Car performance upgrades are no longer reserved for pushing more power from bigger engines. Getting that power down is just as important. This has led to stiffened chassis and suspension setups, and exterior body parts to improve stability and control by limiting drag and lift. For pure performance, you’ll be looking at aftermarket parts for cars like coilovers, strut bars and lowering springs in the handling department, and additions ranging from lip and wide body kits to get the car to cut through air and look the part while doing it.
Exterior Body Parts Worth Your Cash
- Bumpers: Bumpers are multitaskers. They’re one of the various types of car body parts that provide front-end protection while integrating performance and practicality. The parts are actively involved in absorbing impact in collisions, while shielding critical car parts, including the radiator, engine, lights and grille at the front, and exhaust and fuel systems at the rear. Recent versions have undergone design changes to include increased pedestrian safety, significantly reducing injuries. This also extends to styling elements that define brand and model aesthetics with additions like integrated fog lights, chrome trim inserts, and air scoops that direct more air into the engine, and cool the brakes.
- Spoilers: For an aero boost, consider front and rear spoilers. These parts manage airflow to improve aerodynamics, handling and stability. Front spoilers ‘spoil’ oncoming air, distributing it over and under the car to increase road holding. Low-speed, high-pressure air above the car presses the car against the road, while high-speed, low-pressure air under the vehicle creates a suction effect to maximise stability. The end result is reduced drag and turbulence, with minimal air resistance at higher speeds, more responsive braking and predictable cornering. They also look great and come in more subtle sizes for ordinary cars, which is another reason they’re so popular.
- Grilles: Grilles ensure proper engine cooling. They’ve also become the face of car brands, a recognisable styling trait that defines overall design. These parts disperse atmospheric air across the radiator, ensuring optimal operating temperatures. They also limit road debris. With mesh, billet and other grille designs in hardened plastics or lightweight metals, newer grille versions can also provide a performance and aero kick by limiting or maximising oncoming air.
- Side skirts: Often paired with front spoilers and splitters, side skirts are a continuation of the aero theme by controlling airflow along the sides and underneath the car. They manage both drag and lift, ensuring greater stability between front and rear axles, which is a vital trait, especially in cornering. Their protective role is often overlooked; they shield the underbody, doors and panels from debris, spraying rocks and gravel.
The Role of Body Kits
Exterior body parts can function on their own as styling elements. However, ground or aero effects are exponentially improved when paired together in a complete body kit. These kits come in different types. Lip body kits, for instance, installed at the front of the car, consist of revised spoilers and splitters to redirect air over, under and around the vehicle while reducing drag and minimising lift. Adding side skirts balances the effect for increased downforce. ‘Aero kits’ combine elements of lip kits with rear diffusers to tame remnant air at the rear axle, and rear spoilers or bigger wings to force the rear against the road.
Wide body kits feature larger front and rear bumpers positioned lower to the ground, along with space for bigger tyre and wheel setups, often paired with beefier brakes. The good news is that car body parts and kitted packages aren’t limited to performance cars, so if you’re after better handling, improved steering control and unique looks even in an everyday run-around, this is the way to go.
Improved Control With Suspension Upgrades
The stock suspension is suitable for everyday driving, unless you’ve opted for performance packages to stiffen up the ride. Common suspension upgrades are coilovers and lowering springs.
Coilovers are essentially assemblies of calibrated coils over shocks (thus the name), and tuned for the specifics of each vehicle, including weight, length and power output. They consist of stiffened springs paired with high-performance mono-tube or twin-tube shocks, along with auxiliary parts like ride height adjusters and damping knobs that fine-tune settings for different road surfaces. Some of their benefits include improved handling that comes with tuning springs and shocks for height, stiffness, and rebound rates, as well as changing ride height and spring stiffness for enhanced comfort or composure, and the sheer level of customisation.
Consider street coilovers designed for everyday driving tasks (with basic levels of height and damping adjustment), track types for a more responsive and controlled car with improved braking and acceleration on closed circuits, and 4×4 coilovers with stiffer, long-travel spring rates and greater shock compression adjustability for technical and off-road trips.
If you’re into slammed looks, a lower centre of gravity and reduced body roll in corners, spend less cash and go with lowering springs. These can bring the car closer to the ground (by 25 to 65mm) and come in different types: linear compression rates, progressive springs that become stiffer when reacting to higher forces (such as high-speed turns) and dual-rate springs for the best of both worlds. Most also offer varying adjustability to dial the settings you need.
The Wrap Up
Opting for new body parts isn’t just about styling changes. Bumpers, spoilers, wings, grilles, side skirts and diffusers add a performance edge, keeping the car stable at high speeds, in corners and when braking hard. They reduce body roll, minimise drag and lift, increase stability and provide a more controlled driving experience. Paired with dash additions like car gauges and suspension modifications like coilovers or lowering springs, aftermarket car parts and vehicles fitted this way not only turn heads but are way ahead in terms of overall performance. And for most car enthusiasts, this is what matters.
