Do-It-Yourself High Performance Car Mods

Seat of the Pants

The seat-of-the-pants method, sometimes nicknamed the butt dyno, is definitely the most common way to test a car. While it is not the most precise, it definitely has its uses. Not many dealers would let you bring a car to a dragstrip on a test drive, after all.

The biggest drawback to this method is its lack of precision. While you may be able to feel if a car is accelerating faster, often a car may feel faster for reasons that have nothing to do with it actually being faster. More engine noise or just wanting to believe that your mods have made the car faster can also make a car feel as if it has more horsepower. It can also be easy to fall into the trap of believing, “It rides harsher, so it has to handle better.” Seat-of-the-pants ...