Need more speed from your car? Or better handling? Consider bespoke performance upgrades. These come in different shapes and sizes and at various price points. Aside from exorbitantly expensive internal engine mods, including cams, conrods, and pistons, opting for simpler, cost-effective parts for cars, such as exterior bodywork or exhaust upgrades, improves driving dynamics and yields a car that’s more enjoyable to drive. Pair these with handling extras, such as stiffer springs and tougher wheels, for a rounded car ready for the road and track.
Improved Handling, Grip and Control With Body Kits
New bodywork, including front and rear bumpers, spoilers, splitters and side skirts, can be a styling element that singles your car out from thousands of similar cars. But the parts do more than that. Well-appointed body kit reduces wind resistance and drag from oncoming air, getting more engine power to the ground. Splitting, spoiling and dispersing air over, under and around the car has major benefits.
Faster-moving, low-pressure air over the car increases downforce and generates more grip in the tyres. The car is more composed at higher speeds and keeps its direction more easily in turns. Moreover, spoilers, side skirts, rear diffusers and wings prevent high-pressure air pooling under the car and reduce the negative effect of lift. Besides more stability, cars exhibit significantly less body roll, brake shorter and harder, and are quicker to accelerate.
Choose from packaged body parts in defined kits. Wide-body kits, consisting of bigger front and rear bumpers and wider wheel flares, create a more muscular look, but also provide necessary space for other car performance parts, ranging from sportier springs and shocks to big brake kits. Full body and aero kits go further, completely transforming the look of production vehicles while keeping the car glued to the road.
When considering body parts, keep in mind which parts work together to ensure optimal stability at both the front and rear axles. Also, take into account different materials. While carbon fibre body kits might be pushing budgets, they do have the highest strength to cope with exceptionally high stresses, come at a fraction of the weight of metals, are resistant to corrosion and staining, and have the flexibility to adjust to changing road and driving conditions. Carbon fibre parts also have a layered construction for an inherently appealing appearance.
For lower prices, consider fibreglass, polyurethane or ABS body kit car parts. These provide good strength, flexibility and durability for the price, can be painted, and are relatively easy to install.
Better Sound and More Power With Performance Exhausts
Aftermarket exhausts are all about improved airflow. They remove exhaust gases faster, prevent leaks, and provide the durability for cars that are meant to be pushed to their limits. And in the process, they create a hypnotising sound with more substance. By reducing airflow restrictions from the exhaust manifold to the tips, performance exhausts increase engine efficiency, reducing intake temperatures and pressure for optimal combustion.
Besides more power and torque for faster acceleration and higher top speeds, these car performance parts are also better made and look the part. Choose from durable stainless steel for the higher impact resistance, better heat cycling and all-around strength against water and road debris. Or go with exotic materials such as Inconel or titanium in high-end performance and luxury cars. All materials utilise advanced production methods, like madrel-bending (for uniform widths) and heat treatment (for hardness), and can be optioned in matte or high-gloss finishes.
Choose wider, straight-through parts (such as mufflers, mid-pipes, downpipes, etc) or axle-back, cat-back or header/turbo-back systems at defined price points matched to their performance gains. And proprietary technologies and features, including valving, if modifying the sound is a priority.
Lower Drag and Better Handling With Spring Lowering Kits
Lowering springs are an affordable suspension upgrade with a long list of benefits. Besides slamming the car lower for a more aggressive look (and filling gaps in embarrassingly high wheel flares), stiffer springs with shorter suspension travel change the car’s centre of gravity, meaning less air pressure over and under the car for an improved drag coefficient. The parts additionally reduce weight transfer, resulting in faster acceleration, sharper cornering and shorter braking distances. And they rectify excessive body roll.
Kits on all four wheels lower the car between 1″ and 2.5″, depending on the vehicle and whether you choose linear or progressive springs. Linear springs have a consistent spring compression rate for more predictable handling, often preferred in race applications. Progressive springs balance comfort and performance with a variable compression rate, getting stiffer the more they compress. Dual-rate prings, a hybrid design, use two distinct spring rates to offer a balanced mix of performance.
All types, however, provide a sportier driving experience with a more responsive steering feel. Additional benefits are the improved traction (more so when going with wider alloys and grippy, low-profile tyres), lower fuel use (and higher range in EVs) and a car that’s more stable at any speed. For consistent results over the long term, pair lowering springs with equally capable performance shocks to get improved damping and to prevent springs from bottoming out.
