 Tuning Dos and Don’ts. Click image to enlarge |
Lighting
DO: Check your local by-laws and the Highway Traffic Act before installing non-factory lighting provisions. This will prevent being pulled over and ticketed by Officer Dick McHardass for a lighting-related offense. This officer doesn’t hate you or your car – he’s just doing his job and upholding the law, which you could be breaking, if you don’t do your homework first. Use quality parts from a reputable manufacturer, unless you’re down for frequent bulb replacements, flickering lights or the possibility of burned or melted wiring or wiring fires. NOTE: wiring fires aren’t fun. Check online forums for comments on installing the lighting kit you’re thinking of, and even some before and after pictures. Some folks even have Youtube videos, outlining how to install lights into the car you might be considering. If not, film yourself doing the job, post it to YouTube, and enjoy being a total bro to all your car buds.
DON’T: Half-ass a seventeen-dollar xenon lighting kit onto your Cobalt and expect trouble-free operation. Not only are cheap knock-off kits a pain in the ass to fiddle with and keep re-installing when stuff goes wrong, but many can actually reduce lighting performance thanks to low-quality lenses and bulbs. If you need to make wiring connections, don’t just splice and electrical tape – you’ll want to solder, shrink-wrap and tape, for maximum durability of the splice.
  During & after. Not shown: forethought. Click image to enlarge |
Exhaust System
DO: Check videos, forums and with your pals running similar exhaust systems. You want a system that’s not bananas-loud, and a high-quality system that won’t rust out after a Canadian winter, and one that’ll fit properly beneath your ride without any bending, smashing or other modification. Do hire an exhaust shop to install the kit. Find a locally owned shop, make nice with the fella working inside, and offer to pay cash to save a few bucks. Also, do attempt to look at a nearby object through the muffler you’re considering by looking into one end. Can you see the object through the muffler? If so, the muffler is going to be loud as heck, illegal, and make you a pesky ricer.
DON’T: Attempt to install your own exhaust system unless you’re mechanically inclined and very patient. Ever installed an exhaust system before? No? Have the guys down at Bob’s Muffler do it for you. They have the tools, hoist and experience to do it quickly and properly – not over the course of several agonizing hours lying on your back in the driveway with undercarriage stuff in your face. Don’t buy the cheapest muffler you can find, especially from the internet.
Suspension
DO: Lower your car to enhance its appearance using quality parts sold as a kit that also includes implements to adjust camber, caster and toe, thereby compensating for the changes in ride height and maintaining safety, tire life, handling and fuel economy, when required. Some lowering kits affect these aspects of wheel alignment, others don’t. Translation? Do your homework. Do remember that quality brands are numerous when it comes to options in lowering your ride, and do ensure you get an alignment after the job, to ensure maximum handling, fuel economy, safety and tire-life are maintained.
DON’T: Lower your ride by cutting or clamping or heating up and bending, or otherwise modifying the coil springs. This is totally ghetto – not to mention dangerous, and illegal in most locales.
