Some people put these awful mods on their cars in an attempt to impress others. You’re not fooling anyone!

If you want to make your neighbours jealous or impress your in-laws with your motor, you don’t have to buy a new car or improve your current one. Just slap a few of these “modifications” on and you’ll feel like your car has doubled in value, or not.

Fake performance badges

Have you ever seen a Ford Fiesta with an ST badge that’s slightly misaligned or in the wrong place? That’s because it may not be a real ST.

Unfortunately, there’s a whole undying market for fake BMW M, Honda Type R, Mercedes AMG, Ford ST/RS, Audi RS and VW GTI badges out there and every now and then, if you’re lucky enough, you’ll see one out in the wild. Look for tell tale signs such as the badge being slightly the wrong colour, being positioned wrong or the car lacking the rest of the sport styling that should come with that model.

Fake sunroofs

Yes, that’s right, they exist. For the small price of about £2, you can order a sunroof-shaped piece of black vinyl to stick on the roof of your car! The result is what looks like a sunroof to the untrained eye, but up close I imagine you’d clearly be able to see that it’s just a thin sheet of vinyl or adhesive rubber with no other detail. It could also lead to some awkward situations when people get into the car expecting to see a sunroof on the ceiling.

“Designer” hub caps

Not all cars come with alloy wheels as standard and have plastic wheel caps instead. If you have a look online for wheel caps, you can soon find a wide range of “sporty” looking designs, featuring imitations of high end alloys and glossy black caps with a red outlines. Half of these wheel caps don’t fit very well either, often leaving the car owner driving around with one of the wheels missing a cap.

Alternatively, you can always fix them on with some aesthetically pleasing cable ties.

Fake seat belt covers

Not only can you buy fake badges for the exterior of your car, you can also buy performance model seat belt covers for the inside as well. Ford ST, Mercedes AMG, BMW M, you name it. If you don’t own a Ford ST, don’t try and fake it. Some people even go the extra mile by installing race harnesses in their cars! Sure, that’s pretty cool if you own a Nissan GT-R or maybe a 911 GT3, but probably not suitable for a stock Corsa.

Stick-on vents

Just like the rest, this fake car mod serves no functional purpose and is only bought to make the car look better. From side fender vents to be stuck near your wheel arches to fake bonnet vents, these adhesive additions can be purchased online for under £10 and are easy to apply. However, people could notice that the vents have no holes, or that their not in the same place on each side which could lead to some embarrassing conversations.

Too much can go wrong with these for them to be worth it, so just leave the vents to the sports and muscle cars.

“Fake it til you make it” may work in motivational seminars but when it comes to car ownership, it doesn’t quite work the same way. Let us know if you feel the same way!

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