Hyundai Veloster Tuning

"Thanks for reading our Hyundai Veloster tuning article."

The Veloster is a very well appointed coupe, proving once again that you can't overlook Hyundai when it comes to car styling and performance cars.

The door configuration is often criticised but it actually works really well and saves weight. How many other coupes out there give rear passengers easy access with a door on the pavement side?

The second generation builds on the success of the first offering a fantastic multi link suspension and some very tasty turbo engines.

We can't wait to have a play with the performance Veloster N version and are sure it will offer much.

The Veloster is a good project car to have. The key to Veloster tuning is finding the right mods you can waste loads of money if you do it wrong.

Tuning tips and articles

Engine tuning Transmission tuning Care care Intake & exhaust mods Improve handling Forums

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

Best mods for your Veloster

  1. Brake Mods - Improve your Veloster's stopping power needs to be high on your agenda.
  2. Turbo upgrades - Adding a turbocharger is the most efficient approach to increase air supply, allowing you to burn more fuel and make more power. It is one of the most costly upgrades you'll see massive gains.
  3. Internal engine mods - crank, pistons, conrods & compression ratio including balancing and blueprinting
  4. Remaps - Veloster engine tuning/remapping provides the biggest gains compared to cost, replacement ECUs, and inline Tuning boxes are all alternatives.
  5. Intake Mods and Exhaust Upgrades - Note that on their own these mods won't ADD POWER in most cases, but they can help enhance power after other mods by removing the restriction.
  6. Fast road cams are generally the biggest mechanical mod upgrade, but they must be installed 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.
  7. Veloster Suspension Upgrades - Replacing worn bushings and shocks dramatically improves Veloster handling Adjustable coilovers and better bushings are what is needed here.

Veloster Tuning Stages

Typical stage 1 mods often include: Suspension upgrade (drop 30mm - 41 mm.), Panel air filter, Engine Tunes/Remapping, Lighter flywheel, Alloy wheels, Sports exhaust.

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

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

Veloster Alloy wheel upgrades.

Because alloys are lighter they improve performance and they will help to cool the brake disks. Pay attention to your choice of tyres (tires) for your car, a good track legal slick tire can really enhance your cars handling. Please note that although they can look cool on the Veloster large alloy wheels 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.

Because of this endeavour to keep the overall rolling diameter of the wheel the OEM setup. In all cases we do not recommend going larger than 18 inches.

Veloster Tuning modifications.

  •  1.6 L Gamma G4FC i4 (gasoline)
  • 1.6 L Gamma G4FD GDI i4 (gasoline)
  • 1.6 L Gamma G4FJ turbo GDI i4 (gasoline)

Second generation engines

  • 1.4 L Kappa turbo GDI i4 140PS (gasoline)
  • 1.6 L Gamma G4FJ turbo GDI i4 204PS (gasoline)
  • 2.0 L Nu MPi 2.0L i4 149PS (gasoline)
  • 2.0 L Theta 2.0T GDI turbo turbo GDI i4 250PS/275PS (gasoline)

Veloster Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

Now we move on to the intake and exhaust and ensure proper flow through the engine. Contrary to popular belief there is often a small power gain to be had by fitting an induction kit, they only become beneficial and are recommended after you increase the engines power to the point where the standard air intake box cannot cope!

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 as these are easy to clean and maintain and generally perform better than paper ones.

Sports exhausts will certainly help air flow from the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too big or you might just stuff your flow rate and make things worse. So generally speaking, keep to a size of 1.5 to around 2.5 inches to maximise flow rates, and this should take into account the amount of air your engine is moving.

Getting the head ported and polished will assist in flowing more air into each cylinder. This is definitely a job for a pro with a flow bench. A good multi plate fast road sports clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never cut corners or think that a standard clutch to cope. The best mods in our experience for your Veloster are a tune/remap especially on a turbo, a fast road camshaft and sports exhaust, with a good air intake.

Turbo engines are just begging to be flashed. You will see massive power gains on most modern turbo engined cars including diesels making a tune/remap one of the most cost effective and massive modifications for your money.Adding forced induction will see phenomenal power gains but this is usually too expensive to be cost effective. Superchargers are often easier to add than a turbo. It is more challenging to map a turbo as the boost increases exponentially with rpm.

Superchargers will give a boost which is correlating to engine speed so is simpler. Decreasing the engines compression ratio will allow you to add forced induction, water injection may also help prevent detonation.

Final tips on adding power to your Veloster

Engine power ranges from 147hp to 271 hp and the 2.0 Theta TGDi engine is a fantastic power plant and great choice for the Veloster chassis.

Quarter Mile times

Base Power Quarter Mile Weight Tuned Power Quarter Mile
130hp 17.96 1500kg 163hp 16.69
150hp 17.15 1500kg 175hp 16.31
163hp 16.69 1500kg 180hp 16.16
172hp 16.4 1500kg 195hp 15.75
180hp 16.6 1500kg 220hp 15.15
190hp 15.89 1500kg 250hp 14.54
247hp 14.60  1500kg 300hp 13.71

Getting the best performance upgrades for your planned usage of the car is vital. Stage 3 competition upgrades just won't work well on the road and will make the car undrivable.

Peak power is all well and good but for a daily driven 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 upgrades for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance part.One of the best mechanical motorsport parts you can do on your NA (naturally aspirated) engine is to fit a fast road cam .

The exhaust & intake valve durations play a huge role in your cars power band, but be careful here, getting this wrong can upset the idle and make the car hard to drive in traffic. You'd need to follow a cam upgrade with other mods and finish with a tune/remap to fully realise your gains.

Don't forget to look at the fuelling when you are increasing the power - it makes the car more thirsty.

Frequently power losses, and erratic idling after tuning parts are done can usually be traced to timing or fuel delivery issues. Uprating the injectors is another beneficial modification and will deliver sufficient fuel.

If have increased your fuelling with bigger injectors you will also need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it.

Veloster Handling/Suspension upgrades

Handling modifications are at the top of your mod list for the Veloster.

Fully adjustable suspension allows you to fine tune the handling of you Veloster dramatically enhancing your drive.

Drop the car optimally somewhere in the region of 30mm - 41 mm. and fit motorsport grade stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances.

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

Upgrading your Bushes

Installing new OEM rubber bushings may dramatically improve the performance of your car when the old bushes have degraded.

It is possible to connect the Veloster's suspension components around the chassis of the Veloster using poly bushes, which are replacements for the rubber mounts. The rubber ones will degrade with time and need replacing anyway so why not upgrade.

A new set of poly bushes may be able to eliminate the excessive play that comes with rubber bushes.

Because polyurethane bushes are stiffer, the ride may be less forgiving, but the bushes will last longer and maintain the car's handling over a longer time.

They may also hasten the depreciation of other suspension components due to the increased vibration and play.

For a vast variety of vehicles, a 'compromized' approach is obviously incorrect when it comes to suspension upgrades, so research your upgrades and mods carefully before shelling out your hard earned cash.

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

With just a few mods you can change your Veloster into a hot hatch, beating bigger engined sports cars on the track.

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

We have seen turbo transplants on the smaller engines, but these take a lot of setting up.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.

We love hearing about our website visitors projects, especially the mods done and which work best for you on your car. Which helps us keep our guides and tips up to date helping others with their modified car projects. Your feedback and comments are used to keep this page up to date, and help improve the accuracy of these articles which are kept updated and constantly revised.

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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 Veloster options in more detail with our Veloster 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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