Voodoo Visions: Chapter 1 - Performance

Welcome to Voodoo Performance. We're a boutique automotive repair and performance shop based in Chandler.  We specialize in making your car better, faster, cooler and even more reliable if that's what you choose.   We have created this series to educate our customers into the latest ways to either make appropriate horsepower or handle even better to improving a ride or making a vehicle last longer.  In all cases, we also look at the budget which is why this series was created to begin with.  If we can save you money with better choices, that’s what we aspire to.

The idea with this series is to help you make decisions with your car based on what you want (and what your better half will allow).  Even though we are a performance shop, we also maintain passenger cars and fleet vehicles.  In this series, even though we eat, live, and breath speed, we are going to start with the daily driver.  Our goal is to not only show you how we can save some money but make your car more fun at the same time and make it last.

Buying a car is like a marriage or at minimum it’s a long term relationship.  Considering it's the second most expensive thing you will purchase, it’s probably a good idea to take care of it.  And like any relationship, after you have been together for a while, you get used to each other and things start to get complacent and routine (for example, you might not be fitting into that race suit you bought 3 years ago).  In my case, my wife would say that things are breaking down but I’m sure she is referring to my car, not my body.  But let’s be frank, after a few years, every drive becomes just routine (I’m not touching that analogy with a 10’ pole).  But whether you have a nice car or one that barely makes it to work every day, you still might be gawking at something new you don’t need to (Guys, zip those lips really quick or you will quickly lose half your stuff).

Unlike real life, you can upgrade your car and still keep all your money as opposed to marriage where an upgrade could cost half of everything you own.  Let’s be frank, it’s a lot cheaper to upgrade your car than the spouse so let’s focus on that.  The great part about upgrades is that you can simply start with simply fixing your car, which still makes it more fun, and saves you money!  Don’t believe me?  I’ll do some splain’in.

Your gas mileage has been getting worse.  What you probably don’t notice is that the car is also probably going slower simultaneously since this happens gradually.  Now you are losing money and your car is less fun.   The obvious answer is a simple tune-up, new air filter, fuel filter, etc…  That’s all basic maintenance and most service shops could probably get back most of the original performance which will also save you a few bucks at the gas station.

But wait, there’s more.  Don’t touch that dial.  At Voodoo Performance, we will recommend the right oil, the best oil filter, and the best air filter to get your car to 500,000 miles or more.  We will also tell you which spark plugs to use and believe me, it’s not the most expensive ones (known fact, regardless of hype, spark plugs make little difference except for longevity).  We are not only about performance; we are also about making sure your car is running at top condition for as long as you want.  In addition to cars with so much horsepower they can turn any tire into air pollution in 10 seconds, we also manage fleets for vans for companies.  Most of these vans are at 350,000 miles to as much as 500,000 miles.  We also take care of mini-vans that have crossed 350,000 miles and so on.

This article series is designed to give you insider secrets about how to make that vehicle last, but even secrets about what parts can last longer than OEM for less money, parts that improve performance for less money, and even what parts might work for your car that were actually designed for a different vehicle (there is some cool stuff that we have done, even on mini-vans that are daily drivers).