more weight?
more weight?
Author
Discussion

mak

Original Poster:

1,445 posts

255 months

Monday 19th December 2005
quotequote all
this is going to sound odd but my 5ltr is a sod for letting go in anything other than total dry conditions but its not all down to sheer power because i've had other cars that are a lot more stable with just a much or more bhp, is it because of the lack of wait over the rear axle and i do wonder if a couple of bags of cement (not that i would) would make the car more balanced, slower i admit but maybe better, any 1 thought about adding some weight to the rear or am i going to be laughed off the site :-).

pies

13,116 posts

285 months

Monday 19th December 2005
quotequote all
You've got shed loads of torque at low revs,and a light car

chassis 33

6,194 posts

311 months

Monday 19th December 2005
quotequote all
Get your rear toe in checked, if its out, the rear tyres will light up and slew everywhere, especially in a 5litre.

Regards
Iain

GreenV8S

31,018 posts

313 months

Monday 19th December 2005
quotequote all
The weight distribution is perfect for dry grippy conditions. If you're comparing it with other cars you need to consider power to weight ratio, not just the power.

In slippery conditions you will sometimes find you have more power than you can use, but fortunately that pedal on the right has more than two positions. If you find it's getting really wayward on dry roads then check that you have got a reasonable amount of tread and the tyre pressures are correct.

225

1,331 posts

255 months

Monday 19th December 2005
quotequote all
If your running bridgestones SE02s they are good in the dry but pants in anything else, plus as said shed loads of torque at low revs and bu55er all weight.

zippee

14,128 posts

263 months

Monday 19th December 2005
quotequote all
chassis 33 said:
Get your rear toe in checked, if its out, the rear tyres will light up and slew everywhere, especially in a 5litre.

Regards
Iain


I'll second that. After having a new wishbone fitted my 400 was all over the place on the bends in the dry to the point of me not even wqanting to drive her, took her back to the garage and the alignment was out. Once re-set all was fine.

kenny chim 4

1,604 posts

287 months

Monday 19th December 2005
quotequote all
mak said:
l i do wonder if a couple of bags of cement (not that i would) would make the car more balanced, slower i admit but maybe better, any 1 thought about adding some weight to the rear or am i going to be laughed off the site :-).


As someone on here has said before, the danger in adding dead weight to the boot means that, should the rear end step out, this load will effectively help the car to spin more.

I agree with Peter with regards to good tyre tread depth in winter- and checking their pressures regularly..

victormeldrew

8,293 posts

306 months

Monday 19th December 2005
quotequote all
kenny chim 4 said:
mak said:
l i do wonder if a couple of bags of cement (not that i would) would make the car more balanced, slower i admit but maybe better, any 1 thought about adding some weight to the rear or am i going to be laughed off the site :-).


As someone on here has said before, the danger in adding dead weight to the boot means that, should the rear end step out, this load will effectively help the car to spin more.
...
Yup, if you want a 911, buy one!

mak

Original Poster:

1,445 posts

255 months

Tuesday 20th December 2005
quotequote all
"Yup, if you want a 911, buy one!" had one mate. had a clio v6 witch was top heavy at the back and as said more weight will make it snap out quicker the tyre's are fine so3 but they are a bit hard compared to the toyo's on the front that tend to flex and bite, i'm going for new shocks soon witch may let it get the power down better but i cant see how it can be a perfectly balanced car with all that weight at the front and fresh air over the rear axle but hey i can drive but i'm no engineer, the torque is a major factor though with it coming in so low down the rev range, did someone say there's more than 1 position for the throttle pedal. naaaaaa.! happy spinning.

victormeldrew

8,293 posts

306 months

Tuesday 20th December 2005
quotequote all
Most of the weight is aft of the front axle, so technically its a "front mid engined" car, if there can be such a thing.

mak

Original Poster:

1,445 posts

255 months

Wednesday 21st December 2005
quotequote all
ah! i see wot u mean, any way folks forget my 1st post because last night i had 5 cases of beer in the boot and it handled like a sack of sh*t so your all spot on, one thing the weight in the boot did show up though was the lack of damping thats lefts in my old shocks so i'm really looking forward to a new set, been trolling the search engine on all the different ones for the car just hope i make the right choice.

jellison

12,803 posts

306 months

Thursday 22nd December 2005
quotequote all
You should try it with 1.5x the std power!

Mine is fine - unless I drive like a Twat (it happens!)