I have an 04 and it has a volleyball size dent on the drivers door but I want to eventually autox it I don't know if I should do cosmetics or performance/suspension first

 

Removing the dent wont give you faster times.

 

Race the car stock first. Get a feel for how it goes. Modify only once you feel the car is slowing you down.

 

Fix the dent first...

 

its an 04 so i would make sure all maintenance is up to date. check out the congrats you got an 8 first $100 thread and the new owners start here thread.

not sure if you can do paintless dent removal on something that big but if you can that wouldnt be to expensive to fix either.

 

i would check the ignition, at least a timing light on each of the four plug wires while its running.

step 2 is an alignment, for a street car, a pretty exact alignment to stock is really good. if its more of a race car, they need more negative camber in the front , there is a sticky in the race section.

these two are cheap and easy, then maybe fix the dent? then you can buy tires...