Parts upgrade, really a downgrade?

[Lucas]

I find funny that you say that, because:

"About the weight reduction..."
-"I'm leaving the weight as it is."
"I was thinking of that too."
-"Great minds think alike."
"We don't want to disturb the weight distribution."

I thought exactly like you when writing this part of my ex-story. Given the fact that some weight may be loss in the back or the front, due to "carbon-fiber hoods" and such, is likely that the weight distribution may be messed up. That's what I was thinking of at the time I wrote those five lines. The Elise 111R is a car that it's lightweight on itself. I couldn't care less if I remove more weight, given the fact that I could completely 🤬 up the distribution. Phew...

 

[Jonn 79]

Thanks for the tip Parnelli. Will test it out tonight.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

One thing many people probably don't realize when pouring money into the car is that the weight reductions seem to change the weight distribution. It's most pronounced in FF cars, nearly all of them handle better, with far more balance, without any lightening. Fully lightened they turn into understeering pigs and the advantage is mostly gone trying to make them turn.

This is interesting and actually makes alot of sense.

 

[mafia_boy]

One thing many people probably don't realize when pouring money into the car is that the weight reductions seem to change the weight distribution. It's most pronounced in FF cars, nearly all of them handle better, with far more balance, without any lightening. Fully lightened they turn into understeering pigs and the advantage is mostly gone trying to make them turn.

This is interesting and actually makes alot of sense.

And Greycap is spot on with that. I discovered that it's better to leave the standard weight with some FF's for that reason. The Yaris RS 1.5 is a perfect example of that. No weight reduction, fully worked.....beautiful car to drive. Add Stage 3 weight reduction, it becomes the most wheelspinning, understeering piece of crap!!

That's why a lot of my FF's are tuned without it now.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

And Greycap is spot on with that. I discovered that it's better to leave the standard weight with some FF's for that reason. The Yaris RS 1.5 is a perfect example of that. No weight reduction, fully worked.....beautiful car to drive. Add Stage 3 weight reduction, it becomes the most wheelspinning, understeering piece of crap!!

That's why a lot of my FF's are tuned without it now.

Does this have anything to do with why your TRD Hillux Spec M didn't have weight removed? Before you answer, I just want to clarify that i didn't think this is a bad thing, in fact, I thought that keeping full weight for this pickup actually helped its stability.

 

[mafia_boy]

It sort of was.....more an effort to keep wheelspin under control in the lower gears. With S3 weight, it was spinning & fishtailing all over the shop!!

With the trucks, it seems like a lot of weight is taken out of the rear like they put a carbon fibre tray there instead. And since the Hilux was already the lightest by some amount, it was better to leave it at standard weight.

Although I have considered an all out version of it......say a Pikes Peak special version for thrashing around Grand Canyon.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Yeah, that's what I thought. I actually added some rear ballast to the bed in that contest in an effort to kill more wheelspin, but I forgot to mention it earlier.

 

[MadMax]

I just found another of these upgrade-> downgrade things.

Doing drag runs I found out this:

Car Mazda MX-5 1800 RS (J) '00
When the Supercharger is applied ,
installing Racing exhaust to the car will affect to the power figures negatively.
From stock exhaust to Racing Exhaust -> downgrade in power is small ,but in torgue it's huge. (about 1/3)

In this one also the Semi-racing exhaust gives the most power and torgue when supercharger is applied.



MadMax

 

[sanpanico]

Great feedback family! Again, this is exactly what I wanted out of this thread. I spent some time lurking around people's tuning garages and many folks suggest going all out and spending for max upgrades, and then tweaking them, usually to superb effect, but clearly the choice in upgrades depends on the vehicle. If the feedback on this particular thread has any merit whatsoever, maxing out parts could be overkill. It's a delicate balancing act indeed. Weight distribution, LSD suggestions have been particularly helpful. Thanks again!👍