Can you feel an LSD in action?

[eskidavies73]

Ritchie335is said:

eskidavies73 said:

wackojacko said:

John D. said:

Relaxitscool said:

My old MR2 Turbo had a LSD, you could feel coming out of bends. Its hard to explain, not so much about grip, more the way the car drove out of the bend, they way you feel it prevent the inner out outer wheel losing power and instead ejecting you out of the bend.

Regards

Rob

Hope I don't get ejected out of any bends

i welded the diff on my cortina once every time i floored it off the mark i could see the boot out off the passengers door window hell of a laugh [diy limmy]

Was it rubber in the middle?

Edited by Ritchie335is on Monday 24th January 21:25

only problem both wheels turn at same speed so when turning the inside wheel scrubed a bit as with a normal diff outer and inner turning circle physics so to prevent this i had to fan the clutch to spin the wheels which resulted in turning every corner broadside cracking fun till the weld broke or the diff cant remember long time ago and only lasted an hour

[raf_gti]

busta said:

You sure it's not just the difference between FWD and RWD? Making assumptions from your garage, would I be wrong in thinking the MX5 is your first RWD car?

Yup, first RWD car

I'm pretty sure there is something mechanical/electrical going on back there.

I wouldn't say it was reigning in the power as such, more controlling the way it is put down.

I'll have to have a play on the airfield and say if I can replicate it, as much as I'm tempted on a public road I can't see it ending well

[hornetrider]

Dude, it's your traction control. You can't 'feel' the Torsen LSD mechanically kicking in on the MX5.

[sicasey]

Try driving a last Gen unloaded RWD Mitsubishi L200 around a wet round about.

[CraigyMc]

John D. said:

It doesn't reign in the power so you are not feeling that.

Comparing chalk and cheese here but I have two RWD cars one with (Elise) the other without (300CE). The difference can certainly be felt exiting a slippery junction. The 300CE just wants to spin up the inside wheel and will waste the power doing so going nowhere fast. The Elise has more grip in this scenario and even if provoked into a powerslide still keeps decent drive forward.

Recently drove the Elise on some very slippery back roads (black ice ) early one morning. Breathing on the throttle in third was spinning the wheels and I could feel the diff hooking up and the backend stepping out a tad! Bit more exciting than I wanted so I went home

So yes I can feel it in action.

Hi John,
is the elise an S1?

No factory elise had an LSD as far as I'm aware. What's been done to your car?

C

[JonnyFive]

I'd go with traction coming in too..

But, I can feel the LSD in my MK2. I drop my brother off in the mornings and have to turn immediately right out of his works drive at a 90' angle.. You can feel the car straighten up much more quickly

[Smike]

CraigyMc said:

John D. said:

It doesn't reign in the power so you are not feeling that.

Comparing chalk and cheese here but I have two RWD cars one with (Elise) the other without (300CE). The difference can certainly be felt exiting a slippery junction. The 300CE just wants to spin up the inside wheel and will waste the power doing so going nowhere fast. The Elise has more grip in this scenario and even if provoked into a powerslide still keeps decent drive forward.

Recently drove the Elise on some very slippery back roads (black ice ) early one morning. Breathing on the throttle in third was spinning the wheels and I could feel the diff hooking up and the backend stepping out a tad! Bit more exciting than I wanted so I went home

So yes I can feel it in action.

Hi John,
is the elise an S1?

No factory elise had an LSD as far as I'm aware. What's been done to your car?

C

It's got a Torsen diff in IIRC

Edited by Smike on Tuesday 25th January 11:27

[raf_gti]

hornetrider said:

Dude, it's your traction control. You can't 'feel' the Torsen LSD mechanically kicking in on the MX5.

Does the TC light activate when the TC is working?

The light is definitely not on when I can feel whatever it is I'm feeling.

[TubbyRutter]

Harry Monk said:

The effect of the LSD engaging in a Megane R26 is as if a giant hand has got hold of your vehicle and pulled it firmly towards the apex. It's quite addictive.

Indeed it does, very good fun!

[Dangerous2]

All the lsd will do is prevent the inside wheel spinning wildly as you put the power down. You will feel this in the form of increased traction as when you accelerate out of a bend the outside wheel will put down more power without the inside wheel spinning up. It most often feels like a kind of pivoting (yawing) of the car around it's middle in
my experience. You can feel that you are leaning on the outside rear tyre more.

[CraigyMc]

Smike said:

CraigyMc said:

John D. said:

It doesn't reign in the power so you are not feeling that.

Comparing chalk and cheese here but I have two RWD cars one with (Elise) the other without (300CE). The difference can certainly be felt exiting a slippery junction. The 300CE just wants to spin up the inside wheel and will waste the power doing so going nowhere fast. The Elise has more grip in this scenario and even if provoked into a powerslide still keeps decent drive forward.

Recently drove the Elise on some very slippery back roads (black ice ) early one morning. Breathing on the throttle in third was spinning the wheels and I could feel the diff hooking up and the backend stepping out a tad! Bit more exciting than I wanted so I went home

So yes I can feel it in action.

Hi John,
is the elise an S1?

No factory elise had an LSD as far as I'm aware. What's been done to your car?

C

It's got a Torsen diff in IIRC

Edited by Smike on Tuesday 25th January 11:27

You mean John D's specific car, or the S1 in general?

I can only imagine John D has put a new box in his car with an LSD on it.

[nigelpugh7]

Max_Torque said:

With some of the more, er, agricultural LSD's you can hear them as well as feel them in action (mainly the "Plate" types)

You can here it on my Caterham R500 as we pull away, and with the Sequential Gearbox its certainly is agricultural.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X14KaB9ceOU

As a comparison, I have owned three different Caterham's, with only my first not having the LSD.

You can really notice a difference and feel the LSD hooking up to give more traction.

As you can see from the video its highly addictive!!

[Smike]

CraigyMc said:

Smike said:

CraigyMc said:

John D. said:

It doesn't reign in the power so you are not feeling that.

Comparing chalk and cheese here but I have two RWD cars one with (Elise) the other without (300CE). The difference can certainly be felt exiting a slippery junction. The 300CE just wants to spin up the inside wheel and will waste the power doing so going nowhere fast. The Elise has more grip in this scenario and even if provoked into a powerslide still keeps decent drive forward.

Recently drove the Elise on some very slippery back roads (black ice ) early one morning. Breathing on the throttle in third was spinning the wheels and I could feel the diff hooking up and the backend stepping out a tad! Bit more exciting than I wanted so I went home

So yes I can feel it in action.

Hi John,
is the elise an S1?

No factory elise had an LSD as far as I'm aware. What's been done to your car?

C

It's got a Torsen diff in IIRC

Edited by Smike on Tuesday 25th January 11:27

You mean John D's specific car, or the S1 in general?

I can only imagine John D has put a new box in his car with an LSD on it.

John D's car. I can't remember whether it is a type A or B diff.

[CraigyMc]

Smike said:

John D's car. I can't remember whether it is a type A or B diff.

Slight thread drift, but I imagine that thing is quite interesting to drive. I remember watching a documentary about the elise handling development where they were talking over the lack of anti roll bars (it originally had none, before they eventually settled on the front-only approach). LSDs were discussed in a fairly bad light for the car- low speed oversteer, high speed understeer. The only thing they likes was the traction.
I konw they offered an LSD with certain models after a certain point, so perhaps thoughts have changed. The autocross scene in the USA demanded them, certainly.

Anyone else on here got an LSD equipped elise care to comment?

C

[Mr Will]

raf_gti said:

hornetrider said:

Dude, it's your traction control. You can't 'feel' the Torsen LSD mechanically kicking in on the MX5.

Does the TC light activate when the TC is working?

The light is definitely not on when I can feel whatever it is I'm feeling.

Turn the traction control off and try again, see if it feels any different?

[Smike]

CraigyMc said:

Smike said:

John D's car. I can't remember whether it is a type A or B diff.

Slight thread drift, but I imagine that thing is quite interesting to drive.C

Nice punning action

[CraigyMc]

Smike said:

CraigyMc said:

Smike said:

John D's car. I can't remember whether it is a type A or B diff.

Slight thread drift, but I imagine that thing is quite interesting to drive.C

Nice punning action

I thought I was subtly changing direction. Oh well...

[JonnyFive]

Mr Will said:

raf_gti said:

hornetrider said:

Dude, it's your traction control. You can't 'feel' the Torsen LSD mechanically kicking in on the MX5.

Does the TC light activate when the TC is working?

The light is definitely not on when I can feel whatever it is I'm feeling.

Turn the traction control off and try again, see if it feels any different?

Maybe worth a go, I know you can't turn it properly off.. It will be "Off" but it will still be on.

[hornetrider]

JonnyFive said:

Mr Will said:

raf_gti said:

hornetrider said:

Dude, it's your traction control. You can't 'feel' the Torsen LSD mechanically kicking in on the MX5.

Does the TC light activate when the TC is working?

The light is definitely not on when I can feel whatever it is I'm feeling.

Turn the traction control off and try again, see if it feels any different?

Maybe worth a go, I know you can't turn it properly off.. It will be "Off" but it will still be on.

Uh-oh. Can of worms about to ex-plode!

What if you hold it down for however many seconds so it's disabled huh? HUH!

[Mr Will]

hornetrider said:

Uh-oh. Can of worms about to ex-plode!

What if you hold it down for however many seconds so it's disabled huh? HUH!

IIRC, single press turns off the TC, but leaves stability control loosely engaged. Hold for 10 seconds to turn it fully off (light will flash).

First stage off should be enough for the OP to discern the difference, without (too much) risk of being ejected off the road.