How do you afford your mods?

I figured if I can afford a new car, I can afford to put ~10-15% extra money into mods that will make the car everything I want.
Also, I do all my own maintainance and oil changes, saving big money there which can be put into other things.
I'm also quite good at saving the money I earn; Not eating out much, wearing cheap clothes, stock up on food that are on sale etc. Makes me able to buy the things I want in life like car parts, gasoline and Steam games

When I was a starving college student... I would just eat/live as cheap as possible then scrimp and save all I could and buy something, going for the lowest cost per horsepower I could when going for power mods. That's what made turbo cars so great. 20 years ago, a $40 Hallman manual boost controller could usually give you an easy 25% bump in power on many cars. Intakes could be cobbled together for cheap. Exhaust shops could and still can make some cheap exhaust compared to pre-fabbed car-specific options.

Nowadays? I buy whatever I want... but have the benefit of having everything I need and not having many wants. I typically sort of shuffle around back and forth between a few hobbies... with car stuff being just one of several things I put my time/money into.

I've hit the age where I've stopped spending money on things like mods. My debt is almost eliminated, and I'm on the glide-slope to retirement in 5-10 years.

I’m a kept man. My wife pays for my hobbies and toys.

Jokes aside; car is paid off, I have an alright no stress job, absolutely zero debt and were a family of money savers. I may buy a mod every few months or so, but when I do it’s usually inexpensive small things and always in cash. Largest outlay was UHP summer tires.
This is a hobby and luxury, so absolutely no going into debt over

I think that if you can’t afford to modify your ride you probably went to high??
What’s The point in doing street racing on the weekend if you can’t afford new brakes and tires to go to work on Monday morning

Jobs pays well but besides that I do have a base model after all. My payments are really low and that makes me afford my mods which I’m not near done with yet.

Write the mods down and the price, and make a realistic timeline as to when you think you can achieve it. I am at the point where between new wheels and tires, Hondata, lowering springs front and rear sway bars installed and front mount IC its gonna cost me. I've found writing it down makes it real and making it real makes it ever present in your mind. Nothing comes without sacrifice but don't forget to live too. Working on my ride is just one of the many things I enjoy so all in due time.

Tutoring and side gigs allow for toys
I'm about $600-700 deep into mods, so no exhaust or wheels yet...

joshhjackson2112 said:

I am interested in knowing how you all afford to modify your cars. I have come to a point where most of the mods I want to do to my SI cost anywhere from $500 to over $1,000. I am finding it harder to save the money for these expensive mods that I want so badly. I have a decent job but I'm nowhere close to rich. So I want to know what you do. Do you cut back on eating out? Do you have a second job? Do you rack up credit card debt? Take your time saving wisely? Or are you simply wealthy enough to mod without breaking a sweat? I am interested in hearing your strategies.

Click to expand...

Holiday sales and following the company that makes the parts help you know about potential discounts....people laugh at me when I shop for car parts on Black Friday lmao but it’s one of the best deals you’ll ever find... and sometimes you just gotta go broke and eat some ramen.. hopefully you can afford that after buying the part lmao... but most importantly pace yourself with the mods

COOL COUPE said:

No one here has any real money ... its why we are driving Civics! LOL ... I am trying to get a plan to get into a Borla for my 2019 Red Civic Si Coupe. Its not easy ... so you are not alone. I feel your pain.

Click to expand...

Or maybe some people see no need to buy extremely expensive cars and choose rather to live below their means. The Civic is a very nice vehicle and you get a lot for what it cost.

Save up for the things you want in life, you will be much better off when you are older.

Living with very little debt is a good thing.