E36 318is, welded diff or LSD???

[Chisholm]

hi. i've got an e30 and e36 318is, im selling the e30 but i am keeping the e36 to practice drifting. do you recon its worth welding the diff up 100% lock oor getting an LSD??

[Elecblondie]

Only you can say whether the cost is worth it to you or not but if all you want to do is to go sideways and you don't care about how the car acts in other situations then I would say it's not worth an LSD.

[Chisholm]

i no that weding the diff up is the cheaper option but i have never done it before and will need to use the car daily, will it affect normal driving?

[Ziggy]

i no that weding the diff up is the cheaper option but i have never done it before and will need to use the car daily, will it affect normal driving?

If it didn't, everyone would do it. You need to drive a car with a welded diff before you can make up your mind. Personally, I'd stump up for an LSD on a daily driver, but I guess you can always swap back to a standard diff if you want to sell it / get annoyed with it.

[Chisholm]

that makes sense, thanks. the guy that sold it to me said it had a LSD in it but as soon as i jacked it up, it was clear that it didn't. either it is broken or he is lying. are they cheap to get fixed if it is broken and how would i tell??

[MarkF]

Put a welded diff in mate. I have had one in my 325 for 8 months with no problems apart from funny looks from pedestrians when parking/manouevering tightly etc as the inside wheel hops and skips. You have to make sure you respect the fact that it is dangerous though, especially when wet and change your driving style accordingly!!!

[tha_lick]

does tyre wear increase? im thinking about making up a welded diff for my e21 i should be getting as LSDs are rare as rocking horse sh*t but iv been told to try and park with one on. . . about slippery surfaces, do you need to keep it down and not really boot it because the arse will swing out? also, how you one be on the motorway? say for example there was a down pour. is doing 70mph a no no?

cheers mate

[zimmer-320i]

straight line and gradual sterring wont realy affect it but u proberly will notice it slightly, tbh thats why lsd's were invented/thought of so id get one of those but you can still drift on a open diff yes it may not be perfect but if your practicing its better to have a light lsd or open diff any way, i drift in large carparks when there emty and i go side ways,
(i have a normal diff, unless its a lsd then ill be happy!!)

just try your open diff for now, till you get used to drifting then try someones wealded or lsd diff i dunno what else can be suggested, but a open diff is ok to practice

and yes tyre wear is incresed as the out side or inside wheel arnt allowed to move at diffrent speeds as you turn a corner or turning in to a road

[Supafly]

A welded diff is going to make the car understeer more initially then if you're commited it will oversteer very quickly/suddenly.

If you want to practice drifting I would recommend keeping it as it is for now and going somewhere open/safe when it rains and practice until you start to get the hang of it. Try holding a wide circle sideways to get an understanding of how to balance the throttle and steering. Once you get better at that (both clockwise and anti clockwise) then you'll be in a better position to choose how seriously you want to drift and which way to go.

As mentioned above, a locked diff on the road can be very dangerous. In the wet/damp just one careless press of the throttle when you're not 100% concentrating can easily be one too many.