7 Mods That Won't Actually Make Your Car Faster

1. Improperly fitted rear wing

The purpose of a rear wing is to create downforce and keep your car planted to the road. Making that work is a very complex process, so simply chucking some aftermarket wing on without analysing air flow will probably do nothing but increase weight and drag. Oh, and if you’re fitting it to a front-wheel drive car without adding downforce at the the front too, you’re gonna have a bad time…

2. Short ram intakes

A short ram intake attempts to have as short a distance as possible for the air flowing from the filter, which generally means it’s close to the engine and therefore the air isn’t particularly cool. A cold air intake is better, as the piping allows the filter to be further from the hot engine ensuring the air that flows into the engine is cooler.

3. A muffler you can fit your head in

Fitting a full exhaust system will allow your engine to breathe more easily and will free up some performance. Fitting a massive back box on its own will do nothing but annoy everyone around you.

There are numerous legitimate tuning companies out there, but you probably won’t be able to find their products for under £10 on eBay. In fact, when Mighty Car Mods tested one of these cheap chips, they found the only function it performed was the changing of the onboard LED light’s colour.

5. Putting premium fuel in slow cars

There are varying reports on just how effective premium fuels are in road cars, but the general consensus is that the higher performance your car has, the more effect the fuel will have. It’ll help your engine run more smoothly, but you won’t suddenly find your car feels like a rocketship with expensive fuel on board.

6. Massive body kits

Much like with the rear spoiler, fitting a big, garish front bumper to your car is probably not going to do anything aside from make your car look different. Even if it has vents and scoops that claim to funnel air to important parts of the engine, the chances of them working effectively are minimal without spending mega bucks.

7. Adding stickers

Stickers do not add horsepower, no matter how much you wish they did. Except Car Throttle stickers. They add 20bhp… just don’t test that.