Are you thinking about purchasing a performance timer? Tuning your car is a surefire way to boost engine performance. Unfortunately, many car owners tend to underestimate the time and money commitment that tuning takes and end up spending past their limits. Here’s everything you need to know before you tune your car. The more you know, the better.
Tune-Up Before You Tune
Do you want to get the most out of your tune? Then your car needs to run optimally beforehand. A run-down engine won’t work well no matter how much effort you put into tuning it.
For this reason, you should take your car in for maintenance before you tune it. Ask your technician to inspect the carburetors, the engine, the injectors, and other critical parts of your vehicle to ensure they don’t have damage and are working correctly.
Understand the Commitment
The next thing you need to know before you tune your car is the amount of commitment it takes to do this, which is a lot. The actual tuning process isn’t very time-consuming. You can tune your car in less than half an hour (assuming you’re only doing a basic tune).
But once you tune your car, there are a few other mods you need to make. The dramatic increase in power that tuning provides will strain your engine’s internal parts and can cause them to break down. How do you keep this from happening? You do so by modifying or upgrading certain engine parts (including the air intake, fuel pump, injectors, etc.), the suspension, the tires, and the brakes after a tune.
You also need to report any changes you make to your vehicle to your insurance company, as they could lead to an increase in your insurance premium.
Pros vs. Cons
Tuning is beneficial to engine performance. It provides a substantial boost to the horsepower, torque, fuel economy, and drivability. However, there are also a few downsides to tuning. We’ve mentioned one above. If you don’t modify certain parts post-tune, your car will wear down at an accelerated rate.
Another downside of tuning is that it can void your manufacturer’s warranty. Tuners modify the entire powertrain system. This includes the internal combustion engine, transmission, and axle assembly. If you have problems with the powertrain system, the car manufacturer can refuse to cover repairs by claiming the tuner caused the problem. You can still have your car repaired elsewhere, but you’ll have to pay for everything out-of-pocket.
