Top 5 Performance Upgrades To Make Your Car Faster And Handle Better
There are countless groups of enthusiasts in the car world, each with their own personal automotive goals. The one thing they all have in common though, is wanting to tune their vehicle to meet their unique needs.
With vehicles being faster than ever straight from the factory, it’s actually getting harder to make positive improvements. Often, tuning involves removing the compromises that vehicle manufacturers have made to improve their products’ mass-market appeal. When making upgrades, it’s important to consider how much of that compromise is tolerable. Also, ask yourself: After modifying, will the vehicle still be functional, legal, and dependable enough to accomplish its main purpose?
With that guidance in mind, here are our picks for the most valuable performance mods you can make to your vehicle.
Reprogramming ECU
Everything a vehicle’s engine does is controlled by the ECU, or engine control unit. This computer interprets the driver input from the throttle pedal and determines the best way to meet the demands.
Modern cars’ throttle pedals don’t even control the throttle body opening anymore, but that’s the tip of the iceberg as far as what the ECU is doing. Boost pressure, if it’s turbo or supercharged, ignition timing, amount and timing of fuel delivery, in some cases, even cam-timing and lift can be varied by the computer based on how much torque the driver is requesting. Changing the software in the ECU gives tuners the ability to change all of these parameters for nearly an infinite number of situations.
Not only can reprogramming the ECU add horsepower, but it will also change the way the car drives, making it more responsive. Some tuners are even able to make the car run smoother and more efficiently. It might just be the best bang-for-your-buck performance mod -- as well as the simplest component to install on your ride, short of an air freshener.
Note that some suppliers will only write tunes for premium fuel and you may need to check with both the car manufacturer and the software supplier as to whether a tune is warranty- and emissions-compliant.
Handheld Performance Tuner
Most software tunes are done through a vehicle’s OBDII port. Some are DIY with a handheld flashloader, while others will require the owner to take the vehicle to an authorized dealer. Either way, it’s something that can be done in a couple of hours or less, for anywhere from a few hundred dollars up to a few thousand for a custom tune with dyno testing.
Better Brake Pads
Looking at today’s performance cars, a person would be forgiven for thinking the color and gloss of a vehicle’s brake calipers are directly related to stopping performance. While certainly adding visual appeal, real improvements can be had for far less investment.
Most enthusiasts buy big brake kits thinking it will make their vehicles stop faster. The truth, however, is the biggest brakes that will fit beneath your wheels will hardly ever shorten stopping distances. In some cases, they can increase them in real-world driving.
Stomping on the brake pedal of any car for sale today at 80+MPH will result in the ABS safely bringing a car down to zero MPH with little drama – and the ability to do it again with little to no cool down period in between. As long as the brakes can lock up the tires (which is why the ABS is activating) a vehicle’s stopping distance is grip-limited.
A braking upgrade will allow you to stop more often in the same amount of time. If you want to stop in a shorter distance, you need more grip - not more powerful brakes. A cost-effective way of adding more braking capacity is upgrading to better pads and brake fluid.
Installing New Brake Pads
Car manufacturers prioritize noise, brake dust, and longevity when choosing brake pads. Upgrading to brake pads and brake fluid which operate at higher temperatures is the most effective way to make real improvements. Manufacturers like EBC and Hawk make performance-oriented pads in multiple different compounds from basic street pads up to full racing friction material. They also offer brake fluids with higher boiling points to handle the extra heat.
The most important thing to remember when upgrading a car’s brakes is to be realistic about the car’s use. Racing brake pads can operate at far higher temperatures than street pads, but also require warming up before they start to work. On a cold day, they may not stop a car being pulled out of the garage. Race pads and aggressive road pads will also be louder and quite often dustier than stock pads. But if you want better braking, the trade-off will be worth it.
Spring & Shock Combo
The enthusiast world has been programmed to believe that when it comes to handling performance, stiffer and lower is always better. However, ride and handling engineers are quick to point out that the opposite is true. To maximize cornering speeds, compliance is key. Weight transfer equals grip and absorbing bumps with suspension travel is often more important than having a car lowered as much as possible.
For a budget handling setup, especially for cars with base-level equipment, a good sport spring and shock combination is the best first step. Most sport springs will offer a small but noticeable drop in ride height - usually slightly lower than what the factory offers with performance options. For shocks, manufacturers like Bilstein offer high-performance monotube shocks and struts in fitments for either stock ride-height or lowered.
Drivers looking for adjustability in their suspension can turn to Bilstein, KW and other manufacturers who make threaded body coilovers. These allow owners to select the overall ride height of the vehicle, and fine adjustability provides for corner-balancing, mostly applicable for racing.
HR Sport Springs
Finally, pairing either a shock and spring upgrade or a set of coilovers with aftermarket anti-roll bars will allow more adjustability of handling balance.
An anti-roll is a torsion bar that is twisted when unequal loads are placed on the two sides of a vehicle’s axle, like cornering for example. Since the outside wheel is in compression and the inside is in jounce, the anti-roll bar resists the body-roll. When the vehicle hits a bump, both wheels are compressed, the anti-roll bar moves freely. Adjusting the front and rear anti-roll bars independently allows drivers to vary roll resistance front to rear to adjust over- and under-steer balance.
Tire And Wheel Fitment
Wheel and tire sizes have grown on the same curve as power and curb weight, growing larger with each passing decade. America’s love of pickup trucks, SUVs, and CUVs is largely to thank for this trend, as bigger and heavier vehicles require larger wheel and tire packages to complement OEM styling and meet performance demands. Ultimately though, increasing wheel diameter increases stability, leading to more responsive handling.
Upgrading tires and wheels will be most advantageous on base-level cars, but can net performance gains on even the highest-performance variants. However, choosing poorly can easily cause more harm than good - from adding excessive weight to throwing off suspension geometry. Therefore, careful consideration must be given to every aspect of the purchase.
Car manufacturers err on the conservative side of fitment and durability when choosing wheels. For all but the most exotic vehicles, price is a deciding factor as well. Enthusiasts have a nearly limitless choice of aftermarket wheels, and a large number of them will be upgrades over stock.
To see improved performance, look for a wheel lighter than what came on the car. A lighter wheel is easier to accelerate and brake, plus it’s less weight for your suspension to control.
It’s nearly impossible to find stiffness ratings for wheels, so stick to manufacturers with positive reputations. A fully forged wheel will give the best combination of strength and weight, but the cost may be prohibitive. A more budget-friendly option is a wheel that is cast, and then in a second process, the outer rim section is rotary forged to its final shape. Manufacturers refer to these as flow-formed, rotary-forged, and several other names, but the technology is the same. Consult a tuning shop or wheel specialist to determine the best fitment for your car.
Aftermarket Exhaust System
When it comes to aftermarket exhaust systems, there’s often more misinformation available than valuable data.
First, back pressure isn’t necessary to optimize engine performance. Scavenging is what’s necessary to pull spent gasses through the exhaust system and to stop flow-reversion. The size and shape of the system, both pipes, and mufflers control the speed of the flow. This helps space the exhaust pulses, making one pulse pull the next along.
Second, an exhaust system doesn’t determine the sound of a car. The number of cylinders and firing order does. An exhaust system can attenuate that sound to a point, but there’s a reason neither Chrysler nor aftermarket exhaust manufacturers can make a V6 Charger sound like it has a Hemi in it. However, there are still advantages to an aftermarket exhaust.
The first and most obvious benefit is improved sound. Manufacturers like Borla and Corsa Performance are masters at attenuating frequencies enthusiasts don’t like while enhancing the ones they do. While a four- or six-cylinder car might not rumble like a V8, the sound can be improved. Vehicles that do have V8s can go from sounding like a delivery truck to a NASCAR Cup Car.
On top of a better exhaust note, an aftermarket exhaust kit will provide substantial weight savings over stock. That weight is saved at the lowest point on the vehicle and behind most vehicles’ center of gravity, so it’s not the ideal place for weight loss, but in terms of accelerating and braking, it’s still an advantage.
Lastly, a cat-back system replaces everything behind a vehicle’s catalytic converters. So as far as emissions are concerned, they are completely street-legal. Noise regulations are a different story, so owners will want to check local sound ordinances before purchasing.
