Weight reduction leading to change in center of gravity = bad?
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Joined: Mar 2007
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From: Hong Kong
Weight reduction leading to change in center of gravity = bad?
This is just a theoretical question so please none of that 'that is not the way to spend your first $xxxx on mods'
Say you are a track/auto-x loving person and decide to give your car some weight reduction. So you get titanium exhaust (including center pipe), some custom titanium test pipe and lighter-than-stock stainless steel downpipe (or simply get full Buschur for not much more than 10lbs total). You also get aluminum lower intercooler pipe (ie. AMS). At this point you can get the usual 'fuel pump, drop-in filter and a tune' to unleash some extra power.
Then you decide to lose some unsprung weight, so you get lightweight forged aluminum wheels (such as CE28N or QF P1) with R compound tires. You also get a set of lightweight brake kit.
Since there you can easily remove without damaging the parts, you decide to remove floor and trunk mats, emergency tools and rear seats.
By this point, you easily have at least 100lbs of weight reduction, and a lot of it coming from unsprung weight, which is good. Now your car accelerates a little better, brakes better and feels more responsive due to all the changes you made.
However, since most of the reduction came from bottom and the rear of your car, now your car will have higher center of gravity and the front is heavier.
**Would this be insignificant compared to the benefits you brought? Or just barely cancels out? I don't think it would result in negative performance overall.**
Sure you can easily cancel out by getting a set of coilovers and lowering the car and doing further weight reduction such as carbon roof, dry carbon panels (trunk, doors, hood, fenders, bumpers), acrylic windows, lightweight battery such as Braille, removing front seats and replacing with just one racing bucket seat in order to rebalance the center of gravity but these mods don't come cheap.
The reason I am asking such question is that the Evo tends to understeer at limit and making the front heavier means it'll amplify the effect, and it seems the Evo tend to rollover easier than a lot of cars at tracks.
Say you are a track/auto-x loving person and decide to give your car some weight reduction. So you get titanium exhaust (including center pipe), some custom titanium test pipe and lighter-than-stock stainless steel downpipe (or simply get full Buschur for not much more than 10lbs total). You also get aluminum lower intercooler pipe (ie. AMS). At this point you can get the usual 'fuel pump, drop-in filter and a tune' to unleash some extra power.
Then you decide to lose some unsprung weight, so you get lightweight forged aluminum wheels (such as CE28N or QF P1) with R compound tires. You also get a set of lightweight brake kit.
Since there you can easily remove without damaging the parts, you decide to remove floor and trunk mats, emergency tools and rear seats.
By this point, you easily have at least 100lbs of weight reduction, and a lot of it coming from unsprung weight, which is good. Now your car accelerates a little better, brakes better and feels more responsive due to all the changes you made.
However, since most of the reduction came from bottom and the rear of your car, now your car will have higher center of gravity and the front is heavier.
**Would this be insignificant compared to the benefits you brought? Or just barely cancels out? I don't think it would result in negative performance overall.**
Sure you can easily cancel out by getting a set of coilovers and lowering the car and doing further weight reduction such as carbon roof, dry carbon panels (trunk, doors, hood, fenders, bumpers), acrylic windows, lightweight battery such as Braille, removing front seats and replacing with just one racing bucket seat in order to rebalance the center of gravity but these mods don't come cheap.
The reason I am asking such question is that the Evo tends to understeer at limit and making the front heavier means it'll amplify the effect, and it seems the Evo tend to rollover easier than a lot of cars at tracks.
