Suzuki Baleno Tuning

"Tuning Baleno"

TorqueCars recommend that Baleno owners uprate the handling of their cars as a priority, this will certainly increase your enjoyment of the car. We would go to a maximum drop of 40mm on most models. You risk rubbing on the arches if you go lower than this.

Sadly with smaller engine sizes you are wasting your time spending money on modifications, so if this applies to you get yourself an engine swap or upgrade to a bigger car and then apply the following mods.

Suzuki Baleno Tuning modifications.

Doing this will help to keep the cars economy at lower speeds. A fast road cam will be one of the best power mod you can do mechanically to your engine. Sadly there are not many fast road cams around for the Baleno but you should be able to get your cam profile reground to a longer duration. A little big of head work such as polishing and porting and a big valve conversion will yield a better peak power figure. You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to uprate the fuelling. Uprated injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine. Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned Baleno.

Suzuki Baleno Intake and Exhaust.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. For small Baleno engine sizes go with a washable panel air filter. On larger engines and turbo vehicles an induction kit will help increase power, as stated before the bigger the starting power figure the greater the gain. Do not go with the biggest exhaust you can find - the best for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches.

A good fast road power clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never skimp or expect a standard clutch to cope. NASP engines do not achieve big power gains if you remap them but with turbo engines this is another story. A remapped turbo engine (see our articles on  remapped turbo )will give phenomenal power gain. Adding forced induction will see big power gains but this is usually too expensive on a Baleno to be cost effective. 

Superchargers are generally easier to add than turbos. It is harder to map a turbo as the boost comes on exponentially with engine speed. The nice steady boost to rpm characteristics of the supercharger make them easier to map. Many breakers yards can provide suitable superchargers and if set up correctly on low boost you should see a good power gain. Decreasing the engines compression ratio will allow you to add higher boost levels, water injection may also help prevent detonation.

Suzuki Baleno Wheel modifications.

Alloy wheels will help the brakes cool down and are usually lighter than the steel ones. Large Baleno alloy wheels can decrease performance. If you get big alloy wheels you will be changing your final drive ratio. For this reason we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 16 inches, although we know some of our members have gone larger than this with no problems.

Please join us in our forum to discuss the Baleno options in more detail with our Baleno owners. It would also be worth reading our tuning articles to get a full grasp of the pros and cons of each type of modification.