality of
offerings and website design.
• Your magazine of choice for the car enthusiast?

Well, seeing as you posted this in the LR forum, I reckon you might get some different answers to a "regular" car.
Speaking only from an LR point of view (my answers would be different for another car) - your points in order...

1) if it's a mod for a land rover, and someone's thought of it, the chances are someone's done it. There are so many options out there, even to small fabricators who will, for example, custom build a front bumper for you to your specification. The only modification which is desired, but notably unavailable, is a land rover which doesn't rust or corrode.... ali on steel, people... seriously??!

2)aesthetically, depending on use, either a lift/winch/lights/recovery equipment or, big wheels/tints/ss zorst.
Mechanically, if you're talking for off road use, you'd normally leave a V8 well alone. You can chip a Td5 Or there's EGR removal on the Tdis which is popular. Other mechanical upgrades would relate to drivetrain upgrades in relation to any lift or off road requirements - and gearing for use of bigger wheels. For "street" rovers, there's the typical engine chipping and zorst upgrades, but I don't know much about "performance" upgrades for LRs.

3)there are a lot of bad mods, but almost every LR is different, depending on owner's taste and requirements. Difficult to say that a mod is particularly bad or not. There is a range of different quality parts out there - you get what you pay for.

4)A good number of respected overland prepping companies out there. Frogs Island is one, although never used them. But top end places have top end prices, and I did most of the work myself. For "pimping" Kahn have developed some interesting looking Range Rovers. But for any high end LR mod, the first place to look would be Overfinch. They've modded a P38 to handle like a Focus. Well... not quite.. but it was a good improvement over standard.

5) Land Rover Owner International for LRs. Otherwise EVO.

Like I said. I've answered from a LR owner point of view.

[Liszt]

What ^^^^ he said. LR are very easy to mod and have been around years and used for all sorts of things. Overland, amphibious, off road, challenge events, Rally raid racing, Rallying. etc.

There is a huge community which is very good at sharing info. Modifications to "shineys" tend to be laughed at unless there more descrete like the Overfinch stuff. Project Kahn is a bit too drug dealer for my liking and detracts from the brand IMHO.

[Bish]

JE Egineering or RPi engineering for V8 fun! For diesels you have Twisted Perfomance, TD5 Alive, Allisport, JE (again), etc etc.

Overfinch are great but seem to be getting a little 'bling' in my eyes.........bring back the days of the P38 630R or the newer shaper 580S.........proper engineering.........not just a chip/re-map, sideskirts and some rather oversized curb-crawling alloys!