Did you know that your car is the most fantastic canvas that offers you an incredible opportunity to create your masterpiece? The greatest thing about owning a superb vehicle is that you can always tune it accordingly to meet your specifications. And car tuning isn’t a complicated concept.
Instead, it is pretty easy to tune your car parts and accessories, provided that you are well aware of the processes. Again, however, remember to invest in a reasonably standard canvas, in this case, a car that doesn’t require frequent replacement of car parts.
That’s because if you have a sturdy canvas to experiment on, it gets pretty easier to get the maximum performance. So now, before jumping into the strategies to tune your car, let’s get a fair idea about this concept.
What Is Tuning?
Car tuning refers to the sets of modifications that can optimize the entire performance of the vehicle. One can perform the alterations as per requirements depending on the initial features of the car. In most cases, people start performance tuning with dynamic features like the engine of the vehicle. Also, you can modify the settings to get better fuel economy or even smoother responses.
Identifying the goal for tuning your car can help. And depending on your requirements, you can focus on the changes like software upgrades or other alterations that can amplify the performance readily. But nowadays, the crowd is showering more love towards the modified cars.
And people are more concerned about personalizing their vehicles to showcase their style quotient to the world. Therefore, they are more inclined to improve the car’s cosmetic and stylish outlook, including its functionality. But mainly, it encircles around the car’s aesthetics that can match up to one’s personality.
However, if you are eager to know more about tuned cars and ways to make them faster with fantastic performance, here is a helpful guide to get you started:
Let’s Start With Those Tires
One of the primary concerns is the current condition of your car tires. Mostly, people tend to ignore the state of the tires, but to continue proper tuning, the first thing that requires your immediate attention is your car tire.
Invest in a proper set of high-performing tires to get started with car tuning. For example, if you live in prolonged winters, you need to get two separate sets of wheels and tires depending on the seasons.
Use them differently as per summer and winter requirements. Also, get the rubber ones that can offer you speedy optimization accordingly, depending on the temperature changes. No matter what, stop ignoring those tires.
# Race Seats & Harness
Before continuing further car tuning check, you need to understand that comfort is essential for enhancing performance.
Why? That’s because if you manage to sit comfortably within the car, then only you can make appropriate adjustments to the accelerator pedal or the brakes.
That is why experts always stress investing in high-quality racing seats and harnessing to keep you fixed within a supportive place. Being comfortable while operating the different parts of the car can only help you enhance the performance like never before.
# SS Brake Lines & Brake Pads
You often see those fancy brake rotors with holes and think about buying them for your car. Stop right there as they won’t be making any difference to your vehicle. Instead, get a separate set of brake pads depending on your driving mode. That’s because, depending on your driving activity, you need to modify the brake pads.
It can help you enhance the overall feel of using the brakes while you speed through those rusty roads. Also, due to the application of hard brakes, your brake lines need frequent changes. These tend to wear away pretty quickly and so require constant monitoring. Invest in a stainless-steel brake line set to get the ultimate feel of those brakes within your feet.
# Engine Tuning
As the name suggests, here, you modify the engine control unit of your car to optimize its performance. However, it also enhances the overall power output, durability, economy of the engine and hence requires varied adjustments as per your requirements.
Often car manufacturers calibrate the car engine accordingly to match specific pre-set standards. As a result, they modify the fuel economy, vehicular emissions, and even performance. But these factors seem to depend on particular parameters. Let’s check out a simple example to understand this concept.
If you want to burn specific amounts of fuel within the engine cylinder, you need a certain quantity of air. Why? It is required to strike that pre-defined balance between the mileage, performance, and emissions. If you want the engine to produce more power to increase the overall performance, you might inject more fuel within the cylinder. As a result, you also increase the potential vehicular emissions.
Again, if you need to enhance the fuel economy, you might compromise with the car’s performance. Therefore, you always need to balance every aspect of the engine to control the overall output of your vehicle. Therefore, proper calibration is essential to keep the configuration intact and also increase performance.
Generally, the engine tuning would include:
- Proper adjustments of the carburetor speed as well as the air-fuel mixture
- Appropriate inspections and possible replacements of ignition components like contact breaker points, spark plugs, distributor rotor, distributor cap, etc.
- Replacements of air and other filters
- Constant review of emission controls
- Valvetrain adjustments
# Chip tuning
What do you need to know more about engine tuning? The first thing to know about it will include the method required for changing the erasable programmable read-only memory chip installed in your car’s ECU. Why? That’s because it is related to achieving the ultimate performance, whether cleaner emissions or even better fuel efficiency.
Generally, the engine manufacturers utilize the conservative electronic control unit mapping to change the individual engine variations. Vehicles with remapped ECU can be more sensitive to service schedules and fuel quality.
And you can do this quite quickly now, with the help of software updates through any standard interface. To understand more, let’s talk about remapping.
# Remapping
To understand proper engine tuning, you need to know more about remapping. It is the simplest form of stage 1 of engine tuning. Professionals conduct this procedure mainly on the turbocharged vehicles that consist of the engine control unit.
It comes with firmware that controls the different parameters under which your engine operates. Also, these parameters are essential to achieve & maintain the perfect balance between the torque, power, fuel emissions, fuel consumption, reliability, etc.
And in many cases, the factory firmware might not focus on the power or torque while achieving such balance. Therefore, there is still room for you to remap the ECU for increased horsepower. Or you can also try bench tuning to create a direct connection with the internal circuit board.
# Exhaust Modification
If you need a quick car upgrade, try upgrading the exhaust system. However, modifying it into the performance exhaust can help you only if you need more power from your engine.
Effectively, the standard one is a significant bottleneck along with different mufflers, twisting pipes, etc. In addition, the presence of the catalytic converters restricts the airflow from the vehicle, which ultimately creates the backpressure.
But when you change it to the performance exhaust, you let your engine breathe easily. The lack of building any backpressure helps in the easy flow of air. As a result, more fresh air can get into the engine, unlike the standard exhaust system. So, due to more air, you get more power output from the engine.
Also, did you know that your exhaust is responsible for turning those boring-sounding engine notes into something fruity and naughty? Yes, along with efficiency benefits and advanced horsepower, you also get to create all forms of sounds, from exotic ones to rally-like popping with the exhaust modification.
# Cold Air Intake
Although this might not increase the significant performance of the car, it still has some effects on the actual performance. Therefore, you need to follow similar principles, just like the coolers.
Here the entire idea is to facilitate the flow of cold air within the engine to allow aggressive tuning setups that can cause the generation of additional heat from the increased workload. In addition, it can help to control the air resistance, thereby enhancing the engine performance. Understand that cold air intake can be another form of throttle management that can ease up the breathing mechanism of your engine.
# Suspension
It is pretty good to have those sticky tires and back-road blasts. But do they still lean and also bounce right at the corner? If so, you need to understand how these effects can substantially impact the performance modifications that you might have installed within your vehicle.
The previously installed suspensions available for every car are mostly known for all sorts of driving conditions. That means the vehicle should be peaceful for the motorway cruise while it should be non-intrusive when you go over the potholes on the road. That’s all right till you need your car for sports purposes.
It will help if you focus on enhancing the tuning experience related to the suspension and enhancing your regular car into a sporty one. You need to invest in shock absorbers and sports-tuned springs, which are stiffer than the typical factory suspensions. These are essential for your vehicle as they can handle sudden weight transfers, making you a more confident driver.
# LSD
No, LSD here doesn’t signify the traditional meaning but is more about the limited-slip differential installation. If you need to transform your regular vehicle into a fancy, athletic toy, you need to install LSD into it.
In simple terms, it is a device that can limit the amount of wheel spin when your car wheels lose grip due to the exertion of power. It mainly works by reducing the torque given to the spinning wheels. Make sure to conduct a dyno run to measure the vehicle’s overall force, power, and torque.
Let’s refer to an example to understand this concept. If you turn any tight hairpin and the inside wheel instantly lights up, then LSD can provide more torque to the outside wheel. What does that mean? It means that you get to enjoy the dispersal of greater traction from the bends than the standard open differential.
If you compare, the standard one will not offer you restrictive limits on how much the wheel can spin even after applying the torque. However, in LSDs, there is easy drifting between the wheels, thereby handling cars while on or off the track.
# Anti-Roll Bar
An anti-roll bar is the one that connects both the sides of your car’s suspensions that can help in preventing anybody from leaning during cornering. That means, in simple words, it is the one responsible for maintaining the car’s weight on the wheels throughout your journey. And that is why you need to install adjustable anti-roll bars that can perfectly handle the shifting of weights while you race through the winds with your sporty possession.
Apart from these, understand that you are getting these changes only to enhance the natural feeling of riding your car. Ultimately, it is all about you having fun and enjoying the whole ride without any worries. So, make the changes, but before that, understand the specific requirements that can amplify the entire performance of your car.
All In All
Well, you are now quite aware of the specific modifications that can increase your car’s horsepower. But the industry is vast, and you can buy a diverse range of parts and mods to upgrade your vehicle like never before. But for a good car repair service, it is advisable to seek professional help.
You might have been dealing with your car for quite some time now. And hence, you understand its exact specifications and requirements more than anyone.
But an automobile expert can keep you updated with the latest technology and upgrades available for your car in the market. So, research well, and get a reliable, experienced professional to take care of your prized