Post a pic of your real car

[luftrofl]

Actually, a "locked differential" makes cars more difficult to turn, but you won't find one of those on any street-driven Sentra.

Most (all?) street cars without LSDs have open differentials, which are even more permissive than LSDs about letting the wheels travel at different speeds, and which do not contribute at all to making a car hard to turn. A car with an open differential may not want to accelerate much while turning, but turning shouldn't be a problem.

An LSD is a sort of hybrid of an open differential and a locker -- it acts like an open differential as long as both wheels are at about the same speed. As the speed difference increases, it behaves more and more like a locker.

Shows what I know about LSDs(Not much).

 

[Wolfe]

jbrennen is right. To put it simply, the differential is the part of the drivetrain that connects the transmission to the wheels. An open differential offers no resistance and allows the left and right wheels to spin at different speeds. A limited slip does what its name implies -- it limits the amount of slip, or speed difference, between the left and right wheels. A locked differential doesn't allow any speed difference between the two wheels, which makes turning difficult on pavement and stressful for the tires and drivetrain.

The problem with open differentials is that if you're doing hard cornering and apply the throttle, the inside wheel (which barely has any weight on it) will start to spin and you'll lose acceleration. This is because an open differential will send power to the place where it finds the least amount of resistance. The same goes for winter driving -- if one drive wheel is on dry pavement and the other is on slick ice, the open differential will send power to the wheel with ice under it because it offers the least resistance.

A limited-slip differential, on the other hand, will send power to the wheel with pavement under it as soon as the ice wheel starts spinning. This aids in traction under hard cornering, too, because the outside wheel will still receive power when the inside wheel begins to spin. This is particularly helpful for FWD cars like the Sentra, which will understeer like crazy if the inside wheel is let loose. However, unlike a locked differential, the limited slip differential will still allow the wheels to turn at slightly different speeds in corners, just like the open diff.

Why do manufacturers bother with open differentials, then? They're cheaper, last longer, and are good enough for almost all of the driving that ordinary people do.

 

[kikie]

I washed her again today...so hopefully she's shining well enough for these higher res pics. Yay for stockness!

I actually had to reduce the size 50% just to get them to even fit in Photobucket without them auto resizing...

A ford Focus in the US????

 

[SirRangeALot]

Might as well make my first post a show-off

2002 VW Passat W8 4motion

 

[Wolfe]

What the heck is a shiny W8 Passat like that doing in Iowa, of all places!

A ford Focus in the US????

Yeah, we've gotten them since 2000. However, we're still getting the first-gen model to this day -- when you guys got the second-gen, we just got a restyled exterior...an uglier one, at that.

 

[xXSilencerXx]

A ford Focus in the US????

We've had em for a long while now.

 

[a6m5]

Nice Passat. 👍 Good color and rims really match the car as well.

when you guys got the second-gen, we just got a restyled exterior...an uglier one, at that.

No kidding. Just like that last Accord facelift(in the back, so you may use your imagination for the name on that one), if it's gonna make the car uglier, why do it? IMO, neither car looked outdated either. I don't know about Accord, but Ford did update more than just the exterior though. I still like the look of Focus, but nowhere near as much as I liked the first one.

 

[GT4_Rule]

The new Accord is the most hideous Accord in its 20+ year history.

 

[DQuaN]

Why do people over the pond put those ugly things on the front of their car?

Is it for protection?

 

[a6m5]

Why do people over the pond put those ugly things on the front of their car?

Is it for protection?

Yup. I never liked them either, but I took a close look at the frontend of my car over the weekend and guess what? rock chips. I already got million dents, now small chips all over the hood(you guys call it bonnet?) too!?

 

[daan]

I would rather have chips than a big ugly bra.

 

[a6m5]

Yeah, I guess I agree. Now I gotta go get some touch-up paint though.

 

[SirRangeALot]

What the heck is a shiny W8 Passat like that doing in Iowa, of all places!

And how is Wisconsin any better than Iowa??

Nice Passat. 👍 Good color and rims really match the car as well.

Thanks!! I'm not a big fan of the rims...I'm probably going with 18" black rims with a chrome lip. You can check out more of my car and my plans at http://www.passatworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=216386

 

[Ghost C]

My new drift toy, '81 2+2 GL. Needs some body and interior work, but the engine is strong at only 140k original miles. It's also cammed, has 265cc injectors, a full mandrel bent exhaust on an upgraded exhaust manifold, and runs quieter than I've ever heard any SOHC motor run. Did I mention it was totally free?

 

[Jay]

and runs quieter than I've ever heard any SOHC motor run.

My friend bought a R30 Skyline that has a L24E (2.4L SOHC Nissan/Datsun 6, injected) similar to your's and it suprised me how quiet and smooth it is.

 

[xXSilencerXx]

How'd you get it for free.

 

[GT4_Rule]

Free?

Junkyard?

It needs a lot of cleaning up though.

 

[Ghost C]

Definitely, there's alot of rust on the rear quarters and there's a small spot in the passenger side footwell rusted through, but other than that it's just going to be dent pulling and paint. It's got an interesting oddity with the VIN (From the factory), so I'm trying to find someone who can do a VIN lookup for me.

I got it for free because a very nice person was tired of seeing it sit in his driveway, and rather than sell it to the crusher, he wanted to see it go to a good home. After he saw the Caddy in action, I was his first pick

 

[High-Test]

Congrats, Ghost! It's a cool car!

 

[Milliethemutt]

Just realised I haven't posted this in here yet. Got it back in April. 330i - manual of course.





Edit: Got a flat now so running around on the spacesaver. It's so humiliating.

 

[DARKEST_HOUR]

edit

 

[GT4_Rule]

Interesting story, Ghost. You're lucky. It's a car at least 👍

Nice 330i you got there Milliethemutt, but why wagon?

 

[High-Test]

Why not a wagon?

Take the kids and the groceries and go really fast too! Splendid!

 

[daan]

Got a flat now so running around on the spacesaver. It's so humiliating.

Oh, no luck. Spacesavers are the work of the devil. I''m so glad I've got a full size alloy spare on mine.

 

[a6m5]

I love the wagon. 👍👍 Japan make some nice stationwagons, Americans are coming around, and Europeans in general makes great wagons, but I still like the German ones the best.

 

[95GTIVR6]

About 6 months ago, I don't have any updated pictures on the internet except for this one (around May)...

I have a fairing for the rack that needs to be installed and the fogs are now yellow (although you can't really tell). Im in Ireland still so I can't take any more until I get back home.

 

[Mclaren_Man]

here we go, its even got the hand written message on it to prove that it is mine:

 

[Jay]

What happened to your cam cover? Please don't tell me your getting it polished.


*EDIT* Nevermind just found out in the Honda thread

 

[L8 Apex]

Well, after much delay, here's mine. Hopefully I'll have some other pics soon.

http://img53.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thabenzqn4.jpg

 

[TwinTurboJay]

👍 Dude, classy lookin benz!