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Time to read 6 min
In the automotive modification community, there are many who take pride in their extreme attention to detail. There is an endless variety of parts, components and updates an enthusiast can sift through as they are researching and contemplating their modification project. One segment of a car modification that is often overlooked is the hardware or the fasteners that are dominant throughout an automobile’s construction. Some enthusiasts will debate with their inner voice on the importance of not only replacing hardware sets for their vehicle but also lightly dipping their toe into the idea of replacing these items with refinished, coated, or fully colored nuts, bolts and other fasteners that match that chosen color scheme of the vehicle.
Our team recently decided to feature one company who is not only laser focused on quality and giving a car individuality and a pleasing esthetic, but also injects their addiction to detail as enthusiasts into their own product. They have established themselves as the company who sets the trends by dropping a lot of “firsts” in the marketplace. We felt that they are producing something that goes beyond cosmetics and flash. Their spirit serves the mindset of the true creative personality that lives inside the Subaru lover. The personality of vision and unending possibilities.
Dress Up Bolts have been on the forefront of colored automotive hardware since their beginnings in Lynchburg, Virginia in 2010. Over the past decade plus they have built an impressive collection of hardware offerings which can serve the needs of a visual upgrade to a car’s engine compartment, a vehicle’s interior, and/or exterior depending on how deep the individual modification needs to dive. Whether a driver wants to keep their upgrade to only a face lift by replacing the hardware and fasteners in plain view, or they wish to get lost in the details by adding some uniqueness to the mechanics under the hood, Dress Up Bolts delivers a plethora of choices that would make the head of any obsessive modifier spin into dizziness.
Entering the market as hardware manufacturers and enthusiasts gave them the creative license to move into any slot of innovation they choose. Their concentration on quality was the first order of business naturally prompting them to produce all their hardware from Grade 5 Titanium. This material ensures that these components are lightweight, but have the maximum strength, durability, and protection against the elements that is required for daily driving or daily racing. Dress Up Bolts has always aimed their innovative eye towards the satisfaction of the enthusiast while bringing some important milestones to the industry.
Looking into the history of Dress Up Bolts will provide some confidence in their forward movement and their ability to provide a product that is more than a shiny colored piece of metal. As mentioned, this company has pioneered and developed several ideas before any of their closest competitors. First, Dress Up Bolts is known to be the first manufacturer of automotive hardware of this breed that offered vehicle-specific hardware kits to their customers.
With quality of function and design always being top of mind with their product development team, Dress Up Bolts provides clear instructions to make sure their customers experience a streamlined and easy installation without addressing any additional obstacles and challenges that sometimes come with modifications. Second, they perform several tests for durability to ensure the highest performance under any conditions. Also, a rare offering from any manufacturer, Dress Up Bolts developed a bolt gauge tool and companion tutorial to properly educate and inform all their customers while emphasizing safety and quality during their modification and hardware replacement process.
Speaking with Seth McGuire of Dress Up Bolts recently gave us great perspective and a clearer view of why their company ramped up to success rather quickly within a market that is notoriously competitive and agile when battles of innovation and swift navigation are fought so often. McGuire entered the game as a quick thinking marketer who knew about raw potential acting quickly on an opportunity before it passed him by. “In 2016 I was working full time in the oil & gas industry”, McGuire explained. After a brief but important encounter with a Nissan Skyline GT-R in his hometown, Seth found himself at the doorstep of Driver Motorsports, a local importer to ask if they needed any marketing help. “I ended up meeting the owner and working with them to do a rebrand overhaul for the company”, Seth confirmed proudly.
“When the project was finished, he had mentioned he had another company called Dress Up Bolts that he wasn’t really focused on growing anymore and wanted to know if I would be interested in purchasing the brand from him.” By March 2017, Seth and his business partner Randy were the new owners of this brand. These new owners would then spend the next few years growing a brand and establishing themselves as seekers of high quality and innovative consistency. Explaining their focus, Seth noted, “I believe most of our success is credited to three things: the quality standards we have set for our products, the ease of use our customers experience with our products, and the variety of vehicles we support”, an important vision for any impactful organization in today’s industry.
We have obviously put our hands on a lot of products and have interacted with many brands during our journey through this marketplace, so deciding to feature the products created by Dress Up Bolts was not a challenging decision. Learning more about their team, their leadership, and their business methodology proved inspiring to our team of enthusiasts here at Subimods - anxious to spread the word and advocate their efforts. Without unlocking a vault filled with company secrets and plans for the future, McGuire confidently affirms that their trajectory will be onward and upward as they look at their drawing board and spirit of purpose.
“One thing I can say is that we will continue to release new hardware kits for vehicles we don’t currently support and also revisit some older kits to expand our hardware offerings”, Seth explained. “The best thing about my job is trying to come up with new ways we can help enthusiasts satisfy their OCD when working on the vehicle. One of the ways we have done this is to expand our kits beyond the engine bay to offer door, seat, trunk, and fuel door kits. The list goes on and on.” Learning more about the Dress Up Bolts team, their leadership, their business methodology, and their confidence in pursuing quality proved inspiring to our team of enthusiasts here at Subimods. “Our commitment to our quality standards isn’t just something we say, but also practice”, said McGuire. “We believe that if you are going to spend your hard earned money then you should receive a product that will last.”
The catalog of items available from Dress Up Bolts will prove to be extensive and inspiring to even the most inexperienced enthusiast or novice modifier. They offer the largest inventory of colored titanium hardware in the automotive industry which allows the individual creator and visionary to set their individualism on any level they choose. Their product development team is constantly behind the drawing board thinking of new ways to offer more options to their customers.
Dress Up Bolts currently gives its customers a choice of over 170 vehicle-specific kits but is consistent and always driven to design different solutions with every passing day. As a premiere supplier of aftermarket automotive parts, accessories, and merchandise, Subimods works with their team to bring these solutions to our catalog quickly as they have grown to be one of the most in-demand products on many of our customer’s wish lists. Dress Up Bolts is proud to keep its product development and inventory at their U.S. headquarters where they can keep an eye on quality and make sure availability to all their distribution channels is solid – keeping customers happy and modification projects moving forward without obstacles.
Bryon Turcotte - Marketing Writer/Analyst
Turcotte has worked as a writer, journalist, and digital content developer for 30 years. He began his career in music journalism in 1995 then worked for several years as both a staff writer, managing editor, and a freelancer for both regional and national music publications. Over the next three decades his contributions extended beyond the music industry as he served within the realms of higher education, science and technology, manufacturing, and finance. He has been serving as a content developer and writer on the Subimods Marketing team since August 2023.
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