Tuning the Ford Edge
"Ta for reading my Ford Edge tuning guide."
The edge is a crossover SUV and sold in the North American region, and shares many parts and platform features with the Ford Fusion.
It was launched in 2006 and became quite a popular and important model for Ford in the crossover SUV class.
The Edge is a brilliant project car to play with. If you do your research then you can create an awesome Edge but don't be fooled there are lots of high performance modifications out there that will simply not suit it read our unbiased guides first.
The Ford Edge are popular tuning projects and with carefully chosen sports modifications like remaps, turbo kits and camshafts you will certainly maximize your driving fun.
Here we look into Edge tuning and show the best modifications.
Handling/Suspension upgrades
Handling modifications are a good place to start for the Edge.
Fully adjustable suspension allows you to fine tune the handling of you Edge greatly improving your drive.
We would go to a maximum drop of 24mm - 42 mm. on most models. You risk grounding out if you go lower than this.
Putting meatier brake discs and better high friction brake pads should make for greatly improved stopping.
Bear in mind that motorsport pads can be noisier and will have to be hot before they start to work.
In every day driving the brakes are only used rarely, therefore won't be all that effective so select pads which have a low working temperature.
Top end power should be your overall aim on the Edge with a nice fat peak torque band.
The best power gains come from larger engine sizes. The more you start with the bigger the return on investment so engine swaps are good value mods for small engined cars.
Power mods.
These are the uprated modifications are usually fitted by our members, decide how far you want to go before you get started.
First Gen U387 2007-14
3,496 cc (213.3 cu in) 3.5 Duratec V6
- 265 bhp (198 kW) @6,250 250lbft (339Nm) @4,500 2007-2010
- 285 bhp (213 kW) @6,500 253lbft (343Nm) @4,000 2011-2014
3,721 cc (227.1 cu in) 3.7 Duratec V6
- 305 bhp (227 kW) @6,250 280lbft (380Nm) @4,500 2011-2014
1,999 cc (122.0 cu in) Ecoboost
- 240 bhp (180 kW) @5,500 270lbft (366Nm) @1,750–4,500 rpm 2011-2014
Second gen 2015-
Ecoboost I4
- 245 bhp (183 kW) @5,500 rpm 275lbft (373Nm) @3,000 rpm 2015–
3,496 cc (213.3 cu in) Duratec 35 V6
- 280 bhp (210 kW) @6,500 rpm 250lbft (339Nm) @4,000 rpm 2015-2018
2,720 cc (166 cu in) 2.7 Ecoboost V6
- 315 bhp (235 kW) @4,750 rpm 350lbft (475Nm) @2,750 rpm 2015-2018
- 335 bhp (250 kW) @5,550 rpm 380lbft (515Nm) @3,250 rpm 2019–
2.0 L (120 cu in) TDCI I4 (Europe)
- 180 bhp (130 kW) @3,500 rpm 295lbft (400Nm) @2,000-2,750 rpm 2016-2018
2.0 L (120 cu in) TDCI I4 (Europe)
- 210 bhp (160 kW) @3,000-4,500 rpm 332lbft (450Nm) @2,000 rpm 2016-2018
2.0 L (120 cu in) EcoBlue I4 (Europe)
- 190 bhp (140 kW) @3,500 rpm 295lbft (400Nm) @2,000 rpm 2018–
2.0 L (120 cu in) EcoBlue I4 (Australia)
- 190 bhp (140 kW) @3,500 rpm 295lbft (400Nm) @2,000 rpm 2018–
2.0 L (120 cu in) EcoBlue I4 (Europe)
- 238 bhp (177 kW) @3,750 rpm 369lbft (500Nm) @2,000 rpm 2018–
Getting the correct grade of modified modifications for your planned usage of the car is vital. Stage 3 motor sport mods just won't work well on the road and will make the car undrivable.
Please watch our introduction Video tutorial to car tuning. Be sure to subscribe and support our new channel.
How to tune your car
- Improve the handling
Focus on Suspension improvements, such as coilovers and make sure the bushings are in good order and that the alignment is correct. Then focus on improving the brakes, with a big disk brake conversion kit and fast road brake pads.
- Remove restrictions
Focus on the intake and exhaust with filters being the common point of restriction in a tuned car. Intercoolers may also become restrictive on turbo engines so this may also need to be uprated.
- Burn more fuel & air
Increase the fuelling so it matches the air coming into the engine. The ratio is important so you need to improve the fuel pump and injectors, so the head mods, big valve conversions, fast road camshafts and forced induction upgrades extra supply of air is adequately met.
- Test and replace any weak parts
Weak areas are commonly the clutch, the turbocharger and pistons and crankshaft in a highly tuned engine. Makes sure these components will cope with your power aspirations.
- The Tune or Remap
A cars ECU controls the fuel, timing, spark and even the turbo in some cases, so to fully extract your gains you should remap the car last and this will fully release the power. Some cars are easy to map, and others require piggyback ECU's or aftermarket ECU's but this is the most vital step of your tuning project.
Modifying to Stage 1:
Suspension upgrade (drop 24mm - 42 mm.), Panel air filter, Remap, Alloy wheels, Sports exhaust, Lighter flywheel.
Modifying to Stage 2:
Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injector, Fast road cam, fuel pump upgrades, Power/Sport clutch.
Modifying to Stage 3:
Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Engine balancing, Competition cam, Sports gearbox, Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves).
Peak power is good on competition cars but for a daily driven car you need a wide power band and perhaps extending the rev range.
The whole point of our pointers is to give a little insight into the world of tuning performance parts and point you in the right direction, our forum is best place to go if you need more detailed advice and tips on your car tuning project, the best uprated mods and all aspects of modding cars.Fast road cams offer one of the biggest power gains for your money as far as a stand alone motorsport mods goes on a NASP engine.
It improves the intake and exhaust flow 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 affects the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.
When pushing up the power you will need to pay attention to to the fuelling. More power needs more fuel.
Using higher octane fuel is another option if you find you are suffering from pinking or premature ignition on your Ford project after fitting other parts. Increasing the injectors is another beneficial modification and will deliver sufficient fuel.
Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned Edge's uprated injectors.
Intake and Exhaust Tuning.
Now we move on to the intake and exhaust and ensure proper flow through the engine. Please note that WE DO NOT FIND IMPROVEMENTS WITH INDUCTION KITS, unless you have tuned your car massively and are finding that the standard air intake has become limited.
Derestricting the airflow into the engine is the primary part of car tuners so get a freer flowing air filter if you find that the car is running lean only if you find the car is running lean. Induction kits can sound sporty but due to the warm air in the engine bay they will not really increase power and often rob you of power on most cars.
Sports exhausts increase the flow of air through the engine. But if the exhaust is too large, ie: it's over 2.5 inches bore, you will lose much of the exhaust flow rate and end up lacking power and torque.
Head work including a gas flow and 3 or 5 angle valve job will really help to release the potential of the engine. When you start tuning your Edge you will often find that the standard clutch starts to fail so get an uprated clutch. The best mods that we recommend for your Edge are remaps, sports camshafts and induction improvements.
NASP engines do not achieve big power gains if you remap them, unless you have done extensive modifications. With turbocharged engines this is another story. A remapped turbo will give phenomenal power gains and take full advantage of the strength of the block. Despite the large cost involved adding forced induction to a NASP engine will give large power gains. Turbos are often harder to add than a supercharger. Turbos give boost in exponential proportion to rising engine speed and this can make mapping difficult.
Superchargers, however will give a boost which is proportional to engine speed so is simpler. To cope with forced induction you will usually need to decrease the engines compression ratio .
Alloy wheel upgrades.
As alloys are less heavy they improve performance and they will help to cool the brake disks. Don't forget that your choice of rubber greatly affects your cars grip and handling. It is not worth compromising performance with cheap tyres when you can buy directional tread pattern performance tires.It is worth noting that although they can look cool on the Edge big alloys 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.
With this in mind we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 20 inches, although we know some of our members have with bigger wheels with no problems.
Wheel and tire sizes
- SE (AWD), SE (FWD)SEL = 18-Inch 245-60-18
- Titanium = 19 Inch 245-55-19
- Sport,Titanium = 20 Inch 245-50-20
- Sport = 21 Inch 265-40-21
- Sport = 22 Inch 265-40-22
In our opinion the 21's and 22's ruin the handling and ride quality and we actually prefer the Edge to run on 19's or 20's.
For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss Edge options in more detail with our Edge owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Ford tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.
Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.
We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which mods work best for them on each model of car. Comments are used to improve the accuracy of these articles which are continually updated.
If you liked this page please share it with your friends, drop a link to it in your favourite forum or use the bookmarking options to save it to your social media profile.
Check out TorqueCars new YouTube channel, and see their awesome new content...
Feedback
Please use our forums if you wish to ask a tuning question, and please note we do not sell parts or services, we are just an online magazine.
Help us improve, leave a suggestion or tip