Can you make a car TOO light?

jungle-jim · Post by **jungle-jim** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:10 am

I have been removing innards of my skyline and even an estimated 12kg saving, i have noticed a massive difference in the rear end grip. She slides a lot easier. But round a track its not helpful. Would this now involve suspension setup's and tyre pressure selections too? Maybe the weight where it was is a good thing?

duncan · Post by **duncan** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:15 am

JJ - i think you have a long way to go before your car is too light but when weight is removed it does effectively make the suspension harder.

Post by **Stuart** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:46 am

12kgs would only have a placebo effect Jim, unless you removed it from the flywheel

You'd notice it then!

Where and what did you strip out?

I would have said that the distribution of weight is something to consider more than the outright weight. Skylines are nose heavy (admittedly the gtr is worse than the others) and I'm making every effort to relocate weight over the rear axle to even things up.

jungle-jim · Post by **jungle-jim** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:07 am

I removed all the boot lining, and sound proofing under the back seats and the rear parcel shelf. I suppose i am asking a more 'general' question ( hence the location of the question lol ) as opposed to my car specificaly. Should you be more considerate as to where you remove weight? Or as most racing cars do, relocate it to a better place. I think some softening me my suspension and lower tyre pressure's might help my drift orientated steed. :-D

RX7 · Post by **RX7** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:12 am

Just gotta say I saw and heard this on saturday, my word did it sound good Jim.

Good to see you again mate.

I think there is still loads of weight you can lose on this but dont forget you have standard suspension dont you ? Therefore the car will have been tuned for the default weight.

steveVR6 · Post by **steveVR6** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:50 am

I've taken around 180kg out of the golf! This has made alot of difference in the handling of the car. Not only did i have to change the suspension set up again because when i've taken all that weight out the car and it just didn't handle. Also i found that when i put in a front and rear strut braces the cars handling became different again alot more ridged, which then had the car 3 wheeling around bends. Since then i've had a full cage fitted which has just stiffened the car more.
The trouble i have with the weight reduction is getting traction. I don't run anywhere near the power you Skylines do, but i've noticed that the front wheels do tend to spin alot easier. The next stage for me is a decent suspension setup. I enjoy driving my car, and think it performs fairly well, but just a few more tweeks here and there and i'll be happy :lol:

jungle-jim · Post by **jungle-jim** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:12 am

RX7 wrote:Just gotta say I saw and heard this on saturday, my word did it sound good Jim.

Good to see you again mate.

I think there is still loads of weight you can lose on this but dont forget you have standard suspension dont you ? Therefore the car will have been tuned for the default weight.

i have potenza adjustable shocks. I can soften the back end to squat more under acceleration and drop my tyre pressure down from 38 psi. I'm glad you like the sound. Its very addictive!

Pike · Post by **Pike** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:14 am

The less the better Jim. When you've taken out all you an get in on the scales and sort the handling out. Nothing will be able to keep with it.

pablo · Post by **pablo** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:23 pm

We've teken a fair bit of weight out of our 4be, nothing like what Stu has done to his

. In playing about with our setup we have gone from massive understeer to excessive oversteer. We now have the car almost where we want it. The point i'm trying to make is it is all about enjoyment. What ever you choose to do to your car enjoy it, evaluate it and learn from it.
How you set your car up depends on your driving style.

Bladerider · Post by **Bladerider** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 3:41 pm

HAHAHA

I wish 12kg made a difference, it would have saved us soooooooooooooooo much time !!!!

You'll never get your car down to a weight where its "too light" Jim, and besides which, the instant you get in it, it wont be "too light" any more will it !!!!

As others have said, think about where the weight is coming from by all means, but frankly on a big lardy bus like a liner its more a case of ripping every last molecule out of it you can and then look at possibly relocating stuff to make the car better suited to haveing a driver in it - Get down to somewhere with some proper corner weights and get the car measured with you in it, then once you have taken the weight out the car do it again and see how the car sits on its previous suspension settings. This will allow you a little bit of insight into where you could relocate stuff from and too to help balance the car before then getting someone to set the platform up to try and make the car even all round - or as you require.

But frankly without being too rude, you and the car are not likely to be at a level any time soon where any of this will make a critical difference. Just be sensible, rip out what you can, have fun doing it and then spend time and money learning how to drive, rather than how to ruin a good car. Itwill be the much larger improvement I promise.

J.