Flicking through the pages of a car magazine does something to our brains. We look at pictures of Lamborghini Aventador’s and Ferrari F12’s with salivating mouths, reading about how they can reach 62mph in less than 3 seconds and corner like a cheetah. But unless you have a couple of hundred-thousand to play around with, chances are these are nothing more than pipe dreams to entertain our fantasies.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t get more out of your car; more speed, more power, better handling, a smoother ride. All you have to do is step into your garage, or onto your drive, get under your beloved vehicle and make a few affordable tweaks and adjustments of your own. Then start up and smile as you enjoy your first road trip in your old car.
Tires
This is always going to be your best bet, especially if you are looking for simple ways to improve the way your car grips the road and flies around corners. Sure, more power and more speed are where the fun comes from, but if your car can’t hack the speed when it comes to slight bend then what’s the point. So renew the rubber and build from there.
Air Intake
If you are a smoker then you’re going to struggle to run fast or run for longer. The same rules apply to your car. The better you car can breath, well, the better that thing is going to run, and the louder it is going to roar. The way this works is simple. A new cold air intake system will improve the flow of air to your system, and the colder and more condensed the air to your engine is, the more your car will smile, and that means the faster it will go.
Exhaust
Churn through any handful of car tuning forums and they will all say the same thing; the better the exhaust system the more horsepower you’ll get out of your car. And they are right, because the easier waste air flows from your engine the less pressure there will be on it. Pressure isn’t good. Pressure is lost power, so get yourself a nice free-flowing system, maybe some cherry bombs, and feel the rewards in your right-foot.
Sway Bar
A sway bar simply connects the right-side wheel to the left, which means your car will stay flat when it comes to cornering. Why is this good? Well, the flatter your car is, the more rubber you have on the road and the more your grip. You will feel this too. You will feel the kinetic energy hit the tarmac, you will feel your car roll less and you will feel less weight shift as you move the steering wheel. In short, faster cornering and safer results. That’s a win.
Spark Plugs
This are one of the most overlooked replacements, but replacing your spark plugs is easy simple and incredibly rewarding. How? Well, spark plugs are what ignites the fuel in your car, so the better and newer your spark plugs, the better the combustion in your cylinders will be. Better combustion means better output or, as we like to call it, power (and fuel economy for that matter).
