by Izzet Inak

Created on: December 13, 2008

There are hundreds of high performance parts brands. Most of the people think that buying high performance parts will make their car faster and better. The truth is that those parts cannot make your car perform better if the performance of the car is not optimized in a fully equipped garage.

The cheapest and most easily installed performance part is the air filter (cold air intake). K&N is the most popular air filter brand. Most of the racing cars use K&N air filters and it has been proved that depending on the model of the car, there is 10-30 horsepower increase.

If you go to the auto part shops, they will say that only a high performance muffler will increase the power of your car. It is not true. Power increase is only possible if you change the complete exhaust system. Ceramic headers add 10-20 horsepower. DC is the best headers brand I can think of. If you take out the catalytic converter, you will gain extra horsepower but your car will become a very noisy car and it is against the law. None of the racing cars have a catalytic converter. Flowmaster and Remus are very good brands and they are specialized in the exhaust systems. Borla is also good and usually performs better in American cars.

You can install a turbo or a supercharger to your car if the engine is compatible. If your car already has a turbo, you can replace it with a bigger one. HKS, Greddy and Turbonetics are the most popular turbo brands. Installing a racing flywheel, short shifter and racing clutch which will improve the acceleration of the car.

Suspensions are the vital parts in the car's handling. Depending on the roads that you will drive your car, you have many suspension choices. Eibach is the best suspension brand if you drive a German car. For the other cars, I would recommend Koni and H&R.

Your car will go fast but it sometimes needs to stop. Brembo is the best known brake system in the world. The red brake calipers are the distinctive characteristic of Brembo brakes. Super car producers like Ferrari and Porsche; and also some Formula 1 teams are using Brembo in their cars.

If the car is lighter, it will handle the road better. You can replace the hood, trunk and the doors with carbon fiber parts. Seibon is the most popular brand in carbon fiber parts. If you want your car look better, you can install a body kit too. Erebuni is very good at body kits and spoilers. Replacing the regular seats with driving seats will lighten your car. Recaro and Sparco are the best racing seat brands and they protect you well. It is also better to replace the heavy stock wheels with the alloy wheels. There are many flashy wheel brands but those wheel brands cannot guarantee that their products will survive a bump. Enkei, OZ Racing and BBS are being used by the teams in Formula 1 and WRC.

Even you buy the best parts from the best brands, it is better to take your car to a garage so they can optimize your car. Without optimization, these parts won't perform at their best.

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