What exactly IS tuning?

[driftersil80]

Sorry that I dont know this, im still learning. Anyways, maybe someone will come up with a good answer for this. What EXACTLY IS tuning? Like when people say "a car with all those mods sux without good tuning" or "yeah, the japanese are better when it comes to tuning" or "it needs to be tuned at a shop". You get the idea.

[CrazyHawaiian]

Finding the best match of parts and the best settings for those parts. Can be anything from engine tune to suspension tune. To maximize potential you need a good matched combo of parts that work together to achieve your goal.

[s13/350z]

a little more in depth is that it means (lets say suspension) that you set the camber, toe, ride height, dampning(sp?) etc. to the right levels for the best performance. And when tuning the motor it can be anything from the air fuel ratio, the injector timing, turbo actuator setting, boost levels, cars timing all of these things and more. different setting are needed for different conditions. hoped that helped.

DUHHH DA DUHHH"The More You Know"

[SpeedMachine]

Tuning is adjusting and usually maximizing the output. potential, or performance for the parts that are on a vehicle. Basically it is adjusting things on the car.

[marshun]

i like to think of it as a musical instrument. you use that musical instrument to play. you use the car as an instrument. just tune your instrument the way you like it.

[f8ldzz]

Tuning is the ability to adjust what you already have without having to spend more money to buy additional parts.
You can't expect to just throw on all kinds of aftermarket parts and expect them to all work and produce more power and performance?
Throwing on a bigger fuel pump + bigger fuel injectors does not automatically mean the engine will make more power.
In fact, in most cases, the engine will make LESS power and foul spark plugs.
A "tuner" will know exactly what to do and offer several options to fix the problem...