Race cars are cool.
We should all have a little race car in our lives.
With the right mods, you can get a taste of that race car experience everyday on your
way to work, in whatever car you own.
This week I’m covering the best performance mods that'll actually make your car faster
and what you’ll need to know to avoid trouble along the way.
Making your car faster means improving on three principles of vehicle dynamics: Handling,
braking, and acceleration.
They all effect one another, and so will all the mods you buy for your car.
You’ll need to do some planning, so all your mods will work in harmony once you move
up the chain of performance upgrades.
This way you won’t run into many issues and you can spend more time having fun in
your car.
And you won't be late to work.
The best way to start is with an upgrade that improves all three principles at the same
time.
Coilovers improve handling, braking and acceleration by keeping your car in a controlled state
during aggressive driving.
Meaning you’ll be more planted when launching from a stop.
You’ll have better weight distribution under braking so your front tires don’t won't
all the load.
And your handling will improve by giving you better feel and a lower center of gravity.
You get what you pay for with coilovers, and a cheap universal set can do more harm than
good.
A quality set of coilovers are not only going to drastically increase the performance of
your car, they are going to set the pace for the rest of your upgrades.
If you’re only looking to do one upgrade, coilovers will definitely give you that race
car feel.
Match that with a set a wider wheels and tires, and the improvement to your car's performance
will be even better.
But you’ll want to consider both before you pull the trigger on new suspension.
Starting from the ground up, your tires are the first point of contact between your car
and road.
And they come in a wide range of performance ratings and sizes.
So you’ll want the suspension to match the performance of the tires.
Since we’re looking for a taste of that race car experience, you'll want tires that
grip the road like Pumphrey grips on to memories of his dad.
You can achieve that with a wider tire that has a softer compound to stick to the road.
There’s many extreme performance tires to choose from, and all of them are going to
give you huge performance advantages in all three driving principles.
If your stock wheels don’t have many performance tire options, then you can step it up notch
by upgrading your wheels.
First off, you’re going to want to make sure that whatever wheel size you choose has
plenty of tire options.
So check out your options online before you pull the trigger on your wheel size.
Since we’re looking for performance, you’re want to make sure you buy something light.
Even the smallest weight savings here will give you a noticeable difference in acceleration,
handling, and braking.
Lowering the weight of rotating mass makes it easier to speed up or slow down that mass.
Sort of like this fidget spinner.
Doesn't spin that fast with the weight on it, but once you take that weight out.
Ah mechanic thumbs.
As you can see it's easier to spin without the weights.
You probably can't tell but you can try it out at home and you can see the difference.
Plus, it’s unsprung weight, in other words, it’s a part of the car that moves around
while you're driving.
Weight savings here are exponentially more effective than weight savings anywhere else.
Lighter suspension components means your car can respond much quicker to steering inputs
while under load.
Now, picking the size of your wheel depends heavily on the model of your car.
The best way to find out which wheel is right for your car is to search the forums and see
what everyone else is using.
You can save yourself a ton of money and time by learning from everyone else's mistakes.
I found my wheels by doing a simple image search of my car and the wheels that I wanted
and not to my surprise, it led me straight to a forum discussing wheel fitment.
Turns out those were the widest possible wheels I could fit on the car, so I sized down a
notch just to make sure I wouldn’t have any issues with rubbing.
And my car still handles like it’s on rails.
You can make up a lot of time while trying to catch up to someone by consistently braking
harder than them.
If you really want a big brake kit, then you should check the size of your wheels before
you buy them to make sure that those things are gonna fit inside.
But you can save money by upgrading the components of your existing brakes.
Your stock brakes are generally meant to operate at around 100°F to 600°F. Race pads are
made to operate much hotter, like 600°F to 1500°F. So opting for a mix street/race pad
will give you the best of both worlds with an operating temperature of 100°F to 800°F.
It is not recommended to run race pads on the street, but I did it anyway.
And let me tell you those things bit hard, but they squealed like a bus when they were
“cold”, which was all the time.
Unless I was driving hard on the track.
So if you do want racing pads, you’re going to need to swap them in and out between track
days.
Of course, you're gonna want some lightweight performance rotors to go with it so you can
cut more weight where it really counts.
A performance brake fluid flush, to keep your stuff from boiling.
And some performance brake lines to go with those pads.
Those will keep your brake lines from expanding under heat, which will results in an inconsistent
and squishy brake pedal.
Upgrading your differential is the most reliable way to make your car accelerate faster in
a straight line and through the turns.
A limited slip will allow both wheels to move at the same speed when you smash the gas,
perfect for if you're trying to do some sweet drifts.
Modding the gear ratio inside that differential can also make your car a lot faster in a reliable
way.
The ratio you choose will depend on the model of car you have, so check with your new best
friends on the forums to find out which one is best for you.
Oh, by the way if you're gonna upgrade that gear ratio you're gonna want to pay someone
to do it for you.
Because most shops pay another shop to do it for them.
That's how difficult it is to work on.
Regardless if you’ll be shifting gears more frequently due to a tighter gear ratio or
not.
A short shifter will help you reduce your shift times, and make your car noticeably
more enjoyable to drive, even while your stuck in traffic.
You’re going to want a quality one, so don’t cheap out here, you’ll be using it 100's
of times a day, so you’ll really appreciate grabbing on to something nice.
Modding your engine varies a lot from car to car, sometimes you can squeeze out a lot
of horsepower on the cheap.
More often than not, your opening Pandora’s Box.
For most of us, the trickiest mods are those relating to the engine.
Yes, you can improve your acceleration with a lot of money and/or time invested into your
engine.
Who knows you might get lucky and just have a little post traumatic stress before you’re
all done.
So stick to a basic tune up, and regular oil changes.
Cold air intakes, sorry to say, they a waste of money.
Other high dollar upgrades only give you marginal gains and run a big chance of triggering engine
codes and causing problems.
You’re better off spending more money on better quality parts that we already discussed.
I’m not saying don’t do it, but you’ll need those previous mods to handle more horsepower
anyway.
A big horsepower might make you sound fast, but it’s all about how you use your horsepower,
rather than how big your horsepower is.
You can have a tiny little horsepower, and still beat cars at the track that with a very
large horsepower.
So learn how to drive properly first, get some practice, take some driving courses,
make some mistakes in a safe place so you can become more confident with your car.
You don’ t need any mods to do that, and you’re gonna want to get used to every mod
you install, after you install it.
Instead of going full speed into a brick wall.
So take it slow and find your car’s sweet spot.
After all, you’re the one who decides what mod, if any, you need for you car.
Tell me about the best mods you've done to your car.
What's a mod you've done on your car that didn't do sh**?
What's one that wasted your money and time?
Not talking about your ex-girlfriend.
What's your favorite suspension?
I don't have one, because no one sponsored this video.
You really missed out on that one.
What kind of suspension do you have on your car?
KW's, Ohlins ...? Thanks for watching be sure to like, subscribe and share.
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And I'll see you next Friday.