Hyundai i30 Tuning

"Thank you for reading my i30 tuning guide."

Thw i30 is a very popular car which does much to reinforce the reputation of Hyundai for building fun to drive cars with high levels of equipment.

The i30 is popular with millennials, it is well equipped, nicely designed and engaging to drive with an excellent choice of engines.

The small body and great design make a good basis for a tuning project and we look at getting the best from your i30 by choosing the right mods and upgrades for it.

Handling and braking improvements alone do much for the i30 but throw in a few choice power mods to create the ultimate hot hatch or track day weapon.

The only thing holding you back in your i30 project is time, money and your imagination With the right mods your i30 can be transformed into a stunning project. Don't waste money, do your homework and follow our unbiased guides to each performance upgrade so you don't waste your money.

Power mods for the i30 engines.

Typically these uprated mods are usually fitted by our members, decide how far you want to push your car before you get going.

Top end power should be your overall aim on the i30 with a nice fat peak torque band.

The best power gains come from larger engine sizes. The more you start with the bigger the return on investment so engine swaps are good value mods for small engined cars.

• 1.4 L i4 109 PS (80 kW; 108 hp) at 6200 rpm
• 1.6 L i4 Gamma 126 PS (93 kW; 124 hp) at 6300 rpm
• 2.0 L i4 Beta II 145 PS (107 kW; 143 hp) at 6000 rpm
• 1.6 L i4 CRDi 90 PS (66 kW; 89 hp) at 4000 rpm
• 1.6 L i4 CRDi 116 PS (85 kW; 114 hp) at 4000 rpm
• 1.6 L i4 CRDi 128 PS (94 kW; 126 hp) at 4000 rpm
• 2.0 L i4 CRDi140 PS (103 kW; 138 hp) at 3800 rpm

Getting the best uprated upgrade kits for your planned usage of the car is vital. Stage 3 competition upgrades just don't work well on the road hard to control in slow traffic.

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

Best Engine Mods for your i30

1. Suspension upgrades to coilovers and uprated bushes will really help improve your i20's handling
2. Engine Tunes - engine tuning/remapping provides the most advantage in terms of cost savings,  aftermarket ECUs, and piggyback ECUs are all alternatives.
3. Fast road cams are one of the most significant mechanical changes, but they must be installed by someone who knows what they're doing and they are not always easy to source but you might find a local firm to regrind a stock camshaft.
4. Intake and Exhaust - Note that 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.

i30 Tuning Stages

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

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

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

You should keep as much low end torque as possible and aim to achieve a long power band rather than a narrow top end power spike.

The point of our advice is to give a little insight into the world of customizing performance parts and point you in the right direction, our forum is the place to go for detailed advice and tips on your customized car project, the best sport upgrades and all aspects of modding cars.A fast road camshaft is widely accepted as one of the best NASP power modifications you can do with a single part fitted to your engine.

It improves the intake and exhaust flow and pushes up the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a performance chip.

TorqueCars would caution you not to go with a motor sport cam as this affects the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to look at the fuelling.

If you find you get flat spots and power surges after your kits you should check the fuelling and try a higher octane fuel as well. To get sufficient fuel you may need to uprate the injectors on your engine. If you've uprated your fuelling with bigger injectors you will also need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it.

i30 Handling/Suspension upgrades

Improving the handling for many tuners first priority in your i30 tuning project.

Fully adjustable suspension allows you to fine tune the handling of you i30 radically improving your drive.

Upgrades to the i30's handling/suspension

Handling changes are usually the first thing you do when you buy a new i30. We'd go up to a maximum drop of 35mm on most of the cars. In this case, your tyres could rub against the arches.

We see the same mistakes made over and over again when people are tuning their cars. Improving the handling for people who own an i30 is often the first thing they want to do.

You need to think about these things if your car is also used as a daily driver.

Bushes are rubber mounts that move, allowing the suspension parts of the i30 to attach and move with the car's chassis. The rubber ones will break down over time and need replacing.

A new set of rubber bushings made by the manufacturer can make your car much more stable and tighten up the worn suspension.

Poly bushes

Polyurethane bushes that are made of polyurethane last longer and keep the steering much tighter, but they might make the ride a little bumpier because they are stronger.

They may also speed up the wear and tear on other parts of the suspension because of the vibration and play.

A set of new poly bushes will make your car more stable by cutting down on the excessive play that rubber bushes cause.

Most aftermarket bushing kits come with a full set of suspension bushes. Some rare models and older models only have the main bushes in polyurethane.

Most of the time, custom bushes can be made to meet your needs if they are not available.

i10 Suspension myths

A lot of people think that if they buy a non-adjustable suspension system that lowers the car 30mm from a local parts store, they'll have the best set up.

There are a lot of suspension kits for the i30 that are very general, and some vendors say that they can be used on any or all of a car's models.

One-size-fits-all is wrong because different engines, wheel sizes, and vehicles all need different suspension settings because they all have different weights and weights.

Remember that speed bumps will not slow down a lowered car. Instead, they will grip the sump and pull off the bottom of the engine and most of the front skirt. Lower doesn't always mean better control.

TorqueCars says that most cars on the road should not be dropped more than 35mm. Hot hatches with upgraded suspension should only be dropped 30mm.

If you changed the size of your wheels, these tolerances could be much lower. With a conventional suspension and 17" rims, a car would be fine. If it's lowered as well, you might run into a lot of problems, though.

Keeping the vehicle stable should always be the goal, and because the vehicle is lower, there is less air moving under it, which could help with that. It's important to keep in mind that lower springs should be used with shocks that match them.

Think about how your i30 looks and how it fits together.

Fronts with a little negative camber can help your i30 be more stable and corner better if you put in a little toe in or out.

There are i30 motorsport grade stiffer dampers that can drop the car up to 27mm to 36mm. Most cars with bigger drops will need other changes in order to get the best performance.

Check the fueling and try a higher octane fuel as well if you start having flat spots and power surges after you make changes to the way your car runs. To get enough fuel, you might need to change the injectors on your engine. The bigger the injectors, the bigger the fuel pump you'll need to keep up with them.

We would go to a maximum drop of 22mm - 36 mm on most models. You risk rubbing on the arches if you go lower than this.

i30 Mapping & Remap Tunes

Remappers are experts in performance engine tuning/remapping through the i30's OBD port, as well as the installation of ECU chips or bench flashing in cases when the OBD port is inaccessible.

Are you aware that the manufacturer of your car's engine has purposely limited the engine's intended responsiveness and power output? This is owing to the fact that they must accommodate drivers who insist on using inferior gasoline or refuse to follow service schedules.

It's also often regulated for marketing purposes, such as dropping an i30's engine's power output into a certain class for insurance or local emissions regulations. This is frequent in cars powered by turbo diesel engines, which are popular among fleet customers for their fuel efficiency. The good news is that you don't have to adhere to these limitations. If you want to get rid of them, all you have to do is tune/remap your ECU chips.

This is normally accomplished via your OBD port, leaving no evidence of the turbo diesel engine tuning/remapping or petrol performance remapping. Be wary of advertised power boosts and off-the-shelf products.

Some firms overstate power increases in order to "sell" their goods by making the consumer believe they are receiving more for their money! A nice distribution of power from tickover to peak rpm is what you want from a remap, with no unexpected surges of power from the turbo. It should be smooth, and the engine will be more alive, pulling harder all the way through the rev range.

Pushing the engine to its limits causes dependability issues, injector leaks, hesitation, over-boosting, and, in the worst-case scenario, a "blown" engine.

The map is extracted from your ECU and a copy is made; yes, your vehicle can still be driven while this is being done. The map from your vehicle is then modified by the mapper to suit your needs, such as if you have installed a cat back exhaust system or an aftermarket filter, and then installed back into your vehicle.

i30 Intake and Exhaust Tuning Mods.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Please note that WE DO NOT RECOMMEND INDUCTION KITS, unless you have tuned your car extensively and are finding that the standard air intake has become a restriction.

For most i30 engines TorqueCars would suggest you just go with a washable panel air filter. On heavily tuned engines and turbo vehicles an induction kit will help release the power providing you address the problem of supplying cold air.

Sports exhausts generally help improve air flow through the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too large or you could very well end up with a reduced flow rate. So generally speaking, keep to 1.5 to 2.5 inches as a rule of thumb.

Airflow through the head can be dramatically increased with some professional gas flowing. These should match and be setup to take into account any other engine mods.

In nearly all cases of significant i30 tuning your clutch will start to slip and this should be improved - read our overview on clutches for more information.

Turbo engines are just pleading to be flashed or remapped. You will see significant power gains on most modern turbo engined cars including diesels making a tune/remap one of the most cost effective and significant modifications for your money.

We've also seen some tuners toying with twincharging conversions and making some very high power figures.

The most phenomenal power gains for NA (naturally aspirated) engines usually involve the addition of forced induction. Turbos are often harder to add than a supercharger. With a turbo the power curve is related exponentially to the engine speed making it harder to map.

The nice steady boost and rpm characteristics of the supercharger make them simpler to map. Alternatively you could add water injection to reduce the risk of knock.

i30 Alloy wheel upgrades.

The benefits of alloy wheels include lowering your unsprung weight and better brake cooling. It is worth noting that although they can look cool on the i30 large alloys will actually decrease your performance. The larger you go the lower your acceleration will be - this to the change in your effective final drive ratio.

Due to this fact we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 16 inches, although we know some of our members have with bigger wheels with no problems.

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 i30 options in more detail with our i30 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Hyundai tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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