No more b***ocks about weight balance

[DRIFTBOY]

You'd have to be a complete penis to think all e30's have more weight over the rear wheels than the front.

Quality! That is sig material!

I wonder how a 335i would fair...?

[Dave_M3]

I think it's a pretty bad report tbh.
OK I do have an iS and could be accused of being biased....BUT

Lets say they took a 318iS, which are fairly well speced usually, then took a bog standard 325 4 door
The 318 or 320s weighing the same or less than a 316 is abit silly.

[Demlotcrew]

50/50 weight distribution is not the be all end all of chassis dynamics.

So all you boat anchor owners can sit back down

[Gortour]

And I always thought the Touring was more balanced due to the extra weight at the back end... ?

No, you fecked that up by sitting in one and eating burgers. It threw every touring on the planet out of kilter, such was the magnitude of your atrocity!

Oi, I don't eat THAT many burgers...

[gareth]

hmm, i suspect my 335i is something like this:
335i Touring - 57.5/42.5 % - 1497 kg - (09/1990)
or thereabouts!

not that i'm bothered, it handles well and will rape many lesser wagons!

oh hang on lads, before you stop fighting about it, does anyone know if the seats were set leaning / slid forewards or backwards during the test?!!!! it all makes a difference worth bitching about!

[Gibson]

just to take another gigantic turd in the 4pot owners collective cereal, who could care less about a couple of tenths of a percent difference in weight balance. a decent set of tyres and an empty washer bottle would negate any difference in handling between the two cars. not as much of a difference to the amusement of driving the car that 171 BHP and that oh so lovely soundtrack will make anyway....

But then again..... it does have a galvanised glovebox...

[e21Jason]

Those values mean nought the proper way to measure weight distribution is with out the springs fitted, and what about the polar moment of rotation.

Jason

[Alfa_Delta]

I wonder if the cabriolet was done with the hood up or down?

[320Touring]

wooop! mon the tourings!

iS- so the car is as unbalanced as the owners

Seriously though, as demlot says, its not the be all and end all- position of the weight relative to the front wheels has an impact too.

and 4 pot owners can have the hamster cage in the glovebox....

[Bob_S]

Good to hear that a 325i is lighter than an M3

M3 still fucks all over one tho... lol

[maxfield]

These are all numbers.

What about how the car feels?

[fuzzy]

These are all numbers.

What about how the car feels?

the numbers will determine how the car feels.
theres no pleasing some folk,some will claim the extra weight up front in the 325 is its downfall then claim weight distribution doesnt matter. then you will always have those that say there is to many variables and to much vagueness for the data to count. they could print up every minute detail right down to the colour of the testers socks and pants and still some wont remove the blinkers.

[fuzzy]

Those values mean nought the proper way to measure weight distribution is with out the springs fitted, and what about the polar moment of rotation.

Jason

unless you drive your car without springs then the figures are quite relevant i would have thought.

[Onz]

I wonder if the cabriolet was done with the hood up or down?

I would say the hood was down.

Also driver weight and position makes the most difference. WRC cars are totally re modelled around the driver and co-drivers sitting positions.

the Ideal tet would be with an average weight/size driver and same sitting position in each car (with the same amount of fuel and same wheels/tyres)

How accurate do you want to be for a road car?

NB: Front end weight only really matters for tyre wear under heavy braking. If you are used to handling a car that pivots around the front wheels or around the centre point it all boils down to driving style and pesonal preference.

What ever you are used to is best. I for one am very happy with the balance of my touring and I was also very happy with my 4 dorr 320 as they felt the sme when driving on public roads.

[harry_p]

just trying to work out why the weight distribution should be measured without springs? makes no sense to me, as the rideheight affects the weight distribution



weight balance is only part of the story though a car with 500kg i meter in front of the front wheels, and 500kg 1 meter behind the the rear wheels will have a 50:50 weight balance, but will handle rather differently to a car the same dimensions with 1000kg slap bang inbetween the wheels which also has a 50:50 weight distribution.

is good to see that none of the cars tested have more than a 55/45 split anyhow, although i wonder how the MINI stacks up, or do bmw ideals not count because it's not badged as a bmw?

[fuzzy]

just trying to work out why the weight distribution should be measured without springs? makes no sense to me, as the rideheight affects the weight distribution

does it effect the weight distribution? 50/50 over the axles on a standard ride height will still be 50/50 over the axles on a 40/40 drop?
weighing it without the springs is irrelevant though as you want it as near as real world road conditions as possible.

[gareth]

ride height doesn't affect weight distribution. taking a weight on each end without springs fitted is odd... how would you do it? what's the point?

spring height can affect corner weight splits due to differing lengths / rates but not front to rear splits

[harry_p]

if taking the springs out affects the overall angle of the car (not just it's height) then it will affect the front / rear balance.

if with springs in a car is sat dead level, and then springs out, on the bumpstops its sat 20mm lower at the front that the back it will put more weight on the front wheels. not a lot, but a bit

[Gortour]

so springs in or out is irrelevent, the issue is the levelness of the car - if that's a word...

[Demlotcrew]

NO what Jason meant was that the springs should be locked ie no travel in the suspension for obvious reasons.

Nothing was said about ride height

Andrew

[fuzzy]

unless you drive it with no springs then why the f**k would you be bothering about the weight balance without the springs ?

[Onz]

perhaps he meant chassis weight? as in the dead weight of the chassis.

[pacerpete]

To conclude , 318 IS's are unbalanced as well as slow, just like their owners !

[Gunni]

These are all numbers.

What about how the car feels?

the numbers will determine how the car feels.
theres no pleasing some folk,some will claim the extra weight up front in the 325 is its downfall then claim weight distribution doesnt matter. then you will always have those that say there is to many variables and to much vagueness for the data to count. they could print up every minute detail right down to the colour of the testers socks and pants and still some wont remove the blinkers.

Those numbers will not determine how a car feels.
Any one of those cars would outclass the rest handling wise with alot better tires.

[Onz]

true say Gunni, But its easy to blame equipment if the Driver hasnt got the B******s :>

[fuzzy]

how do you know they all didnt already have the best tyres in the world already fitted?
what i meant was numbers from all data taken will determine how a car feels and performs, not just those numbers.my point with max was he is the first to quote all sorts of facts and figures but when figures go against what he says he'll trot out the old "its all about the driving experience" and "what about how the car feels" nonsense.

[touringsport]

Is the holy grail of 50/50 weight distribution really as bigger issue as its made out to be? The most balanced car ive ever driven was an '88 quattro turbo, and you only need to look under the bonnet to know the distibution is a wee tad from 50/50.......
Also porches seem to do fairly well too

[gareth]

good god, this is an amazingly pointless argument!

the only accurate way to measure the weight distribution of a car, relative to it's wheels, is to sit it on 4 cornerweight platforms (scales essentially), all level and with the susension free to move. of the suspension isn't free to move, you will get odd cornerwight readings (across corners) but the front to rear splits will still be accurate. this is how most F1, F3000, A1GP, GP2, champ car, touring car, etc etc cars are set up.

[fuzzy]

good god, this is an amazingly pointless argument!

theyre the best ones to have

[Colonel Sanders]

at the end of the day, the 325 is better balenced than the is.
4pots suck ass.....