I've noticed much better handling with about 50lbs of tools in the trunk,
The front feels much lighter and easy to turn in, also the road feel was greatly reduced and slight shimmy and vibrations i get from Falken 512 were reduced as well. The over all feeling of driving was much better and smoother.

It might be funny , but all the tools are back in the tool cabinet now and i have 40lbs bag of solt there.

Nick.

And my car is faster with a full tank of gas

Ummm...sweet!

The car may be more balanced but you can keep the extra dead weight.

Why the sarcasm? Better weight distribution could lead to better handling.

+1, you're shifting the center of gravity away from the heavy front making it more balanced.

Less weight = FASTER

JDM tyte stylee

hey guys, hes talkin handling not speed, so give him a break. if he likes it, he likes it. i dont blame him, these things handle like boats unless you put a bunch of money into the suspension.

I have bunch of money invested and i still hate the way maxima handles.
I really don't care on how much faster my car is without added weight - she is still pretty darn fast for what she's worth
it handles much and turns in much better- case closed period.

I knew it was a bad idea to post this thread ,

I drove 150miles with probably 70lbs of p-ball gear in the trunk and in the turns the car felt a little more planted. On the freeway in monsoon rains my car didnt hydroplane as much as it did.

Great so now I have no body roll, but the car understeers like Rosanne Barr on a tricycle..
-Cyrus

I agree with you, the car handles much better, and I believe there would be benefits even in the snow.

Pick up a couple of fat chicks and throw them in the back seat...

You'll have 50/50 weight distribution

yea he's right.. some people keep sand bags or weights in their trunk in the winter around here.. it's supposed to make a nice difference

wouldn't that be bad in the snow... I'd thought it would be best with all your weight on your front wheels in the snow. I have 120 lbs of stereo equipment in trunk along with a regular jack. The handling sucks on this car with or without the weight. In a couple of years I'll have me a free 1.5" drop.

nick, you owned a skyline? I worship you man, lol, btw, how much did that thing cost to import and "domesticate"?

Yup.... People with pick ups have been doing it for years...

Yeah, or in the winter they just shovel their driveways out and throw the snow in the back of the pick up too.

a rear swap bar would help u with your body roll problem

wait, I thought for FWD, you want the greatest % of weight over the drive wheels in the snow, therefore the 50 pounds in the rear would actually detract from that by shifting the % rearward. This shift would be benificial for handling, sucky for speed and sucky for snow. (at least for FWD cars) If I am wrong, someone that knows something please explain it to me. Thanks.

Yea it does, I have 3 on my car

really bad mental picture...

I'm betting the extra weight in the back is shifting more weight to the rear tires during cornering causing the car to understeer less. A rear sway bar adjusted correctly does the same thing. They are designed to load up the outside rear tire during a corner.

+2, I ran much of my racing season with the spare tire in and a full tank of gas to help the turning and handling balance.

Except trucks are RWD.

the wieght in the trunk is really for rear wheeldrive cars my dad did that in heavy snow storms in CO

or you could buy a truck and save your car the torture. Just a thought.

ever since I bolted down my box in the trunk my car handles much better, before it was sliding all over the place when i turned throwing the a$$ with it.

LoL, Oh...umm...whoops

This would give it much worse handling. In hard turns and at high speed this extra weight is pulley the needed weight for traction off of the front wheels making for bad understeer And worse braking, bad gas milage. Every gallon of gas = 6lbs.

No...


10 chars.

Actually the truth is ive taken 100's of lbs from my car and it does handle worse because the suspension has to be set up for the cars weight.My car with H&R's is higher than stock.
An example SCC took over 600lbs out of a 350z the slalom got worse skidpad got alot better they said the car was much higher than stock and with a properly setup suspension the car will be a handling beast.

Very true... if you take weight away you have to compensate for the weight loss... the spring rates have to be changed

A better change is to up spring rates while removing weight. At least what I've found.

Good observation. Not everyone likes to strive for more speed in a family sedan. Some people actually like handling more!