Carbon Fiber weight reductions, is it worth it? Options

[vsideboy]

haha dude how much petrol do you actually get through?

my gt4 does about 27mpg and a gallon in the uk costs about £4.63

City MPG won't be affected at all no matter how much weight you save if all your doing is sitting in traffic jams all the time and will only improve a little if doing 20/30 all the time. Only way you'll save petrol by reducing weight is when accelerating I reckon anyway. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[playr158]

any weight savings is going to save you "some" amount of gas..not just on accel but through out all driving conditions....though it takes more HP to move the car...it still takes less but some hp to keep it moving..less weight at a constant cruise = less need hp to keep the car moving = less fuel

though by getting a hood he's not going to see anything besides ".4" mpg gain (example not real) its a good start

[vsideboy]

yeah i realise this mate, what I meant was that if his car weighs 1 ton or 20 tons, if he's stationary in traffic with the engine running its gonna be using exactly the same amount of gas. then like you say its gonna be an unnoticable amount of savings versus the cost of carbon fibre panels.

[playr158]

sitting time is negate able since cars use very little fuel sitting at rest and
eventually traffic has to go somewhere

(though i see your point)

This post has been edited by playr158: Jul 25, 2007 - 12:11 PM

[x_itchy_b_x]

i filled almost a whole 5gal bucket with sound deadening from under the carpets, both front and rear. its noticeably louder. and the car vibrates a bit.. ask Manny about that. i think it makes it that much sweeter.

[playr158]

itchy you scrapped on that OEM stuff stuck to the floors?

i hated that crap! weighed a decent lb too

[Rockford]

diet = always good idea haha

I need to loose.... 44lbs

[BloodyStupidDave...]

Back from the dead. I had an opportunity to weigh the various hoods today. Here are my findings:


Stock ST/GT steel hood, without fiberglass lining: 39lbs (17.7kg) approx.
Stock GT4 aluminium hood, with fiberglass lining: 25lbs (11.3kg) approx.
C-One carbon fiber GT4 style hood: 13 lbs (5.9kg) approx.

[thespacepanda]

Sweet. Is that under-carpet stuff hard to get out? More importantly, am I gonna tear up the carpet/tear out my hair trying to get it out?

[playr158]

stuff under the carpet (oem noise crap that is stuck to the floor) is a pain in the ass...i used an air chisel and some time.

try weighting the doors now them suckers are heavy.
the sunroof = ~40lbs

[dagreat1]

i'm pretty sure the gain from taking out the stuff under the carpet is minimal at best

[blaque_6thGen]

You are planning all this weight reduction to save on gas? I thought it was to make a race car

sorry
but weight reduction doesn't really make a race car
lol!

didn't mean to offend you, man
it was just worded funny
i laugh at the imports that i see driving around thinking that they have race cars because they have carbon fiber all over the place

This post has been edited by blaque_6thGen: Jan 15, 2008 - 3:35 AM

[playr158]

i'm pretty sure the gain from taking out the stuff under the carpet is minimal at best

there is actually about 10-15lbs of that crap throughout the car.
and for some of us, that little bit helps

[95st-celica]

i think that if your going for weight...and you want to take your car to an auto cross track for the day...just gut the interior...back seat and pass side seat is a LOT of weight right there that you would be getting rid of...also the spare tire, jack, stupid $hit likee that...no offense but a carbon fiber hood and hatch is not going to give you the results you want....maybe for peace of mind but thats about it....sure every little bit helps but when it comes to a difference of 5-10 pounds? come on now.....might as well drive with no hood

[playr158]

Back from the dead. I had an opportunity to weigh the various hoods today. Here are my findings:


Stock ST/GT steel hood, without fiberglass lining: 39lbs (17.7kg) approx.
Stock GT4 aluminium hood, with fiberglass lining: 25lbs (11.3kg) approx.
C-One carbon fiber GT4 style hood: 13 lbs (5.9kg) approx.

i think that if your going for weight...and you want to take your car to an auto cross track for the day...just gut the interior...back seat and pass side seat is a LOT of weight right there that you would be getting rid of...also the spare tire, jack, stupid $hit likee that...no offense but a carbon fiber hood and hatch is not going to give you the results you want....maybe for peace of mind but thats about it....sure every little bit helps but when it comes to a difference of 5-10 pounds? come on now.....might as well drive with no hood

requoted just incase you can't read/do math

39-13 = 26lbs

26lbs is a substantial amount of weight..
26lbs = spare tire+jack
26lbs = about 1 front seat
and thats just in a hood.

5-10lbs can be pretty important.
removing upper weight (IE sunroof, hood, hatch) shifts the weight balance of the car to a LOWER point (thus giving lower center of gravity).
the more "upper" weight you can remove the better your car can handle.

For the average street driver here will it make a big difference, no not really. When it comes down to the logistics of it, YES it makes a nice difference.

This post has been edited by playr158: Jan 15, 2008 - 10:31 AM

[dabazied]

Add up some carbon fiber doors to shed out some weight lol.... not very cost efficent for a daily driver though

[playr158]

nobody makes them.........yet

[bccentaur3]

What do you mean Playr? Is there actually a company or someone working on the cf doors for our cars?

[95st-celica]

Back from the dead. I had an opportunity to weigh the various hoods today. Here are my findings:


Stock ST/GT steel hood, without fiberglass lining: 39lbs (17.7kg) approx.
Stock GT4 aluminium hood, with fiberglass lining: 25lbs (11.3kg) approx.
C-One carbon fiber GT4 style hood: 13 lbs (5.9kg) approx.

i think that if your going for weight...and you want to take your car to an auto cross track for the day...just gut the interior...back seat and pass side seat is a LOT of weight right there that you would be getting rid of...also the spare tire, jack, stupid $hit likee that...no offense but a carbon fiber hood and hatch is not going to give you the results you want....maybe for peace of mind but thats about it....sure every little bit helps but when it comes to a difference of 5-10 pounds? come on now.....might as well drive with no hood

requoted just incase you can't read/do math

39-13 = 26lbs

26lbs is a substantial amount of weight..
26lbs = spare tire+jack
26lbs = about 1 front seat
and thats just in a hood.

5-10lbs can be pretty important.
removing upper weight (IE sunroof, hood, hatch) shifts the weight balance of the car to a LOWER point (thus giving lower center of gravity).
the more "upper" weight you can remove the better your car can handle.

For the average street driver here will it make a big difference, no not really. When it comes down to the logistics of it, YES it makes a nice difference.

since were so good at math would you be able to caculate for me how much time i would save by taking out my sun roof in the quarter mile?? because i know everone here when they run down the track the first thing they will do is remove there sun roof....even if you did take out the front and back seats, replaced the hood and hatch with carbon fiber ones and took out the spare tire and jack you would only be maybe a tenth or two faster? it's pointless...its all psychological...just caus you have a gutted interior you think your car is faster.....why dont you just turn your boost up a pound? that would make up for it and then some....now if there were more things you could do with out going extreamely overboard with the weight reduction...like doors, fenders, leightweight rims(which are aviable) then i would say yes it would be worth doing...but throwing a CF hood on and removing your sun roof isnt doing anything for ya...all together CF (doors, fenders, hood, hatch, leightweight rims, no door pannels, seats, rugs, stock sound dampening material, spare tire, jack, remove any subs and other acces $hit, and your "sunroof") now your talking about shaving weight/getting a better time

[playr158]

hahahah...you know there is more to racing than a 1/4 mile.

removing a sunroof is a dual purpose...let me requote that for you
"removing upper weight (IE sunroof, hood, hatch) shifts the weight balance of the car to a LOWER point (thus giving lower center of gravity).
the more "upper" weight you can remove the better your car can handle."
its handling advantage.
lowering the center of gravity and cutting weight can cut LAP times down.
better handling & less mass = later braking points and faster corner speeds = faster laps.

please go to VIR/Summit hell even a drag strip and tell the real racers weight reduction is psycological

you have yet to make a valid arguement besides an unsupported claim of psychological factors. When you can techincally support and prove it come back and talk to me. I on the other hand can.

my weight savings > you

all the AC boxes came out, the sunroof came out (honeycomb/carbonfiber LTW plug replacement) not to mention many many other things

This post has been edited by playr158: Jan 15, 2008 - 1:02 PM