Performance Tips & Tricks for Trucks & Jeeps

For performance tuning tips & tricks here are a few great ideas. Number one by adding performance parts to your vehicle will give you that aggressive extra horsepower and torque you have been looking for. Please visit our performance page for our great line of performance products and pick up truck accessories. You will also find hundreds of truck performance parts and truck accessories on sale. Hot items like truck & jeep performance programmers, tuners, chips and NOS to give you that extra edge and punch you have been looking for! More ideas below.

COMPUTER TUNE Estimated cost: $200 – $800 Benefits: Improved performance and fuel economy for your truck or jeep. Difficulty: Easy – Hard

We know that computers in our trucks today control all aspects of its performance and emissions. Newer trucks today can be tuned (edited) to improve certain aspects of the engine to unlock more horsepower throughout the entire power band. After making performance truck parts modifications like air intake and performance exhaust, you might want to explore if your truck is eligible for a tune. Not all cars are designed for this modification, but many allow aftermarket settings to be written to the computer. There are three primary types of ‘tunes’ for your truck or Jeep: a self-service, pre-made tune, a custom-built Dyno tune by a performance auto shop or just add a performance programmer plug and play. A self-service tune often requires a handheld device that you would load a ready-made tune file provided by a distributor that would backup your computer’s settings and overwriting the stock settings. These are easy and straightforward to use (I can upload and replace tunes in about 5 minutes on the spot). Many years ago, these have been referred to as “chipped” vehicles, when you would just plug-and-play with the modifications. A Dyno tune requires the use of a dynamometer operated by a trained professional. A dynamometer consists of a set of rollers that acts like a treadmill for your truck that is strapped down securely to objectively measure horsepower and torque. What operators do is start with a template for your truck and hook up additional sensors into your trucks computer. Then when the truck is operated at maximum power, the programmer would update your air-fuel ratios among other settings to safely unlock more power. If you don’t want to change your tunes frequently, it’s worth opting for a Dyno tune because it will be based on your actual vehicle and not a cookie-cutter template. Then you have the performance tuner plug and play which will give you all pre set tunes. For myself the Performance tuner is the safest and easiest way to go!! Discuss how the tune can be changed or restored with the company or shop so you know what you’re getting into.

The bottom line is that when you have a number of truck performance parts upgrades or you wish to maximize the power your truck currently offers, a tune will get you far along. Do your research to see what the typical gains are for your vehicle with these added custom parts. Avoid falling for those IAT mods and pick up truck accessories being sold on eBay for like $10 to $50. All Junk. Check out products like Bully Dog, Edge, Superchips, SCT and diblosport on our performance page.

COLD-AIR INTAKE Estimated cost: $100-$500 Benefits: Improved acceleration and fuel economy Difficulty: Easy

A custom truck parts cold air intake is the first and easiest mod that anyone can do in less than an hour. It consists of replacing the stock, restrictive air box for your car’s intake. The premise is that by allowing air to flow naturally without any baffles or restrictions, your engine is able to breathe easier to access more air when needed, such as when using an on-ramp to join a highway.Depending on the design of the truck performance parts intake, you could just make it breathe hotter engine air, so try to select one that “seals” off the engine bay from the air filter area. These truck performance parts kits often come with a long-life air filters that require different maintenance and cleaning intervals for optimal performance.

If you find that you live near rivers or deal with significant downpours of rain, don’t leave your intake exposed to the outside elements, or you’ll hydrolock your engine. (# 1 major fail.) Check online forums to understand what other like-minded drivers think of their upgrades, the brands they trust and the setups they have. You could learn a good amount just by researching what others have done with their intakes and the performance they offer. This tip applies to the rest of these recommendations, too.

CAT-BACK EXHAUST Estimated cost: $2oo+ Benefits: Improved acceleration and fuel economy Difficulty: Medium (seek an automotive shop for installation)

Along with a cold-air intake is the second mod that many people are very familiar with: exhaust upgrades. Assume for a moment that your engine is a water pump, sucking water in and pushing water out. You need to make sure that the pipes you have for your exhaust enable air to escape freely. If you do a performance truck parts intake upgrade, it’s a good idea to upgrade your exhaust. Aside from sound enhancements, it allows your engine to run more efficiently. Following my truck performance parts intake and exhaust upgrades, I’ve seen about a 5% improvement in my fuel economy. Check out all our performance products because you will find a lot of truck accessories on sale as well. A cat-back exhaust system entails everything after the catalytic converter, so it’s completely legal to change (except California, those legislators are bastards).Not all Cat-Back Exhaust systems have to be obnoxiously loud. With the use of resonators and mufflers, it can still be high-flow and lower-volume … but it’s safe to assume it will be significantly more noticeable than your stock exhaust system. Pricing varies greatly based on the brand and features of truck performance parts exhaust system do your research – YouTube is a great way to hear the before and after samples of people’s exhaust upgrades.If you believe your stock pipes are sufficient, you can opt for an “axle-back” upgrade, which is basically just changing out the rear mufflers.

HIGH PERFORMANCE TIRES Estimated cost: $500 – $2,000 Benefits: Improved fuel economy and handling. Difficulty: Easy

You regularly check the air pressure and wearing of your tires, right? If not, get in the habit of checking them at least once a week or so. Doing so will help you catch problems before they become disasters. That said, one way to improve fuel economy and handling is to invest in a good set of all terrain tires so you don’t needlessly add more rolling resistance to your truck or jeep. If you find you do a lot of highway driving and don’t find yourself hitting water, ice, snow or mud, then you will benefit from these higher-performance all terrain tires. They are made with different rubber compounds that are “harder” so they don’t erode as quickly as other tires. They also have specialized tread patterns that reduce its “bite” into the road or dirt like all terrain tires should. Assess your driving behavior and situations to decide if these are appropriate. If you typically experience all four seasons, stick with an all-season/terrain tire.I’m not suggesting you go nuts and get Mickey Thompsons on your truck or jeep. Research the reviews from thousands of other drivers on tires on a site like TireRack and offroad magazine compare their UTOQ ratings and look into professional reviews of the tires when making your decision. Contact us today.