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11-04-2012, 11:21 PM | #1 |
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Modding for improved weight distribution?
As you guys probably know, the 135i 6MT has a weight distribution of 52.3/47.7. BMW undergoes a lot of effort to improve weight distribution (i.e. putting the battery in the back, etc.), so I have to assume that it makes a difference to get closer to 50/50.
I once test-drove a 323i, and it just had a certain balanced feeling. This was several years ago, so I might be misremembering, but I don't get that same sensation from the 1er. The question is - does anybody know how big of a difference the weight distribution makes? Is there any benefit to modding accordingly? For instance, switching to a CF hood but keeping the stock trunk? Just some quick math: Double-sided CF hood would save 28 lbs from the front (44 lbs --> 16 lbs) Evo Racewerks dry CF frontend could save up to 32 lbs from the front (49 lbs --> 17 lbs) Various lightweight under-hood components could save 5-10 lbs Limited-slip differential may add about 8 lbs to the back Rear-mount methanol tank may add about 15 lbs to the back (when full) So after these liberal estimates, we've taken 70 lbs off the front and added 23 lbs to the back... and that puts us at 51.0/49.0. Thoughts?
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2008 135i Montego Blue sport pkg, premium pkg, Logic 7 sound, iDrive/Nav
Mods completed: JB4+ & FBO || LSD || BMW-P suspension + F/R sway bars || 18" Breyton GTS-R || M3 front bushings || Vogtland camber plates || BMW-P rotors + Stoptech pads |||| Acquired, not installed: BMS WW Meth kit || Logic HVI intake || Mishimoto OCC |||| Shopping for: Summer tires |
11-05-2012, 02:37 AM | #3 | |
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Yeah, you're right. I've been tossing this idea around for a while, but I was just wondering if anybody has any experience with it. It's a lot of money to be spending if I don't know whether it'll actually make a worthwhile difference...
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There's always the cheap/easy way to test the hypothesis... we could just pack the trunk with 170 lbs worth of stuff and see what that does for handling. Of course, that's not a permanent solution, but at least it'll tell us what 50:50 feels like.
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2008 135i Montego Blue sport pkg, premium pkg, Logic 7 sound, iDrive/Nav
Mods completed: JB4+ & FBO || LSD || BMW-P suspension + F/R sway bars || 18" Breyton GTS-R || M3 front bushings || Vogtland camber plates || BMW-P rotors + Stoptech pads |||| Acquired, not installed: BMS WW Meth kit || Logic HVI intake || Mishimoto OCC |||| Shopping for: Summer tires |
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11-05-2012, 02:43 AM | #4 |
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you're better off having lower weight overall than adding weight inappropriately/not removing it at all, than having a 'perfect' 50/50 distribution
you can dial it in in the suspension settings, to make it feel more balanced but you can't do the same to magically remove weight |
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11-05-2012, 04:00 AM | #5 | ||
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2008 135i Montego Blue sport pkg, premium pkg, Logic 7 sound, iDrive/Nav
Mods completed: JB4+ & FBO || LSD || BMW-P suspension + F/R sway bars || 18" Breyton GTS-R || M3 front bushings || Vogtland camber plates || BMW-P rotors + Stoptech pads |||| Acquired, not installed: BMS WW Meth kit || Logic HVI intake || Mishimoto OCC |||| Shopping for: Summer tires |
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11-05-2012, 05:38 AM | #6 | |
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damper settings (and rebound if possible), getting them perfect makes a HUGE world of difference. ride height set up for handling, not just looks how the sway bars are set up (if adjustable) really just standard suspension set up, if you have it all adjustable, it has to be adjusted right |
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11-05-2012, 05:44 AM | #7 |
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I figured the BMW Performance suspension might do the job pretty well with regard to spring rates, damper settings, and sway bar characteristics. No?
But anyway, we digress...
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2008 135i Montego Blue sport pkg, premium pkg, Logic 7 sound, iDrive/Nav
Mods completed: JB4+ & FBO || LSD || BMW-P suspension + F/R sway bars || 18" Breyton GTS-R || M3 front bushings || Vogtland camber plates || BMW-P rotors + Stoptech pads |||| Acquired, not installed: BMS WW Meth kit || Logic HVI intake || Mishimoto OCC |||| Shopping for: Summer tires |
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11-05-2012, 04:51 PM | #8 |
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Yeah, that's a good point... so a lightweight front bumper might be more useful than a lightweight hood.
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2008 135i Montego Blue sport pkg, premium pkg, Logic 7 sound, iDrive/Nav
Mods completed: JB4+ & FBO || LSD || BMW-P suspension + F/R sway bars || 18" Breyton GTS-R || M3 front bushings || Vogtland camber plates || BMW-P rotors + Stoptech pads |||| Acquired, not installed: BMS WW Meth kit || Logic HVI intake || Mishimoto OCC |||| Shopping for: Summer tires |
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11-05-2012, 07:32 PM | #9 | |
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if you can swing it haha a hood has a lot more weight in it overall, doesn't it? so potentially a bumper wouldn't have more benefit? also, add in your driver weight, pulls the overall mass distribution of the car back and to the side a bit? |
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11-05-2012, 08:16 PM | #10 | |
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Agreed that a roof is a big deal as well, though it's in the center of the car and changing its weight won't have much affect if any on F/R weight distribution, it is however up high which factors in strongly when "real life" handling is talked about. When you're looking at CG (center of gravity), keep in mind how high above the axles your mass is as well. |
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11-05-2012, 08:53 PM | #11 |
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my car has a ER front end, CF hood and a CF trunk and an after market exhaust and wheels it is probably 80-100lbs lighter than stock in various parts of the car. I gradually upgraded it all along with so many other part of the car that it is hard for me at this point to compare it to stock.
Race seats, deleting back seat, lighter battery are all fairly easy ways to cut weight but some have noted, eliminating the sunroof would be noticeable. |
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11-06-2012, 12:33 AM | #12 | |
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A good experiment might be to put a passenger in the back seat... close to the center, but also close to the rear. If that doesn't provide a noticeable improvement in handling, then it's probably not worth spending a lot of money on weight distribution.
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2008 135i Montego Blue sport pkg, premium pkg, Logic 7 sound, iDrive/Nav
Mods completed: JB4+ & FBO || LSD || BMW-P suspension + F/R sway bars || 18" Breyton GTS-R || M3 front bushings || Vogtland camber plates || BMW-P rotors + Stoptech pads |||| Acquired, not installed: BMS WW Meth kit || Logic HVI intake || Mishimoto OCC |||| Shopping for: Summer tires Last edited by splitsecond; 11-06-2012 at 12:46 AM.. |
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11-06-2012, 06:53 AM | #13 |
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I'll preface this by saying nothing magical happens when you hit a perfect 50/50. The car is only a few points off from the factory. Lowering the weight of the entire car still helps acceleration, braking, and cornering. I'm not even sure 50/50 is "perfect". I'd probably rather have slightly more weight over the drive wheels.
Hood isn't a bad option. It's also above the CoG of the car, so lowering its weight actually lowers the overall CoG of the car. That is a very practical option. Just swap it out and you're done, no real drawbacks. You can remove the engine cover, and get an dual cone intake which will remove several pounds of plastic from the top of the engine. Small stuff, but it all counts. ER has a front widebody kit that is available in dry carbon fiber that will shave a few pounds plus let you run wider tires in the front. It's pricey, but what do you expect? You shouldn't be worrying about 2-3% weight distribution if you aren't running 265-285mm front tires already. I would not recommend replacing the factory crash beam in the front unless you have a purely race-only track car with a cage and whatnot. At that point, you can also remove the air conditioning, which is many pounds of aluminum, the pump, line, all the coolant, etc., and the stereo, and probably gut the dash, remove the airbag, and soforth. In reality, something tells me the people who are worrying about weight balance in this thread don't have any other more worthwhile upgrades yet. You should get a wheel and tire package, a tune, M3 suspension upgrades, coilovers, etc. way before you try to make up that few percent of weight distribution up. Those will return you a much faster car for far less money that some obtuse goal of having a particular weight balance number.
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11-06-2012, 04:01 PM | #15 | |
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Still, a decent amount With fuel and driver, it would probably already pull the weight riiiight back to the rear? Having different heights all over the car (set up properly, not randomly) would change how much weight each spring/shock sees, in different conditions, no? |
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11-06-2012, 05:42 PM | #16 |
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that's the whole idea behind corner balancing your car. the best FR weight distribution I could get was a 52/48 but with a perfect cross distribution
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11-07-2012, 02:40 AM | #17 | ||||
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I think I might not have been clear with my initial intent. I didn't mean to say "a magical number will make my car go faster." I meant to say "while I'm in the process of doing other things to my car, how helpful would it be to also try to aim for that magical number?" For instance, I'm avoiding heavy subwoofers because of the increase in overall weight, but if the improvement in weight distribution might have a secondary benefit, it might be nice. And if 20 lbs of weight distribution was useful, I might spend the extra money to get a CF widebody kit and/or hood. But anyway... an interesting discussion regardles.
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2008 135i Montego Blue sport pkg, premium pkg, Logic 7 sound, iDrive/Nav
Mods completed: JB4+ & FBO || LSD || BMW-P suspension + F/R sway bars || 18" Breyton GTS-R || M3 front bushings || Vogtland camber plates || BMW-P rotors + Stoptech pads |||| Acquired, not installed: BMS WW Meth kit || Logic HVI intake || Mishimoto OCC |||| Shopping for: Summer tires |
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11-07-2012, 02:42 AM | #18 |
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Isn't the gas tank closer to the center of the car?
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2008 135i Montego Blue sport pkg, premium pkg, Logic 7 sound, iDrive/Nav
Mods completed: JB4+ & FBO || LSD || BMW-P suspension + F/R sway bars || 18" Breyton GTS-R || M3 front bushings || Vogtland camber plates || BMW-P rotors + Stoptech pads |||| Acquired, not installed: BMS WW Meth kit || Logic HVI intake || Mishimoto OCC |||| Shopping for: Summer tires |
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11-07-2012, 04:38 AM | #19 |
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What other widebody kits are there besides the ER?
Cf is cheaper than the fibreglass on the ER kit as you don't have to paint the cf for it to not look crap/have protection... Unless the colour of your car doesn't suit it.. Then bad luck man lol Cf hood is literally the last go-fast mod to get. Literally. Cosmetic, however... It is definitely higher lol Ed: i know the fuel fill line is over the rear wheel arch. |
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11-07-2012, 06:44 AM | #20 | |||
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Prior Design and CA.
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2008 135i Montego Blue sport pkg, premium pkg, Logic 7 sound, iDrive/Nav
Mods completed: JB4+ & FBO || LSD || BMW-P suspension + F/R sway bars || 18" Breyton GTS-R || M3 front bushings || Vogtland camber plates || BMW-P rotors + Stoptech pads |||| Acquired, not installed: BMS WW Meth kit || Logic HVI intake || Mishimoto OCC |||| Shopping for: Summer tires |
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11-07-2012, 10:29 AM | #21 |
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its right in front of the rear axle....so its behind the center of weight, so it would still move the distribution towards the rear....it also is adding weight more towards the center instead of at the poles to go with purple derple's point
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11-07-2012, 05:05 PM | #22 | |
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