Cheap car-mods to that aid performance and don't make you look like a chav
Car modifications which won't break the bank and won't make you look like a complete cock.
Lately I wrote about car mods that I hate and think are utterly tasteless and dumb, they did pretty good which means that I'm either pretty good at this or people love to hate (or just blind luck). So lets try and bring a bit of positivity, by showing cool car mods that will improve your cars performance, wont break the bank, and wont make you look like a cock.
A Good set of tires
You might not think of tires as modifications, after all every car is running seemingly similar rings of black rubber on their wheels, however all tires were not made equal. There can be a huge potentially life saving difference between a budget tire and a more premium option, while premium options tend to cost more, it's worth to spend that little extra if you are going down the route of upgrading your car anyway.
The extra grip afforded by them doesn't just mean putting the power down more efficiently, it also improves performance under heavy breaking and cornering allowing you to brake later and turn in harder saving previous seconds on the track.
Stiffer and lower springs from a reputable brand.
Lowered springs are one of the most cost effective ways to transform your cars visual appearance and handling characteristics. At around 200 quid from brands such as Eibach or Bilstein they are accessible to pretty much any car owner, and mean there is no excuse for driving with bodged job cut-springs.
Lowered springs will come with different spring rates meaning your car will not only sit lower, but will be a bit stiffer removing some body-roll aiding with grip and handling. You can also opt for a set of coil overs but good ones will cost a fair bit extra, and cheap ones aren't really worth the bother.
3 Bucket Seats
Now that your car doesn't wobble around like it had one too many, and grips the road like it should, it's likely that the ride got quite a bit more wilder and harsher, causing you to be potentially thrown all over the thing. If that's the case you should probably look at getting yourself a bucket seat to keep your bum in the seat.
On a serious note, a proper seat combined with a harness can greatly improve your safety and performance by keeping you actually in the seat, this will help you 'feel' the car more as well as stay more focus on the task of driving rather than trying to stay in the seat in fast corners.
A proper intake system
Now read it again, I mean a proper COLD air intake, a halfords filter and a punch of PVC piping next your exhaust manifold is neither proper nor a cold air intake. Now it's true that cold air gives your engine more power, thats down it's density, the colder the air the more dense it, this means more oxygen which means bigger boom so more poooowaa.
Just make sure the intake is taking in cold air, preferably isolated by non-heat transferring material. Power increase will vary, on a tiny engine you might get only 2 extra ponies, on something bigger like a BMW straight 6 as much as 20hp can be gained.
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Comments (34)
Tires, so much tires. Tires are your vehicle’s only contact with the road (unless you’re Richard Hammond), as such they contribute to every aspect of your car.. handling, comfort, safety, noise, fuel efficiency, power delivery, absolutely everything.
OEM often put some thought and effort into getting the appropriate tires for your car, but as with everything, there is a cost/benefit model they must use, and today’s tires are far better than those from just a couple of years ago, so the best tire at the time your car was developed may well be non-competitive today.
Very much agreed sir !
Cold air intakes usually do next to nothing. Unless the engine itself has been modified.
Also, please have your car professionally aligned after modifying the suspension.
Hence I said a proper air intake and mentioned about the increaee being tiny on tiny engines. It work muhh better with large engines that are all ready more prone to tweaking.
Modern performance cars need tuned to get really anything from a cold air intake. Free flowing intake also needs to be coupled with a higher flow exhaust.
Just something to think about with "cold air intakes": cold weather. The stock air box takes in a bit of warm air as needed. Having things ice up on the intake side when things drop below freezing isn't fun. The real question is" how restrictive is the stock air box? Odds are it isn't. The paper filter might be. My usual first step is to try a K&N replacement filter. No engine draws in more air than it needs. You'd need a turbo/supercharger to do that.
Bushings are often overlooked because nobody raves about bushing. Rubber bushings allow a bit of "sogginess" to the suspension and steering. Polyurethane bushing tighten things up.
A strut tower brace also perks up handling. I'd go this route before lowering. There's less trade-offs. Maybe better anti-sway bars.
A big yes to tires. "All season" tends to mean "so long as the weather is fair, these tires are good for all seasons". You an go the +1 route: go up a wheel diameter and down a profile. The handling may be crisper, but may also be harsher.
I deliberately avoided the whole "wings and things" bit. They're more show, than go.
The Brakes!
Some EDC Disks and Pads + stahlflex brakefluidtubes
A) Brakes.
B) it’s spelled tyres ffs!
A) agreed but explained why I did not include them in a comment response below.
B) That's the result of learning English from games/film which were usually American..
Ahh, well... forgive me for being a twat, your colloquialisms and grasp of ‘English English’ led me to believe you were a native speaker and hence my comment.