Citroen DS4 Tuning
& DS4Crossover Tuning

"Thanks for reading my Citroen DS4 tuning article."

The DS is a luxury branded car and was very well equipped. The DS4 also led to the crossback version which offers more than a passing nod to the SUV brand.

The DS range was  a significant new addition to the Citroen lineup and appealed to much younger car enthusiasts.

The turbo models are the most rewarding to tune up but all engines are capable and respond well to the right modifications and upgrades.

Engine choices in the DS4 were the petrol engines (a collaboration between PSA and BMW) including

• 1.6 L I4 VTi,
• 1.6 L I4 THP Turbo (155 or 200 hp)

Diesel options included

• 1.6 L I4 HDi, e-HDI and (since 2015)
• BlueHDI Turbo-diesel and a
• 2.0 L I4 HDi, e-HDI and (since 2015)BlueHDI

 

The DS4 is a good tuning project to try. With the right mods your DS4 can be transformed into a fun car. Don't waste money, do your homework and follow our unbiased guides to each performance upgrade to avoid disappointment.

Our aim in DS4 engine tuning should be to increase peak power and Torque at 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.

Tuning modifications.

This list of the stages and performance modifications are usually fitted by our members, decide how far you wish to go in your tuning project before you begin.

Getting the correct grade of performance modifications for your planned usage of the car is essential. Stage 3 (competition) mods just don't work well on the road difficult in stop start traffic.

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Stages of Tune

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

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

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

Peak power is nice in motorsport but for a drivable and fun car you need a wide power band and perhaps extending the rev range.

The whole point of our hints is to give a brief overview of modifying modifications and point you in the right direction, our forum is best place to go if you need more detailed advice and tips on your modified car project, the best sport upgrades and all aspects of modding cars.One of the biggest mechanical modified upgrades you can do on your NASP engine is to fit a fast road cam .

It improves the intake and exhaust durations and increases the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a remap. TorqueCars would caution you not to go with a motor sports profile cam as this upsets the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.

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

Most power losses, and erratic idling after motorsport kits are done can usually be traced to timing or fuelling issues.Upgrading the injectors is another beneficial modification and will deliver sufficient fuel.

If you've uprated your fuelling with bigger injectors you will also need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Induction kits will only help to increase performance if the air intake is struggling! Adding an induction kit to most standard engines will see ZERO LOW END POWER GAIN AT ALL. If you have heavily modified your engine and it's need for air INCREASES DRAMATICALLY then an induction kit is the answer and will help remove this restriction.

Induction kits can work well on turbo engines and larger engines (if supplied with a suitable cold air feed or air box), generally though we'd just recommend for DS4 engines you should go with a sports panel air filter preferably made from cotton.

Sports exhausts generally help improve air flow out of the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too big or you could will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches for best results.

Getting a professionally flowed (ported and polished) head with larger valves can fully release the engines power. A good triple plate fast road sports clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never skimp or think that your standard OEM clutch to cope. The best mods that we recommend for your DS4 are a remap especially on a turbo, a fast road camshaft and sports exhaust, with a good air intake.

Remaps offer impressive power gains on all turbo charged cars. On NASP engines the benefits are doubtful. However a remapped ECU on a NASP engine will help unleash the potential if you have done a lot of mods. The most phenomenal power gains for NASP engines usually involve the addition of forced induction. It is generally simpler to bolt on a supercharger than it is to fit a working turbo. Turbos increase power in exponential proportion to increasing 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. To cope with forced induction you will usually need to decrease the engine compression ratio .

Handling/Suspension upgrades

Improving the handling for many tuners first priority in your DS4 tuning project.

Putting some negative camber at the front wheels and around 1 to 1.7 degrees of toe out, will dramatically benefit your DS4 in handling and cornering.

Drop the car by as much as 24mm - 38 mm and fit performance stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

Due to the fact that alloy wheels are lighter they improve performance and they will help to cool the brake disks. Get a good directional tread pattern tyre to improve your handling and help improve traction on your DS4. Please note that although they can look cool on the DS4 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.

Although some people have with bigger wheels without problems we would stick to a 17 inch rim size as the maximum.

There is a more updated version of this Citroen DS4 Tuning article on TorqueCars.com.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss DS4 options in more detail with our DS4 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.

We need your help improving this article, so please send us your feedback in the comments box below and pass on any tips, points or facts we have wrong or have not covered.

We really do love seeing our visitors car projects and which mods work best for them, this site is very much a community effort, and we remind our visitors of our non profit non commercial approach to running this site.

All of your comments are used to improve the accuracy of these articles which are continually revised, tweaked and updated.

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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