Car tuning myths

1) Induction kits do not add power to your engine. Despite the claims made my the manufacturers of induction kits very few cars actually see a benefit from adding them. The primary reason for this is that they suck in hot air from the engine bay which carries less oxygen and therefore reduces power. Standard air filter boxes are more than sufficient and if you want to improve the airflow through this then you should add a high flow panel air filter instead. (The benefits will again only be appreciated at the top end of the rev range.)

2) Small engines are worth tuning. Sadly you will end up spending a lot of money on a small engine and see very little gain. For an average expenditure you will only see a gain of upto 10% so if your engine is only producing 70bhp this equates to a barely noticable gain of 7hp. You get a power fluctuation like this using good quality fuel in very cold weather.

1) The catalyst sucks a lot of power. In reality if you completly removed the catalyst you would see a power gain of around 4%. Fitting a new high flow sports catalyst will also give the same power gain. By taking out the catalyst you are breaking the law in many countries and risk fines penalties and car siezure so with this risk in mind I would urge you to fit a sports cat instead.

2) Bigger exhausts are better. The larger the exhaust pipe the lower the flow rate will be. You want the exhaust gases to exit at a high flow rate as this improve engine scavenging and as TorqueCars.com is always stating bigger really is not better. An exhaust size depends on the displacement of the engine and the amount of gases to expell. There is an optimum size and many manufacturers exhausts are already pretty much spot on.

1) Lower is better. This is only partially true, a cars suspension needs a certain amount of travel to maintain contact with the road. Roll should be eliminated by an anti roll bar rather than just fitting lower springs.

2) Harder is better. Again this is only partially true. If your suspension is too hard the car wheels will jump over the road surface and this will dramatically reduce your grip. The ride quality of the car is also severely compromised.