An automobile is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transportation. Most definitions of car say they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four tires, and mainly transport people rather than goods. Cars came into global use during the 20th century, and developed economies depend on them. The year 1886 is regarded as the birth year of the modern car, when German inventor Karl Benz built his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Cars became widely available in the early 20th century. One of the first cars that was accessible to the masses was the 1908 Model T, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the US, where they replaced animal-drawn carriages and carts, but took much longer to be accepted in Western Europe and other parts of the world.
Cars have controls for driving, parking, passenger comfort and safety, and controlling a variety of lights. Over the decades, additional features and controls have been added to vehicles, making them progressively more complex. Examples include rear reversing cameras, air conditioning, navigation systems, and in car entertainment.
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Cars have always been subject to after market modification. The golden age of car tuning was the decades between World War II and the beginning of air pollution restrictions. Both moderate and radical modification have been commemorated in the popular songs Hot Rod Race and Hot Rod Lincoln. The names of Abarth and Cooper appear on models styled after the cars they modified. Cosworth went, with support from Ford, from modifying Ford of BritainEnglish Flathead engines for Lotus Sevens to dominating Formula One racing.
In the 1970s and 1980s, many Japanese performance cars were never exported outside the Japanese domestic market. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, grey import vehicles of Japanese performance cars, such as the Nissan Skyline, began to be privately imported into Western Europe and North America. In the United States, this was in direct contrast to the domestic car production around the same time, where there was a very small performance aftermarket for domestic compact and economy cars; the focus was instead on sporty cars such as the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Corvette, or on classic muscle cars.
Because of their light weight and the increasing availability of low-prise tuning equipment, economy and compact cars exhibit high performance at a low cost in comparison to dedicated sports cars. As professional sporting and racing with such vehicles increased, so did recreational use of these vehicles. Drivers with little or no automotive, mechanical, or racing experience would modify their vehicles to emulate the more impressive versions of racing vehicles, with mixed results.
Areas of modification
The essence of modification of a tuner car is an attempt to extract the greatest possible performance?or the appearance of high performance?from the base motor vehicle through the addition, alteration or outright replacement of parts. Although this largely involves modifying the engine and management systems of the vehicle to increase the power output, additional changes are often required to allow the vehicle to handle this power, including stiffened suspension, widened tires, better brakes, improved steering and transmission modifications such as the installation of a short shifter. Although largely invisible from outside the vehicle, certain modifications such as low profile tires, altered suspension, and the addition of spoilers can change the overall appearance of the car, as well as adding downforce to increase traction.
A stock audio system is one specified by the manufacturer when the vehicle was built in the factory. A custom audio installation can involve anything from the upgrade of the radio to a full-blown customization based around the audio equipment. Events are held where entrants compete for the loudest, highest quality reception or most innovative sound systems. Some common modifications include higher quality speakers and sub woofers, amps, a better wiring system, etc.
Interior
All cars competing in each class must adhere to a strict set of regulations. As in some well-known racing events, like NASCAR and NHRA, sanctioned events often require a minimum vehicle weight. In such cases the interior is stripped, and the required weight is achieved by adding ballast that allows precise control over weight distribution.
Along with weight requirements, safety requirements are present . Requirements differ for different classes. Roll cages, fire extinguishers, reinforced bucket seats, seat harnesses, and the like are some of the required safety modifications. Roll cages may be difficult to install when the original equipment interior is present. Some tuners will have "gutted" interiors, or omit features that many ordinary drivers would find desirable or necessary, such as audio systems, air conditioning and soundproofing in order to reduce vehicle weight.
Engine tuning is the process of modifying the operating characteristics of an engine. In a typical engine set-up, there are various mechanical and electronic elements such as the intake manifold, spark plugs, Mass air flow/ Volume air flow, etc. Modern engines employ the use of an ECM to provide the best balance between performance and emissions. Via the OBD communications protocol, the electronically controlled aspects of the engine can be modified in the process known as 'mapping'. Mapping can either be performed by changing the software within the ECU (chip tuning via firmware modification), or by providing false data via plug-in hardware. Mechanical components can also be replaced, such as turbochargers or superchargers.
Other standalone engine management systems are available. These systems replace the factory computer with one that is user programmable.
Improper, incorrect and poorly executed engine modifications can have a detrimental effect on performance. Mechanical and electrical components will suffer or simply fail as a result. An example would be the use of an air compressor such as a turbocharger to increase the volume of air used in power stroke of the otto cycle. In a typical chemical reaction, the air-fuel ratio must be a minimum of 14:1 (see Stoichiometry). If higher ratios are used,[clarification needed] higher pressures and temperatures are observed in the cylinders, which can quickly push an engine beyond its intended design limits. Neglecting such operating parameters can lead to premature failure, such as warped cylinder heads and walls (temperature related), disintegrated piston rings, cracked or bent connecting rods and crankshafts (excessive amount of torque applied), total cooling system failure, engine fire, engine detonation, engine seizing, and even blowouts. This can all lead to very expensive repairs, as well as being very dangerous.
Suspension tuning involves modifying the springs, shock absorbers, swaybars, and other related components of a vehicle. Shorter springs offer greater stiffness and a lower center of gravity at the possible cost of unwanted changes of suspension geometry. Stiffer shock absorbers improve the dynamic weight shifting during cornering and normally have shorter internals to stop them from bottoming out when shorter springs are used. Stiffer sway bars reduce body roll during cornering, thus improving the grip that the tires have on the surface by reducing suspension geometry changes caused by roll; this also improves handling response due to faster weight shifting (similar to stiffer springs.) The danger with overly stiff swaybars is the lifing of the inner wheel, which changes traction of that end at a discontinuous rate. By increasing the roll resistance of on end, weight transfer is concentrated at that end, causing it to slip more than the other. This effect is used to control the over/under steer characteristic as well as to reduce roll. Other components that are sometimes added are strut bars, which improve the body stiffness and help better maintain the proper suspension geometry during cornering. On some cars certain braces, anti-roll bars, etc., can be retrofitted to base model cars from sports models.
For offroad vehicles, the emphasis is on lengthening the suspension travel and installing larger tires. Larger tires, with or without larger wheels, increase ground clearance, ride over short obstacles and holes more smoothly, provide more cushioning and decrease ground loading which is important on soft surfaces.
These suspension modifications are in contrast to Lowriders with hydraulic or pneumatic suspensions. Lowriders use another type of suspension tuning in which the height of each individual wheel can be rapidly adjusted by a system of rams which, in some cases, makes it possible to "bounce" the wheels completely clear of the ground.
Body tuning involves adding or modifying spoilers and a body kit in order to improve not just the physical looks of the car, but most importantly, the aerodynamic performance of a vehicle. Through the generation of downforce, cornering speeds and tire adhesion can be improved, often at the expense of increased drag. To lighten the vehicle, bodywork components such as hoods and rear view mirrors may be replaced with lighter weight components.
Often, body modifications are done mainly to improve a vehicle's appearance, as in the case of non-functioning scoops, wide arches or other aesthetic modification. Aftermarket spoilers or body kits rarely improve a car's performance. The majority, in fact, add weight and increase the drag coefficient of the vehicle, thus reducing its overall performance. Roof chops and sectioning the body are also used to improve aerodynamics, dating back to the 1940s.
Increasing the wheel track width through spacers and wide body kits enhance the cars cornering ability. Lowering the center of gravity via suspension modifications is another aim of body tuning. Often, suspension tuners unfamiliar with spring dynamics will cut stock springs, producing a harder, bouncy ride. It is also common to lower the car too far, beyond the optimal height for performance, purely for appearance.
Competition cars may have light weight windows, or the windows may be completely removed, as auto glass adds significant weight high up. Plastic windows are much more vulnerable to scratches which reduces service life.
Tires have large effects on a car's behavior and are replaced periodically, therefore tire selection is a very cost-effective way to personalize an automobile. Choices include tires for various weather and road conditions, different sizes and various compromises between cost, grip, service life, rolling resistance, handling and ride comfort. Drivers also personalize tires for aesthetic reasons, for example, by adding tire lettering.
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