Useless car accessories that do nothing but waste your money

In your time owning a car, I am sure you've heard from friends or acquaintances about 'products' that help you increase not only power, but nets you fuel savings as well. Many swear by such products, insisting that they're the best thing since sliced bread.

Today, we delve into some of these products that make incredulous claims, and debunk whether they hold up to their claims, or are just plain useless (or heavens forbid, harmful to your car).

Dodgy engine oils

We've previously touched on mixing engine oils, or procuring engine oils from hypermarkets, but this probably worse. That would be buying dodgy, unproven engine oils that promise heaven and earth but actually can harm your engine. 

There has been a particular brand of engine oil in recent times that has made bold claims of up to 35% increase in power, and 35% improvement in fuel economy.

Let's not beat around the bush here, even established oil companies do not make such claims, for a reason: it's unrealistic. 

Instead, said users of this brand of engine oil ended up suffering engine damage. It's worth repeating this again, don't cheap out on engine oil. When unsure, just go for established brands, or buy from petrol stations.

Also read: Should you buy engine oils from hypermarkets?

A RM 30 remap for your engine

That itself sounds unfeasible, isn't it? You pay RM 30 for this device, plug it into your car, and it will save you 15% in fuel consumption and 35% more power. How? This device tells your ECU (your car's brain) to alter the fuel injection map. Firstly, that's a terrible idea.

Put simply, it isn't advisable to put any electronic device that will mess with your engine mapping. Furthermore, do your really trust a RM 30 device to alter your engine mapping correctly, on your car that cost so much more?

It's important to keep this in mind, carmakers spend a lot of time tuning their cars to achieve the right mix of fuel economy and power, to cater to a broad spectrum of users. They did not stumble upon an engine map overnight and called it a day. 

At best, the device doesn't work. At worst, it really alters your engine mapping, harming your engine in the process. 

Fuel-saving.... cards

Still with us? Yes, such a product exists. Cards the size of your regular credit cards that promise 30% reduction in your car's fuel consumption, for a princely sum of RM 130. How does it do that?

To quote the seller's description, verbatim, "Petrol is a flammable liquid which contains active atom which caused leaks, and wastage regularly occurred when the tank cover opened. LA Genius Saver functions to control wastage through wave produced from the card. This wave controls the petrol vapour to flow out through the tank cover and give up to 30% of savings."

Plus, according to this video below, the fuel saver card breaks the petrol molecule from micron to nano-micron to prevent vaporization. I'm sorry, what?

I just want to put this out there: carmakers spend millions upon millions of their budget, refining the internal combustion engine, making it not only more powerful but also more fuel efficient. The same goes for fuel companies, who invest so much of their budget to get their fuel formulation right, in the name of fuel economy. 

Surely if these companies know of a technology to further reduce fuel consumption, - like how these cards purportedly do - , wouldn't they use it? Consequently, won't they trumpet about such a technology? That would only mean that these cards.... don't work.

Performance-enhancing.... tubes

Called 'surbo' or 'mini turbo', these tubes claim to:

• Boost engine performance
• Improved pick up
• Better fuel economy

All this by installing this simple-looking tube at a car's brake servo vacuum line (red flag #1), through to the intake manifold (red flag #2), that costs less than RM 80. What this device apparently does is to increase airflow to the combustion chamber.

Once again, my burning question would be, well why didn't the powertrain engineers think of this clever solution to increase airflow? Did they not learn this while pursuing their Engineering Degree?

Meanwhile, someone else was genius enough to invent this device and sell for such an affordable price! We do not deserve this charity. 

No one should be installing or taking out anything on a car's brake servo lines (does this really need explaining?), what more the intake manifold? There are things you should leave untouched in a car's engine bay, the brake system and intake are high on this list. 

A plug & play device that reduces emissions

Last on the list is a nifty little device that you can plug into your car's 12V port. Claimed benefits? The usual improved power and fuel consumption. But wait, there's more.

The seller claims that this device "gives cars cleaner emission and helps reduce carcinogenic emissions that are responsible for Global Climate Changes (GCC) That means less pollution and more clean air."

Do you have any idea how much of a pain is emissions regulations to carmakers (cough VW cough)? How did carmakers somehow miss out on using such a technology, in a device costing only RM 8? Well, that's because in all likelihood..... it doesn't do anything for a car's emissions. 

If this thing did work, well VW wouldn't have had to pay 31.3 billion euros (~RM 155 billion) in fines and settlement as a result of their emissions cheating scandal.

Also read: Increased horsepower using a voltage stabilizer, true or false?

Conclusion

It's worth repeating this, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Again, the internal combustion engine has been around for a long time, being perfected through the ages.

Adding or using the things listed above will not net you 30% gain in power and fuel economy all of a sudden. Carmakers and fuel companies would kill to have such results, because it's a really delicate balance to achieve. 

What about you? Have you tried any of these things? How did it turn out for you? We would love to hear your experience.