L.Lancer1

ive notice that the lancer weights 4400lbs apparently. n thats alot for that size of a car. so i was wonderin how i could do some weight reduction to increase some speed of the car. any ideas?

08lancer

the car doesnt weigh more than 3200 pounds.. I would also like to know what mods could be done to shed some weight.

Hawkeye

Curb weight on the GTS is under 3100 lbs.

As for weight reduction; you could pull out interior pieces, swap exterior for lighter components (when they come out) and whatnot.

Blacksheepdj

iTrader: (88)

Where did you get that figure?

Curb weights:
DE - 2922
ES - 2944
GTS - 3032

Lighter wheels will make your car MUCH quicker (single best mod to save weight; 1 lb. less is like taking 100 lbs. off the body of the car).
Main obvious answers are seats, but you probably want to keep those. Lighter seats is a good choice.

EDIT - see post below...

Blacksheepdj

iTrader: (88)

Taken from Import Tuner article. I forget the exact numbers, but they dynoed after each round and found solid HP gains just from dropping weight. I saved the issue, so I'll try and look it up tonight after work.

Import Tuner weight reduction plan
Car used: Civic SI

Level one
Passenger seat & bracket - 33 lbs.
Rear seat and cushion - 21 lbs.
Head unit/speakers - 20 lbs.
Floor mats - 5 lbs.
Trunk lining - 3.5 lbs.
Spare tire & jack - 33.5 lbs.
Fuel - 6.2 lbs. per gallon

Level two
CF hood vs. stock - save 34 lbs. !!!!!!!
Mini-battery vs. stock - save 20 lbs.
Remove driver seat, add lighweight seat - save 20 lbs.
Headliner - 7.5 lbs.
Power steering - 12 lbs.
Air conditioning - 32.5 lbs.
Door panels - 13 lbs. each
They also upsized the wheels from 15s to 18s and still saved one pound each.

Level three
Fidanza flywheel vs. stock - save 6 lbs.
Sound deadening stuff - 20 lbs.
Dash support - 17 lbs.
Roof support webbing - 5 lbs.
Side impact beams - 19 lbs.
Misc. brackets (ECU & fuse box brackets, etc.) - 12 lbs.
Remove 2/3 of firewall layers - 15 lbs.

==============================

Taken from Buschur Racing's DSM tips.

Weight savings that won't kill you
* Remove the padding from the bottom of the carpet
* Remove the tar-like sound deadener on the floor of the interior and on the firewall
* Carbon fiber hood and trunk
* Get rid of the spare tire, jack, tools, rear seats, rear deck lid, rear hatch carpet, metal brackets in the rear hatch, and the heat shields in the driveshaft tunnel.
* Convert from power steering to a manual rack
* Get lighter wheels and tires

Weight savings that might kill you - for track use only
* Remove the rear bumper
* Cut weight out of the front bumper and have an aluminum bumper bracket made to support the bumper cover
* Remove all seat belts and the front belt motors and replace them with 5-pt racing harnesses

dmoney1988

I think we are all forgetting the most obvious one. Hitting the gym and loosing 20 lbs will definately reduce the weight of the car when u are driving!!!

08lancer

wow!! one pound of the wheels = 100 pounds off the car, impressive. Is there anyway to confirm this?

L.Lancer1

ahh ok, well my friends r dumbass' i didnt look at the sticker myself bc i was doin somethin else. but they just told me. there idiots hah. i was lookin to get a CF hood once it comes out, along with lighter interior parts (e.g. lighter seats) n all that but thanks for the help.

dsf3g

Dropping rotating mass is definitely better than just dropping ordinary mass, but its not a 100 to 1 ratio. On my MR2 I replaced the stock wheels with 15" forged SSRs and lost about 20 lbs over all (My car definitely does not feel 2000 lbs lighter) and the car feels great.

Dropping weight on the wheels is by far the best weight reduction performance mod out there, because not only are you dropping rotating mass, but you're also dropping unsprung weight. The result is quicker acceleration + better handling, since the suspension has less weight to handle. The impact of lighter wheels on your suspension is wheels that can change direction faster (and thus, adapt to the road surface better).

When I went for 15" wheels on my MR2 I spent some time fidgeting about whether I should have slapped on a more pimp looking 17" set of wheels. But after experiencing the benefits of the ultra light (less than 10 lbs each) SSRs on the track (Summit Point Raceway), there's no way I'd put 17s on my car now.

All that said, since my Lancer ES is really a comfortable family sedan, I'll probably eventually slap some pimp 18's on there.

dsrttigr

the stock wheels are light but still weighed 5 pounds more each than my new ones. i saved almost 20 pounds+ there. and took out spare tire and tools but the speaker box i added weighs about the same as the spare.

jonnyweb

Someone will have to do this for us and let us know what they find. Personally I like the 18's on my car, so I'd have to find some lighter non Mitsu wheels for it.

Blacksheepdj

iTrader: (88)

I might have been off about the 100-1 ratio. That was yanked from my failing memory.

I honestly forget where I got that from, so I could be wrong.

Kwelity

I see that the wheels and tires weigh 40 something pounds from the sticky but what would the weight of my aftermarket wheels need to be to get some decent weight savings?

So basically after market wheels need to be < __lbs???

Blacksheepdj

iTrader: (88)

We don't know. Until someone takes the wheel/tire combo apart and weighs each part, it's very hard to say.

In the end, we need to learn how much the wheel weighs and how much the tire weighs. That's the only thing that matters...

Kwelity

the next challenge then becomes finding a wheel which actually lists its weight....the non "light, ultra light, gram light" tend to not have their weights readily available from what I have found.