Rival Performance

Rival Performance Performance Part Specialists: Car Tuning, Rolling Road, Workshop & Showroom.

Polo GTI | SACHS Performance Clutch & Flywheel 🔧Busy few weeks in the workshop at Rival, with plenty of different jobs c...
22/08/2026

Polo GTI | SACHS Performance Clutch & Flywheel 🔧

Busy few weeks in the workshop at Rival, with plenty of different jobs coming through.

One of the recent ones was Joe’s Polo GTI, which came in with a slipping clutch. Once stripped down, the clutch was well worn, so while everything was apart it made sense to replace the full setup properly.

We fitted a SACHS Performance uprated clutch along with a SACHS Performance Dual Mass Flywheel, giving the car a stronger setup ready for the extra power Joe has planned. 💪

He also opted for Royal Purple transmission oil while we were in there, so everything went back together with fresh fluid too.

No more slip, and no clutch being the limiting factor once the power starts going up.

Which, conveniently, is exactly what he’s planning next. 👀

Need a clutch or flywheel replacement, uprated setup or advice on what will suit your car? Get in touch.

🏁 Performance Parts • Workshop • Tuning
📈 Professional 2WD Dyno Rolling Road
⭐ 5-Star Reviews & Repeat Customers
🔗 www.rivalperformance.co.uk
✉️ [email protected]
📞 0191 695 1011

BEFORE VS AFTER - Fiesta ST Mk8 Turbo Refurbishment 🔧Car feeling slower than it used to? Underperforming? Or suffering f...
05/08/2026

BEFORE VS AFTER - Fiesta ST Mk8 Turbo Refurbishment 🔧

Car feeling slower than it used to? Underperforming? Or suffering from the common wastegate rattle?

Wear within the factory Fiesta ST Mk8 turbocharger can cause excessive wastegate play, annoying rattling noises and poor boost control - leaving the car feeling flat and less responsive.

At , we now offer a complete drive-in, drive-out Turbo Technics turbo refurbishment service.

Your genuine Ford turbocharger is removed and exchanged for a professionally refurbished Turbo Technics unit, restoring correct operation, eliminating the wastegate rattle and helping return the car to the performance it should have.

✅ Eliminates wastegate rattle
✅ Restores boost control and performance
✅ Improves response
✅ Reliable long-term repair
✅ Drive-in, drive-out workshop service

The photos show the before-and-after transformation from a worn original turbo to a fully refurbished Turbo Technics unit.

If your Fiesta ST Mk8 is rattling, feeling slower or underperforming, get in touch to book into our Newcastle workshop.

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🏁 Performance Specialist
🛒 Online Shop & Physical Store
🔧 Workshop Facilities, Fitting & Diagnostics
🚗 Custom Tuning for Road & Race Cars
📈 In-house Dyno Cell/Rolling Road
💳 Finance Available via Klarna & Paypal
⭐️ 5 Star Reviews on Facebook & Google
🔗 www.rivalperformance.co.uk
✉️ [email protected]
📞 Telephone: 0191 695 1011
📍 Newcastle upon Tyne, NE15 6UG
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FOCUS CUP 🏁We’ve had a number of Focus Cup cars through our dyno cell lately, including Mark McCann’s car and several ot...
30/07/2026

FOCUS CUP 🏁

We’ve had a number of Focus Cup cars through our dyno cell lately, including Mark McCann’s car and several others from the championship.

Using our experience tuning high-performance fast road and track cars, we’ve spent hours properly datalogging, analysing and tuning each setup alongside

Our fully enclosed dyno cell, with strong airflow and cooling, gives us a consistent environment for repeatable back-to-back testing. That has allowed us to test different hybrid turbos, compare hardware combinations, identify issues and improvements, and properly dial each car in using real data.

We also headed to Croft for a recent test day to see the cars in action first-hand.

With AP Racing brakes, AST coilovers, Quaife LSDs, wide-arch kits and a host of other upgrades, the Focus Cup cars are already a serious bit of kit.

Here are just a few we’ve tuned recently.

Want your car tuned properly? Get in touch. 🏁

CROFT TRACK DAY 🏁Most people spend a few weeks preparing their car for a track day.Some leave the final few jobs until t...
29/07/2026

CROFT TRACK DAY 🏁

Most people spend a few weeks preparing their car for a track day.

Some leave the final few jobs until the day before.

Then there’s us, starting at midnight and finishing at 5am on the morning of the track day. 😂

The car had been sat around for far too long and needed plenty of attention before it was ready to go again.

We started by sorting the niggly issues, replacing missing fuses and refitting the various little bits we’d borrowed from it to keep customer cars moving. The bigger injectors were then removed from the ST200 and fitted to the track car with fresh seals.

Because the car had spent so much time being briefly started, moved in and out of the unit and switched straight back off again, the engine oil had become diluted with fuel. We dropped the old oil, filled it with fresh oil and put the car on the dyno to get it mapped.

While the mapping was being sorted, the AP Racing brakes, wheels and slicks were removed from the ST200 ready to be swapped across.

Once the car was off the dyno, the AP brakes were fitted, the wheels and slicks were swapped over and the braking system was bled through with fresh fluid.

We then dropped the engine oil again and filled it with another fresh lot before loading everything up and heading to Croft.

Sleep is optional when there’s a track day involved.

Massive thanks to John and Blackie for staying late, getting stuck in and helping us get the car ready. 💪

Despite the last-minute preparation, the car completed yet another faultless day at Croft. 🤌

It felt brilliant, ran perfectly and didn’t give us a single issue all day, even after Jack had his standard little trip off the track.

It’s always good to get back to Croft, and even better seeing so many familiar faces, customers and friends throughout the day. 🤝

The car has definitely earned some proper TLC now, and we’ve already got a few ideas to spice it up before its next outing.

Another brilliant day at Croft with the boys.

We’ll be back again in August. 🏁

Another 5* Review ⭐️We can’t possibly post every job that comes through the workshop. Sometimes we take photos, sometime...
27/07/2026

Another 5* Review ⭐️

We can’t possibly post every job that comes through the workshop. Sometimes we take photos, sometimes we forget, but this one was definitely worth sharing.

Aidan had been dealing with ongoing issues with his car for a long time. He had already taken it elsewhere, where a number of parts had been replaced, but unfortunately the car still wasn’t right when he got it back.

After struggling to get anywhere with it, he decided to book in with us and make the journey.

His main complaint was a loud rattle and clunk from the offside front of the car. He described it as sounding like something was loose or a bolt was moving around, so rather than guessing or immediately throwing more parts at it, we listened to what he was telling us and started with a proper inspection.

Jordan quickly identified the main issue.

The gearbox was being held in place by just two bolts, with one of those already loose. The others were completely missing, and the loose bolt was moving around and making contact with metal, causing the noise Aidan had been hearing.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only problem.

The battery tray had been fitted incorrectly, various bolts and fixings were missing, and there were several other signs that the previous work had not been put back together properly.

Thankfully, it didn’t take us long to work through everything, replace what was missing and put the car back together as it should have been.

Once we were finished, we asked Aidan to get into the car, start it up and check the noise for himself.

He noticed immediately that it had gone.

Sometimes the most important part of diagnosing a car is simply listening to the customer, checking the basics and inspecting the work properly before recommending more parts.

We know we might not always be the cheapest workshop around, but our labour rate reflects the time, experience and care that goes into finding the actual problem and fixing it correctly.

A cheaper labour rate doesn’t always mean a cheaper repair, especially when you end up paying twice to have the same job put right.

Not all garages are the same. 👌

BMW M140i Stage 2+ 🏁We tuned this M140i a couple years ago, and it recently came back in for some power runs after the o...
21/07/2026

BMW M140i Stage 2+ 🏁

We tuned this M140i a couple years ago, and it recently came back in for some power runs after the owner felt like it was not quite as quick as it used to be.

With the weather being so hot lately, we explained that it could simply be suffering from a bit of heat soak on the road. Higher intake temperatures can make a noticeable difference to how a car feels, especially after a few hard pulls.

The other possibility was that he had simply got used to the power over time. It happens more often than you would think.

When we originally tuned the car, it made 473 BHP and 737 Nm.

Today, it made 474 BHP and 735 Nm. 🔥🤌

Almost identical figures a few years later, so there is certainly no missing power here.

Still healthy, still performing exactly as it should, and still bang on power. 📈

Passed Its Health Check… Then Broke on the Way Home. 😂You genuinely couldn’t make it up.This customer travelled to us fo...
18/07/2026

Passed Its Health Check… Then Broke on the Way Home. 😂

You genuinely couldn’t make it up.

This customer travelled to us for an Engine Health Check, dyno time and datalogging of the tuning already on the car.

Everything passed and the data looked safe. Boost, fuel pressure, fuelling, ignition and the other parameters we monitor were all doing what they should.

The torque was a little lower than we’d ideally expect, but there was nothing showing an active problem with the car.

Then the customer messaged us on his way home.

No rev counter, traction control lights on and the car cutting power.

Those symptoms usually point towards the crankshaft position sensor, so we asked him to bring it back and we’d get it checked.

The fault codes backed up what we suspected, but when we removed the timing cover, we found something we definitely weren’t expecting.

There was a mark on the crank sensor and a matching mark on the pulley. Something had managed to get into a covered area and physically catch both parts.

How it managed that, we honestly don’t know.

The timing had been done elsewhere previously, so something may have been left inside the cover, or it could have been a seriously unlucky bit of debris.

We also found that the old crank bolt had been reused. As these are single-use, we fitted a new bolt and correctly retimed the engine while carrying out the repair.

The customer opted for a genuine Ford pulley and crank sensor, and once everything was fitted and tested, the car was back to normal. 👌

A health check and datalog can tell you a lot about how a car is performing, but unfortunately, it can’t predict a freak fault like this happening afterwards. 🥲

The joys of cars! 😂

15/07/2026

BMW M3 Competition G80 in the workshop for a REMUS exhaust system. Once installed, it certainly complemented the S58 engine.

If looking for performance upgrades, drop us a message and let’s see what we can do. 🚗💨

🏁 Performance Parts • Workshop • Tuning
📈 Professional 2WD Dyno Rolling Road
⭐ 5-Star Reviews & Repeat Customers
🔗 www.rivalperformance.co.uk
✉️ [email protected]
📞 0191 695 1011

MK7 Golf GTI | IS38 ECU & TCU Package 📦📈We had this customer’s Golf GTI with us a couple of weeks ago for a power run.Th...
13/07/2026

MK7 Golf GTI | IS38 ECU & TCU Package 📦📈

We had this customer’s Golf GTI with us a couple of weeks ago for a power run.

The power wasn’t actually far off where it should have been for the setup, but the customer wanted more. Don’t we all? 😅

After getting it on the dyno and going through the logs, we could see the torque calculations were scaled incorrectly and intake air temperatures were getting far too high. The intercooler fitted to the car just wasn’t keeping up.

We pointed the customer in the right direction and, fair play to him, he wasted no time. A Forge intercooler went on, along with an IS38 turbo, and it was back with us ready to be calibrated.

Today we carried out a full TRS Performance ECU & TCU calibration, including Boosted Launch. As always, it wasn’t just one file and done. The car was tuned on our dyno with multiple revisions, checking the logs after each run and making changes until everything was exactly where we wanted it.

The end result?

✅ 380 BHP
✅ 525 Nm

More importantly, intake temperatures are now under control and the car is making repeatable power pull after pull. That’s what we like to see. 👌

If you want your car mapped properly, on the dyno, with datalogging and revisions to suit your car, rather than a generic file, drop us a message and let’s see what we can do. 🚗💨

🏁 Performance Parts • Workshop • Tuning
📈 Professional 2WD Dyno Rolling Road
⭐ 5-Star Reviews & Repeat Customers
🔗 www.rivalperformance.co.uk
✉️ [email protected]
📞 0191 695 1011

We've been a bit quiet on here lately... but it's definitely not because we've been taking it easy. 😂It's been non-stop....
25/06/2026

We've been a bit quiet on here lately... but it's definitely not because we've been taking it easy. 😂

It's been non-stop.

Cars in for tuning, servicing and performance upgrades. 😎

Race cars in for logging and development.

Hundreds of online orders going out the door.

And, of course, all the headaches that come with it. 😂

We've just been getting our heads down and getting on with it.

On top of that, we've been putting a ridiculous amount of time into the website. It's not just a few tweaks either - we've got some genuinely big changes coming that we think you're going to love. We'll share more once we're ready.

The OG Rival track car has been getting a few more upgrades too.

We've just got a couple of loose ends to finish off, and then it's time to get back out on track. 🏁

Plenty of content coming soon. P.s random pic of a Honda FK8 we did recently.

Thanks to everyone who's kept us busy and supported us as always. We really do appreciate it. ❤️

Address

Unit 1 Mercia Way
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE156UG

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm

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