In my previos post, I talked about my decision to go with some aftermarket upgrades when replacing my clutch and flywheel as opposed to just going with the OEM parts. This was due to the fact that the OEM parts were about the same cost as the aftermarket upgrades and I also wanted to get a bit more performance from my car. Now, don’t get me wrong, the economies I experienced for these parts are not seen for all replacements, but it doesn’t hurt to do some poking around when you need to do some repairs. You might find, as I did, that some aftermarket performance upgrades aren’t as expensive as you think.

It has now been a few months since the parts were installed and I’ve done the easy driving 500 mile break in on the flywheel and clutch. I must say that I’m VERY pleased. The throttle response is much better and the clutch “bite” is pretty quick. It is still quite easy to drive though around town. It just took a little getting used to. I estimate that I probably dropped a tenth off of my 0-60 time. Also, the time it takes to rev from 1k up to 7k and back to 1k dropped by about 1 second which is about a 25% improvement.

Check out the video to see the before and after results. Special thanks to Vivid Racing for the parts and Metric Motors in San Francisco for the install.

Many people ask “How can I improve my handling without breaking the bank?”. There are many ways to improve your handling and if you are a car enthuisat who enjoys taking those turns hard, fear not this will be a quick guide as to how you can take your favorite turns with your foot off the brake. I will break this segment into two parts making a little easier to follow along.

A modification that you can purchase to significantly improve your handling will be changing out old rubber. Tires are such a vital part of our cars yet there are some people that do not see their value and purchase the cheapest tire their can find. They don’t make a cool sound or deliver power, but tires are where the power hits the road. Choosing the right tires for you requires endless amount of time of research to pick the correct tire that you looking for to suit your purposes. Using tire websites like tirerack will help with your search to finding the correct tire you wish to match your needs. For example if you live in a place that has snow in the Fall and Winter time you might want to get All Season tires, but if you live in a place that is constantly dry, like sunny California, then Summer tires are the way to go.

There are typically 4 factors that must be considered while selecting your tires:

1. Handling
   For you performance junkies out there, this might actually be the only factor you care about. Determining how a tire will grip the road under dry conditions is actually fairly straight forward. You want a soft tire with as much of the rubber contacting the pavement as possible. This will decrease performance in wet conditions, but who cares right? Summer tires are what you want.
2. Location/Weather
   For many of us this can’t be ignored. If you live in a place that gets pretty rough winters or lots of rain, and you’ve only got your one car to get you around town, then you will need some tires that can handle multiple conditions. A set of all season tires will fit the bill in this area. They won’t perform as highly in dry weather as summer tires, but at least you won’t find yourself wrapped around a tree during the winter. As expected, all season tires suffer from “Jack of all trades, master of none” syndrome. They perform fairly well in all conditions, but not exceptional in any.
3. Tread Life/Durability
   Since this article is headed “Cheap Modding” I can’t ignore the price of replacing tires. If you pick a tire composed of a very soft compound, you’ll notice improved performance, but you will also be going through tires at a much faster rate. Needless to say, this can get expensive. Fear not, as tires have a tread wear rating that will give you some insight as to how long they’ll last.
4. Road Noise
   In terms of tire decision making factors, this is the red-headed stepchild. Believe it or not, all of that noise in the cabin of your car is not just the wind hitting the car or the Civic driver next to you with a 5 inch diameter exhaust tip. Much of the noise you hear is your tires hitting the pavement, and this can vary greatly. Some people are more sensitive to this than others, therefore it should not be ignored.

Recommendations
For the price it’s tough to beat the Falken 452. It’s a tire that has passed the test of time. For under 100 bucks a piece, the Falkens continue to deliver excellent value. For more details head on over to my Falken 452 review. Warren reviewed the Yokohama Advan Neova AD08s which are by no means a cheap alternative with a price of 2-3 times that of the 452s depending on where you buy them. However, if you want to get maximum grip without throwing on some race tires, these Yoks will get all that torque down to the ground without so much as a chirp. Below is a list of our tire reviews to date. Happy hunting.

Falken FK-452 Review
Yokohama Advan Neova AD08 Review
Sumitomo HTR Z III Performance Tires Review

I bought an ABD Cold Air Intake for my 1st VW Rabbit a while back. It was a killer deal when the prices at the time were extremely high. When I installed it on my 2007 VW Rabbit, my “butt” dyno noticed that the throttle was responding easier. I also noticed that in the higher RPM’s it helped the car breathe more smoothly and it was easier to get to the higher speeds. Plus, it made the Rabbit sound more aggressive. Overall I was satisfied with my purchase. In a nutshell, let’s just say that I emptied a tank of gas pretty quickly once I installed it. Revving it up more than 3,000 RPM brought a smile to my face.

The 2007 Rabbit has 150 HP and 170 lbs of torque out of the box. The 2008 adds an additional 20 HP, bringing them to 170 HP and 170 lbs of torque. When I bought my 2008 Rabbit I installed the intake and still felt the same difference that I experienced in the 2007 Rabbit. So I knew the small gains from the intake were consistent for the Rabbits.

Of course the upgrade came with a price, my CEL (Check Engine Light) code lit up on my dash and the MAF (Mass Air Flow) sensor was being thrown because it was detecting more direct air flow to the throttle body. After I grew accustomed to the CEL on my dashboard I finally found a solution. In the 2.5 technical forum on VWVortex, a member was nice enough to contribute a design he made for the MAF sensor to disable the CEL without getting scanned or Vag-Com work. The MAF insert was then mass produced by 20squared.

If any Volkswagen Rabbit owners are reading this post, I suggest you guys getting an aftermarket intake if you’re interested in modding your cars. The air flow on the stock intake is ridiculous and isn’t direct. First it channels through the front, then it flows through your engine cover and down to the throttle body. If you guys already have the intake but still have the CEL I suggest getting the MAF insert. I’ve had the insert for about 15,000 miles and the CEL never came back up on the dashboard. It might seem a bit expensive but you get what you pay for. Plus, I’m sure you can probably find someone who is parting out their car since now there’s a small, but growing, used parts market for the MkV Rabbits.

Most of you are probably not too familiar with Sumitomo tires, but I’ve had some good experience with their HTR Z III’s. Sumitomo is based in Japan, but has many distributors in the United States. They’ve created a reputation as the “best bang for your buck”, and honestly, I must agree with this statement. Being a college student and working part time, being able to manage my budget is vital. Sumitomo has created an great product overall with their HTR Z III’s compared to the predecessor the HTR Z II’s.

My father’s friends are gear heads one of them is also a tire freak. He suggested that I should buy the Sumitomo HTR Z III’s for my next set of tires. So when it was time I went along with it and decided to go for a new brand because his personal experience won me over. I put them on my car the first day I picked it up from the dealership. They have about 28,000 miles on them and could probably squeeze out another 3,000.

They are summer tires but they are not directional. This is a major advantage in my case because I would be able to rotate them front to rear and side to side allowing me to get the best possible tread life. And, given my limited budget these were right up my alley of the ideal tires to pick. For the set of 4 they shipped direct from TireRack.com to my doorstep for about $400.

Time for the break down…

• Would I buy these tires again? Definitely these were a get set and budget-wise, right up in my alley for the broke college student. More pros than cons.
• Hydroplaning and wet traction: Hydroplaning, these do catch those small wet spots on the road but since they are not directional they do not pass through the water so easily. Wet traction, they are decent but if I take it hard off the line when it is wet I would probably be slipping into 2nd gear. Grips decent in the wet, but any hard driving in the wet is not recommended.
• Dry traction: These are great for the price that I paid them for. They aren’t the best at handling, not like Warren’s Yokohama Advan Neova AD08, but for 1/3 the cost these were great. They took a little while to warm up to feel the full grip but for daily driving the grip was there when I needed it.
• Cornering and steering response: Cornering, the tires held to the ground for the corners and I felt confident at taking turns even in emergency situations that the tires were able to grip when I had to dodge an obstacle on the freeway. Steering response was good, wasn’t the best, but not the worst.
• Noise comfort: These tires were great on the noise comfort and quiet on the freeway at cruising speeds but also in the city as well.
• Tread wear: I can’t stress enough on how much the tread life was higher than I expected for these tires. They were great and being asymmetrical it allowed me to rotate the tires all directions, which would enable me to get the best life out of them.

Overall I felt that these were great tires, definitely the best bang for my buck. If you’re on a small budget and need some great tires, I highly recommend the Sumitomo’s HTR Z III’s. Don’t let the name scare you away because they’re not a mainstream manufacturer. And, TireRack.com posted the rank from their consumer survey results as 10th for the Sumitomo HTR Z III’s – not too bad for the price.

Typically, tire reviews are done when the set is new, but tires won’t be new forever. We know a lot of you can’t always afford to buy a brand new set so I wanted to do a review on a set with some wear already.

I’d heard that many tuners enjoy these tires and recently I bought a set for my VW Rabbit. To my knowledge I am currently the 2nd owner of these tires, bought from a GolfMkV forum member last month. They probably had about 15,000 miles on them and experienced some pretty heavy driving, so I only expected to get another 5,000 miles on them before they went bald.

For the past month I’ve had them installed and have been to Southern California and back with no problems. Dry traction is decent. It doesn’t work well with my daily driving, but once they warm up they can grip. Unfortunately, if I’m just driving normally and when I need to punch it, the grip isn’t there yet because the tires haven’t warmed up enough from my daily driving.

I can’t comment too much on the wet traction. My only experience was one random rainy weekend and they performed just like any other tires in the wet. I never pushed it hard so I can’t say I know the full limit of these tires in the wet environment.

Noise is usually not a factor for me because I’m typically driving with the windows down and music pumped up. But, when I am cruising on the freeway or just want some quiet time I do hear some regular road noise, though nothing excessive.

Let me break it down…

• Would I buy the Falken FK452′s again? Yes, maybe just to try them out with my own driving habits. But, I wouldn’t buy a used pair again because I can find cheaper alternatives that perform just as well.
• Hydroplaning and wet traction: I do not have enough info because it’s pretty hot here in the middle of summer.
• Dry traction: the traction is there, but only once you get them warmed up. Daily driving might not be enough to warm up the tires to get that extra grip when you need it.
• Cornering and steering response: is up to par and I felt comfortable, but also confident, in any turn I was making with these tires.
• Ride comfort: seems to be a little bumpy but since I am lowered I grew accustomed to the bumpy-ness. The lower profile tires are expected to make it bumpy as well.
• Noise comfort: is good for daily driving and quiet cruising on the freeways.
• Tread wear: seems to have a lot of potential, but since they are directional you can’t get the maximum  tread out of these tires.

I’m going to make this short and sweet since I’ve already posted my review of these tires. It’s been about 4 weeks of riding on my new AD08s and this weekend was my first trip on the road. One of the biggest concerns I had was road noise. When you are driving around town, loud tires can be tolerated. But when you are driving down from San Jose to San Diego, the constant noise of the tread hitting the pavement for 7 hours can be as agitating as chalk on a blackboard.

I found the road noise to be totally acceptable. In fact, I’d say they performed noticeably better than the tires that came with the GTI. Perhaps that is no surprise. With the windows up, we had no problem holding a conversation without yelling at each other. I’ve heard many complaints from Falken 452 owners about road noise, and it was one of the reasons I didn’t pull the trigger on a set of those. If you can’t handle loud tires, then the AD08s should definitely stay on your short list.

As explained in my last post, I ordered, received, and installed a set of Yokohama Advan Neova AD08 tires. Mine were pretty bald, so I had some high hopes for these new ones. I hoped they would all but eliminate the torque steer I’ve become so accustom to, and I that is exactly what they did. TireRack lists these tires under the Extreme Performance category, and for good reason.

Straight Line Acceleration
As you can see, these guys have a very aggressive tread pattern. Lots of flat surfaces to connect with the pavement. My first test for these tires was launching from a stop light. I pushed down the throttle and the tires gripped after a little chirp. Second gear usually gives me tire spin and torque steer, but not this time. I had two hands on the wheel anticipating some movement, but I got nothing. The car accelerated in a straight line without any fuss. This is what I expect from tires considered “Extreme Performance.” Yokohama called the AD08′s predecessor, the AD07s, the fastest street tires in the world. I had to test these in some turns before passing this throne on to the AD08s.

Lateral G’s
If I wanted a car for straight line speed, I would have picked a Mustang. Since I didn’t, handling turns is even more important to me than launching off the line. Since I don’t track my car frequently, the best test for this is the on-ramp loops for highway 280. I went into the turn at about 50mph and held it. As I came around the bend the car felt confident and surefooted. I couldn’t detect any loss of traction. As I began to exit the loop, I hit the gas and accelerated onto the freeway with nothing more than a little chirp.

Money well spent
If you are going to splurge, tires are THE area to do it. Tires are the only part of the car that connects the power to the pavement (otherwise you are doing something very wrong). Perhaps they don’t sound as cool as a new intake or exhaust, or look as sexy as some new OZ Allegheritas, but they are indeed the best bang for the buck. It’s also one of the few parts that plays a role in every aspect of driving whether you’re accelerating, cornering, or braking. If you are looking for tires with grip to spare and you don’t plan on hitting the snow in Tahoe any time soon, the AD08′s will not disappoint. I can’t speak to their wet weather performance, as the SF Bay Area doesn’t see a whole lot of rain during the summer.

For additional info, check out the review over at Leftlane.