When you first drove the last car you bought, I’m sure you had an absolute blast. You weren’t being constantly distracted by all the little issues your last vehicle had, and the handling, brakes, tires and electronics were all working like beauties. As time went on though, you may have realised that there are certain areas where the car was falling short of what you wanted. Here are a few mods that will instantly improve the performance of your car…
Cold-Air Intake
This is one of the most accessible performance mods you can make to your car in terms of money, and if you’re taking the DIY route it’s also one of the easiest to carry out. The procedure is simple enough; taking out the original, restrictive air box for your car’s intake, and replacing it with something that allows the air to flow much more naturally. This allows your engine to access more air as and when it’s needed, like when you’re using an up-ramp to get onto a highway. This is a particularly smart investment if you’re finding that your steering is meandering in wet conditions, or you just happen to live in an area that gets a lot of rain. If you leave your air intake exposed to the elements, you’ll run a serious risk of hydrolocking it.
Brakes
I don’t have to tell you how important brakes are for ensuring that your car performs up to standard! Mechanical issues with the brakes have been at the root of countless crashes, some of them fatal. If your brakes are making a grinding noise when you apply them, seem to pulse or throb, or simply need way more pressure from your foot than you remember, then it’s time to buy replacements from a reputable brand like EBC Brakes. A trustworthy mechanic should be able to recommend the best models for your car, or you can check online to get the widest possible range of choices. High-quality brakes can not only save you from a serious collision, but will also give you much greater control of the vehicle in general.
Computer Tuning
Like pretty much all machinery these days, the computers in our car control every little aspect of the performance and emissions. Provided you’re not driving a particularly old hot-rod, you’ll be able to tune your car’s computer to improve many characteristics of the engine. You can gain access to more horsepower through the whole powerband, and make gear changes more responsive to your personal style of driving. If you’re getting into DIY car tuning, you’ll need a handheld device used to load a pre-programmed tuning file provided by the distributor. This will not only overwrite the car’s stock settings, but backup those settings in case you want to undo the modification. These are pretty straightforward to use, though unfortunately, not every car has a computer that’s compatible with them. The alternative is taking your car to a tuning shop for a “Dyno tune”, which does more or less the same stuff, but is much more expensive!
