15 years after Pimp My Ride’s finale, Hyundai’s rally team has embodied the spirit of the venerable Xzibit meme with its new spoiler design. While Hyundai’s spoilers have employed complex designs for years, the 2022 World Rally Championship challenger employs the boldest one yet. It looks very much like someone decided to put a spoiler on its spoiler. New regulations mean that WRC cars will be hybrid for the first time and will employ new aerodynamics packages — although most will be less daring than Hyundai’s. A handful of other cars, including Ford’s M-Sport Puma Rally1, have been revealed so far, and they’re much less visually striking than Hyundai’s i20 N Rally1.
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Starting With The Basics
While you, too, can put a spoiler on your ride, car experts suggest that you start with your wheels instead. Not only are rims incredibly visual, but upgrading your tires can have a bigger performance boost on your car than picking up a fancy set of coilovers. When you change out your wheels, you can decrease your car’s weight, improve the visibility of other parts like your brakes, and totally change the exterior aesthetic of your ride. The right set of wheels can change a car from looking totally stock to looking like an absolute beast. While they’re not cheap, your first wheel upgrade is one of the most effective performance upgrades in terms of benefit per dollar.
Adjusting Your Ride
Changing your wheels is one thing, but what about changing where they sit? Between spacers, suspension kits, and wheel adjustment, you’ve got a lot of room to play with how your tires meet the road and where your wheels sit inside the wheel well. If you want your new wheels to really pop, consider a subtle lowering of your car to emphasize their aesthetics. Alternatively, lifting your vehicle can help reinforce its size and give you more clearance on dirt roads or when off-roading. Be sure to check your local regulations and do a bit of research on wheel spacer safety if you plan to go all-out. These upgrades are very safe when done with the help and advice of a professional, but adding a set of wheel spacers or installing a lift kit on your own without adequate knowledge can lead to increased wear and tear on other parts and cause you headaches down the line. And while you’re at it, make sure to check other essential parts like the engine and radiator. As you may know, the car radiator is the central part of a vehicle’s cooling system, so making sure it functions properly is of utmost importance.
What About Spoilers?
If you’d like to make your car look like it goes fast, adding a spoiler might be an appealing option. Installed properly, these components can help increase downforce, reduce drag, and help your car handle better on the track. That said, spoilers are not without their share of headaches. Spoilers can be expensive, difficult to install, and they can impact the visibility from your rearview mirror. They’re also notoriously delicate, especially if you opt for a lighter spoiler or one with a large wing. A well-chosen spoiler is one of the most distinctive things you can add to most sports cars. Whether they look cool enough to offset the downsides is up to you.
Upgrade Your Exterior This Summer
If Hundai’s newest rally car is anything to go by, we’ve still got plenty of room for innovative new ideas in car exterior accessories. While you can definitely put a spoiler on your car to enhance both its aesthetics and its speed, consider starting with the wheels and suspension first. A set of wheels and tires will not only have a new design, it’ll also enable you to change the size of your wheels relative to your wheel wells and show off components like brake calipers and suspension through the spokes in your rims. When it comes to your suspension, modern kits can be bought for just about every car on the market, allowing you to lift or lower your car with ease, while options like wheel spacers can help give your car’s exterior an attitude adjustment and a wider wheelbase.
These accessories will have a major impact on the overall aesthetic of your car and can have a big performance impact, too, whether it’s for increased clearance and stability when towing or for faster lap times at the track. By starting with core components for your exterior upgrades, you’ll build a car that looks incredible while getting great performance. Xzibit would be impressed.
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