1. Stance
There are many types of tuning disciplines to choose from such as ‘Stance’, essentially the quest for the ultimate fitment between your car’s body and the wheel tucked into each arch. Less is best. You have several options ranging in affordability such as shortened coil springs (not great), adjustable coilover suspensions (better) and adjustable airbags which offer you all the range of the coilover but with a softer ride that can be changed on the fly to suit your environment. You’ll want to upgrade those wheels to maximize the effect.
2. Wheels
Wheels, a necessary upgrade no matter what direction you choose. Let’s take the conventional drag racer ‘look’. If you’re a fan of Japanese cars, you’ll have heard the term ‘Kanjo’. If you haven’t, feel free to drop in at your next meeting with similarly afflicted racer types especially if your ride is a Honda. What it boils down to, besides a great fitment and lightweight alloy wheel (no need to go with massive hoops here – think function over form), is a race-series inspired livery. Remember that old Sega Rally arcade game? Remember that Toyota Supra with the Castrol sticker job? That sort of thing. You will want to have some ‘go’ to match your newly acquired ‘show’, I mean, no point looking fast if you’re going to be decimated at the drop of the flag. Might I suggest some performance enhancers?
3. Plumbing
Whether you want to look fast, sound fast or actually go fast, it won’t hurt to ask this question. Does my car have a turbo-charger? If the answer is no, check your budget and start with its breathing capabilities. A stainless exhaust system will upgrade you in each regard and is relatively affordable. An aftermarket cone filter will do a similar trick. Buy both. If the answer was yes, then fit these mods anyway before I let you in on a little secret that all turbo-car owners keep to themselves. A simple software upgrade is all it takes to bump up your car’s power and torque by a good 20%. Costs vary according to the vehicle but the results are worth the price of admission into the boost club. Just remember that performance should be similarly bumped up in safety equipment via the likes of ventilated (and larger) disc brakes.
Still lost? Here are three final tips.
Research:
Use the internet! Visit websites such as Speedhunters. If you have a car that lends itself to modifying, believe me it has a following on the web.
Keep it region specific:
If you have a Japanese car, customise it in the vein of established Japanese tuner cars. Ditto if it’s German, or American and so on.
Have fun:
Really. Don’t take it too seriously.
