I have a very strong preference for keeping a car as stock as possible. What do you prefer?

Variety is the spice of life?

I'm inclined to go for the should have been built this way to begin with sort of adjustments.

So my Jeep has every suspension control arm, every spring and shock, the drag link and track bar in front are (improved) aftermarket. I switched brake calipers with another model of Jeep (improved braking) and am using forged wheels from another Jeep (stronger than the original cast, and more utility-focused size) and has a number of hand built or cross-sourced parts randomly throughout every area of the vehicle. Upgraded stereo but everything is in stock locations and takes up no additional space. Permanently installed (no visible wires, no suction cup) dash cam. The vehicle doesn't look modified unless you park it next to a stock one or get under it.

A similar story is unfolding with the wife's Mustang; aftermarket radio integrated with factory amplifiers, aftermarket (Bilstein) shocks and junkyard sourced rear sway bar from another Mustang, improved brake pads and soon to get dual exhausts. Hopefully soon to get 3.73 gears, a shift kit and new tires too..

Again, similar story on the Saturn - improved front brake pads and discs, urethane sway bar bushings and doubled sway bar brackets in the rear, boxed rear control arms, spoiler from a Pontiac , alloy wheels from an older Saturn coupe with slightly wider tires, significant application of sound deadener throughout the vehicle (no special audio system, just new speakers and an aftermarket head unit) and a better dome light.

Everything is pretty subtle (except the paint job on the Saturn) but I like to think that it really should have been built that way to begin with. I tend to like that lagom hack, nothing extreme just engineered to work the best but I've also built some pretty extreme vehicles for work, as well as personal use - to be honest the juice isn't worth the squeeze. "Should have been like this from the factory" hacks are the best hacks.

/r/cars Thread