welded diff and everyday driving.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:00 am

More than you might imagine! I've said my piece and it wasn't aimed at the naysayers but to the people who might be tempted to try it. They are certainely not as bad as people are making out.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:11 am

welded diff's are for the jacko's in this world.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:34 am

rob0r wrote:More than you might imagine! I've said my piece and it wasn't aimed at the naysayers but to the people who might be tempted to try it. They are certainely not as bad as people are making out.

They aren't as bad as some people make them out to be but they aren't any good either.

If you find a car handles better with a welded diff, it means you clearly can't get the most out of a car.

On the limit, a car will either undesteer or oversteer and neiter result in better handling than an open diff.

I'm sure if welded diffs meant better handling, you'd see Lotus getting the migs to all their cars too which haven't even got LSDs.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:49 am

Dave_M3 wrote:
If you find a car handles better with a welded diff, it means you clearly can't drive

There you go Dave, fixed it for you

Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:08 am

Let me tell you where I am. Welded diffs on anything other than a drift slag ARE WRONG. I can't see how your insurance is valid and if you have an accident you will get raped, so I am out.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:19 am

So, in summary:

Anyone who doesn't have a welded diff is a flat cap wearing, pipe smoking buffty who spends his (long, lonely) afternoons poking a cotton bud into the crevices of his 15" BBS wheels and polishing the RAC badge on his chromed kidney grills while muttering about "youths" under his breath.

Everyone WITH a welded diff is a 17yo asbo wielding chav with Argos bling and bald tyres. He'd dearly love a wikkid "Skorpian" Zaust and an electric supercharger, but can't afford them. He makes up for it by driving like a twat and calling it "driftin".

Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:48 am

Morat wrote:So, in summary:

Anyone who doesn't have a welded diff is a flat cap wearing, pipe smoking buffty who spends his (long, lonely) afternoons poking a cotton bud into the crevices of his 15" BBS wheels and polishing the RAC badge on his chromed kidney grills while muttering about "youths" under his breath.

Everyone WITH a welded diff is a 17yo asbo wielding chav with Argos bling and bald tyres. He'd dearly love a wikkid "Skorpian" Zaust and an electric supercharger, but can't afford them. He makes up for it by driving like a **** and calling it "driftin".

perfectly accurate

Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:05 pm

Dave_M3 wrote:
Alan31625 wrote:
sweep wrote:Ford sierras are worthless sh** these are ideal for welding the diff on.
and 316 e30s are highly valued prestige cars that you couldnt weld a diff on because they are a vehicle of such calibre
A come on now Alan! A 316i is still a better car than a clapped out 1.6 sierra!
Some Sierras like the 24v engined ones and obviously the Cosworths are very cool cars indeed.

If the car was bought for 135 quid, I'd find a 325i engine and drop it in and drive on.

Your getting nearly twice the power for a days work and if your worrying about insurance just don't mention it as welding the diff will look even worse in court than being caught with an E30 with an engine from another E30 in it if something happens

a 1.6 sierra could be got for free, buy a 24v granada for 500, the engine would drop in far quicker than a 316 to 25 conversion, and you would also have a full limo cosworth axel, diff, and big brakes to fit. it would then have anywhere between 25 - 40 hp more than the 25 anyway and therefore would have a far better spec than your still standard 316(25 engined) for the same if not far less money

a 316 is always going to better than a 'clapped out' anything. its like saying my 135 pound 316 is better than scrap

Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:27 pm

Alan31625 wrote:
Morat wrote:So, in summary:

Anyone who doesn't have a welded diff is a flat cap wearing, pipe smoking buffty who spends his (long, lonely) afternoons poking a cotton bud into the crevices of his 15" BBS wheels and polishing the RAC badge on his chromed kidney grills while muttering about "youths" under his breath.

Everyone WITH a welded diff is a 17yo asbo wielding chav with Argos bling and bald tyres. He'd dearly love a wikkid "Skorpian" Zaust and an electric supercharger, but can't afford them. He makes up for it by driving like a **** and calling it "driftin".
perfectly accurate

Spot on Sir

Fri Sep 25, 2009 10:44 pm

Morat wrote:Everyone WITH a welded diff is a 17yo asbo wielding chav with Argos bling and bald tyres. He'd dearly love a wikkid "Skorpian" Zaust and an electric supercharger, but can't afford them. He makes up for it by driving like a **** and calling it "driftin".

do you mind......... im 28!

why would lotus elises need an lsd? the weight of the engine and box are sat over the rear wheels giving you all the traction you need!

Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:25 am

Dezzy wrote:Let me tell you where I am. Welded diffs on anything other than a drift slag ARE WRONG. I can't see how your insurance is valid and if you have an accident you will get raped, so I am out.

on the head what i was looking for. A definitive NO! And sorry for the defensive. The 1.6 IS as bad as you say. Beats walking though. And the £135 i was referring to was the cost to insure it. The shell on it is quite good and it is black. In my eyes that ticks 2 boxes, one day i will put an engine in but for time being im just going to make do. Thanks for all your opinions/advice. Oh and b.t.w im legal in it now and e30s are a pleasure to drive, albeit i have no stereo lol

Sat Sep 26, 2009 2:29 am

no worse than a pov spec new car really. 90hp and 1.2 ton, you could be looking at a new astra or corsa for that.

Sat Sep 26, 2009 2:40 am

And at least an E30 is far cooler even if its a 316.

good 316i with a shorter diff are pretty lively too! Should make some E36 and E46 owners feel pretty embarased going by a 316 I know with a 4.45 diff was almost as quick as my iS before I changed the gearbox and my iS made bits of anything upto a E36 325i or E46 320Ci without getting into silly speeds.

Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:29 pm

i cant imagine welding a diff would ever be found by an insurance assessor after an accident. ive had a couple of bad ones and theyve never turned up with a socket set and spanners to start dismantling things.

Sat Sep 26, 2009 2:30 pm

I've heard of a few people getting their car impounded at checkpoints or after attracting too much attention and being brought to court for having welded diffs.

Apparently, they ask you to drive in a tight slow circle if the car is rwd and if it skips and hops you have some explaining to do.

Sat Sep 26, 2009 3:22 pm

i dont know how it is where you are but up here i think ive seen half a dozen roadside checkpoints in my life.
and in all the times ive been stopped and charged for many many offences ive never once been asked about my diff or made to drive in a tight circle.
youd need to be really unlucky or a right t1t to be caught out by them.

Sat Sep 26, 2009 10:29 pm

They went over my car with a fine tooth comb after I hit that wall and nearly killed myself, they picked up on non standard parts and tried to use it in court against me on the grounds "I fitted them so i could drive faster"

Sat Sep 26, 2009 10:30 pm

You know what the Irish are like with rear wheel drive cars fuzzy

Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:02 pm

Bottom line seems to be that anyone running a welded diff on the road will be driving without valid insurance! (I brought this subject up a couple of weeks ago, and as far as I remember, no one with a welded diff claimed to have informed their insurance of this mod.)

Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:08 pm

As stated before this is crazy.thousands of hours went into designing/testing these cars and in one fell swoop its wrecked with a mickey mouse diff.no wonder the germans are wanting the m3's back in there home country.

Sun Sep 27, 2009 2:25 am

DanThe wrote:You know what the Irish are like with rear wheel drive cars fuzzy

I've never seen this sort of roadside diff testing but people say it happens all the time in Northern Ireland... The natural home to the "differs" and doughnut brigade, lol.

Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:32 pm

sweep wrote:As stated before this is crazy.thousands of hours went into designing/testing these cars and in one fell swoop its wrecked with a mickey mouse diff.no wonder the germans are wanting the m3's back in there home country.

And also as stated before, BMW didnt even think about drifting on a budget when they put all this R+D into it. They put those hours in to give the best COMPROMISE for comfort, reliability, pace, and a few other factors. Its up to the owner to tweak it towards their favoured factors. Hence people stripping out interiors (which BMW put there for passenger comfort) in order to get a better track time/more easily sideways.

There is only one way to find out if a welded diff is for you. Try it out.

If you like it keep it, if you dont you can send it right back.