Want to tune up your car, but short on cash? Here are 15 tips on how to tune your car on a budget.

Check Your Tyre Pressures

Believe it or not, something as simple as ensuring your car has the right tyre pressure not only optimises your car's performance but also increases grip, decreases braking distances, improves fuel consumption and also increases the lifespan of your tyres.

Reduce the Weight of Your Car

One of the simplest ways to improve the performance of your car costs nothing. Reduce the weight of your car by stripping out the car's interior to the bear minimum, thus reducing the vehicles weight. is to reduce the weight of the vehicle as much as possible. You may also choose to replace various components with lightweight alternative such as carbon fibre parts.

Replace Your Spark Plugs

Optimising your car's ignition system is an important part of tuning your engine. One of the main ignition components are spark plugs. Replace your spark plugs with performance plugs to benefit from improved engine performance including throttle response and fuel efficiency.

Replace Your Air Filter

Performance air filters are designed to improve air flow, allowing it to be almost unrestricted whilst maintaining filtration levels critical to protect the engine. Performance air filters can be expected to add between 1-4 horsepower.

Add Cold Air Ducting

Engines perform better with cold air. However air under your bonnet is often at a high temperature due to the heat given off by the engine. You can improve your engine's performance by simply installing air ducting under your bonnet, with one end behind the radiator grill, where air is cold and the other end directed at the carburettor or injection air intake.

Upgrade Your Exhaust System

Replace your car's factory exhaust system with a performance exhaust and you can not only expect improved performance, extra power and torque, but an amazing sound great looks. Many performance exhausts also come with a lifetime guarantee.

Add a Power Boost Valve

When accelerating, power boost valves produce a healthy, stronger fuel mix, improving the performance and drivability of your car. Power boost valves also provide a quicker throttle response, faster acceleration as well as virtually eliminating throttle hesitation.

Replace Your Suspension

Invest in a performance suspension kit and transform the handling of your car. Modern suspension kits allow you to not only alter the ride height of the car but also to control its weight distribution, thus improving the balance and grip of the vehicle.

Use Fuel Additives

Fuel treatments add powerful cleaning agents to your fuel that help remove build up of harmful carbon and other deposits in the fuel system that reduces performance. Using additives can actually help to restore your engine's lost power and acceleration.

Add a Front Splitter

An aerodynamic splitter is designed to fit under a car's front spoiler. Splitters are effective aerodynamic enhancements that can considerably increase the downforce at the front of the vehicle, smoothing the airflow around the front spoiler and thus reducing drag.

Chip Your Car

Chipping or remapping is the method of increasing your car’s performance, throttle response and economy by reprogramming the vehicle's ECU (Engine Control Unit). Take your car to a chipping expert and after a couple of hours you could see massive gains.

Use Synthetic Oil

Although slightly more expensive to buy, synthetic oil offers significant performance advantages over traditional engine oil, due to its ability to remain stable at high temperatures resulting in a cleaner, more efficient engine.

Add a Turbo Charger

Turbochargers are basically compressors powered by a turbine driven by an engine's exhaust gases. The compressor increases the amount of air entering the engine resulting in improved performance. Turbos can add as much as 60 - 80 horsepower to your engine.

Fit a Strut Brace

Strut braces help to ensure stable suspension geometry by adding strength to the front suspension turrets, which in turn improves road holding, reduces tyre wear, prevents chassis flexing and reduces movement of the inner wings.

Install a Cam Shaft Kit

Cam Shaft Kits result in greater performance gains than almost anything other modification. Installing a cam shaft kits means replacing the camshaft, followers, adjusters, valve springs, seals, spring caps, timing disc and lubrication but after all that you can expect increased acceleration and performance improvements.

This is a guest post from the car hire company Vroomvroomvroom.co.uk.