Citroen DS5 Tuning

"Thank you for reading my DS5 tuning guide."

The engine Citroen mated with the DS5 was the HP163 a 1.6L GDI Turbocharged petrol engine, a couple of diesel engines and a diesel electric hybrid.

All engines respond well to tuning and we are sure the C5 replacement will prove popular with car enthusiasts around the world.

The interior doesn't feel much unlike sitting in the cockpit of a well designed airplane.

A DS5 handles nicely on standard suspension if you get a toe out of around 1-1.5 degrees and a very slight negative camber, however the chassis really does come alive when performance suspension is added.

So let's take an overview of DS5 tuning, but please also read our indepth articles for each modification, this page is only really a summary of what can be done to modify the DS5.

We have seen some awesome DS5 tuning projects and there seems to be quite a loyal fan base of DS5 owners.

We see many tuners wasting money on their DS5 doing the wrong mods and then having to start over. Follow our guides to avoid ruining your car

Many DS5 owners uprate the handling of their cars with modified suspension parts as a priority, this will certainly increase your enjoyment of the car. We would go to a maximum drop of 35mm on most models. You risk rubbing on the arches if you go lower than this.

Turning our attention to the DS5's engine we need to get a bit more power out of the top end.

Smaller engines do not provide much of a return in terms of power so start with a bigger engine. Engine swaps are a good option if you have a small engine size.

Engine Tuning.

Typically these modified parts are usually installed by our members, decide how far you want to go before you get going.

Getting the right performance upgrades for your planned usage of the car is vital. Stage 3 motor sport parts just won't work well on the road hard to control in slow traffic.

Please watch our video which covers the 5 principles of tuning your DS5. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.

Best mods for your DS5

1. Head work - The goals of porting and flowing the head are to get air flowing into the engine while removing flow restrictions and turbulence.
2. Upgrades to turbochargers and superchargers - A New Turbo is the most efficient approach to increase air supply, allowing you to burn more fuel and make more power. Although one of the most costly upgrades you'll see massive gains.
3. Remaps - DS5 engine tuning/remapping provides the biggest gains for the money, aftermarket ECUs, and inline Tuning boxes are all alternatives.
4. Fast road cams are one of the most significant mechanical changes, but they must be setup by someone who knows what they are doing and they are not always easy to source but you might find a local firm to regrind a stock camshaft.
5. DS5 Handling Mods (suspension) - Replacing worn bushings and shocks dramatically improves DS5 handling Coilovers and Bushings are the usual go to mods
6. Intake and Performance Exhausts - NB: on their own these mods will NOT ADD POWER in most cases, but they can help enhance power after other mods by removing the restriction.
7. Brake Upgrades - Improve your ability to stop should be high on your agenda.

DS5 Tuning Stages

Typical stage 1 mods often include: Lighter flywheel, Engine Tunes/Remapping, Sports exhaust, Panel air filter, Alloy wheels, Suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm).

Typical stage 2 mods often include: Fast road cam, Power/Sport clutch, high flow fuel injector, Ported and polished head, fuel pump upgrades.

Typical stage 3 mods often include: Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Sports gearbox, Engine balancing, Competition cam, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger).

Peak power is all well and good but for a drivable and fun car you need a wide power band and perhaps extending the rev range.

In this article we shall give an overview and introduction to the best modifications for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance modification.

One of the biggest mechanical tuning parts you can do on your NA (naturally aspirated) engine is to fit a fast road cam .

Head porting and polishing the head will allow you to maximise your air/fuel charge. Leave this to a professional though with a proper flow bench and machine tools

A good heavy duty fast road uprated clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never skimp or think that your standard OEM clutch to cope. Turbo engines are just asking to be Reprogrammed.

You will see phenomenal power gains on most modern turbo charged cars including diesels making a tune/remap one of the most cost effective and phenomenal modifications for your money.

The diesel DS5's will actually see more fuel economy from a remap, as well as a massive 30bhp or more in extra peak power and lots more torque.

The most impressive power gains for NA (naturally aspirated) engines usually involve the addition of forced induction. Turbos are usually harder to add than a supercharger. Turbos increase power in exponential proportion to rising engine speed and this can make mapping difficult.

It is simpler to map a supercharger because the boost is correlating to engine speed on a linear curve. Alternatively you could fit water injection to control knock.

The intake and exhaust flow play a large part in your cars power band, but be careful here, getting this wrong can upset the idle and make the car impossible to drive in traffic.

You'd need to follow a camshaft upgrade with other mods and finish with a reflashed ECU to fully realise your gains.When pushing up the power you will need to uprate to the fuelling. More power needs more fuel.

Using high octane fuel is another option if you find you are suffering from pinking or premature ignition on your Citroen project after fitting other parts.

Uprated injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine. A fuel pump will only deliver a finite amount of fuel, so you may need to uprate this if your injectors are demanding more fuel.

DS5 Handling/Suspension upgrades

Many DS5 owners uprate the handling of their cars with tuning suspension upgrades as a priority, this will certainly increase your enjoyment of the car.

We suggest that you fit performance suspension and lower the car by 28 - 41 Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with motorsport suspension.

Adjusting the handling is often the first step in using the DS5.Adjusting the DS5's handling is often the first step in modding it.

What considerations must you make when setting up and selecting your suspension if your DS5 serves as a daily car as well?

Upgrading your Bushes

What factors should you consider when setting up and selecting your suspension if your DS5 is also used as a daily driver?

The suspension components of the DS5 may be mounted and moved around the car's chassis through bushes, which are rotating rubber mounts. The rubber ones will degrade with time.

By replacing new OEM rubber bushings, you may greatly improve your vehicle's performance.

Because the polyurethane bushes are firmer, the ride may be a bit rougher, but they will last longer and maintain the handling.

With a new set of poly bushes, the excessive play associated with rubber bushes may be eliminated.

A frequent misconception is that the best setup would be a non-adjustable suspension system that lowers the vehicle by 50mm purchased from a franchised component shop.

Vendors may claim that their DS5 suspension kits are compatible with any or all model year DS5s.

To adequately support a diverse variety of vehicles, the "one-size-fits-all"approach is obviously a mistake as engine weights and equipment trim levels all affect the cars handling characteristics.

How low should you go on the DS5?

TorqueCars research and testing indicate that the maximum suspension drop for most road vehicles is 28 - 41 millimetres, whereas the maximum suspension drop for versions that come with lowered suspension already is 18 millimetres.

These tolerances may be drastically lowered if the wheel size is changed. Even with 17" wheels and stock suspension, lowering the vehicle might result in a slew of complications.

While the fact that the DS5 being lower allows for less air to travel underneath it may aid in stability, the ultimate goal should always be to enhance handling. When lowering the springs, it is critical to use the proper shocks that match all round.

We found that most DS5 factory suspension setups need tweaking, a few degrees of toe (set some toe out to improve cornering or use toe in for better stability) and you only need around around 1.5 degrees, and some negative camber will greatly improve your cornering and handling.

Putting better brake discs and better performance pads will make for sharper enhanced braking.

As a word of warning please note that race pads will be noisy and will need to be really hot before they bite.

In every day driving the brakes are only used rarely, therefore won't stop you as well so choose friction pads which don't need to be really hot.

DS5 Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Maximum power gains come from a full induction kit with a cold air feed on heavily tuned engines, this can be sited within an air box but a panel filter should suffice for most applications.

TorqueCars suggest you use a panel air filter of cotton gauze fabric, as these are easy to clean and maintain and generally perform better than paper ones.

Do not go with the widest exhaust you can get this will reduce the exhaust flow rate - the best exhausts for power gains are usually between 1.0 to 2.0 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

On the petrol engines a non resonated silencer will really sound nice. We can't see the point or benefit of fitting a performance exhaust to the diesel engines though, as the standard exhausts flow really well and diesel's don't sound that great through sports exhausts (in our opinion).

Alloy wheel upgrades.

Because alloy wheels are less heavy they improve performance and they will help to cool the brake disks. Large DS5 alloy wheels can decrease performance. If you get big alloy wheels you will be changing your final drive ratio.

Because of this we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 17 inches, although we know some of our members have with bigger wheels with no problems other than tramlining and .

If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss DS5 options in more detail with our DS5 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Citroen tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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This article is flagged for an update, so please pass on specific tips below that I can include. All articles, and content was written by me, Waynne Smith TorqueCars founder. Some outlines are just too general so I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Citroen. You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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