Wow...only 2309 lbs?

I'm 215 lbs myself...don't feel bad. That's without a helmet.

 

Sorry It was 2,499 lbs

I will edit the post NOW

 

I wrote bad (typo error) , it was 2,499. So I still weight 190 with helmet

I took out the rear seats Damm they're heavy

That, plus the Toyo AR1 was good for 9 sec (Aprox) improvement. But then appear Mr. BodyRoll..

Need the back strut bar ASAP!!!, maybe some springs too......

 

So that's 2499 lbs without you inside? Those are RA1s you're referring to not AR1s right? AR1 makes me think of my AR15. Bang bang shoot-em-up.

 

Yes you got it right!!!!

 

Yes, I'll figure it for you. The fuel savings you would see by dropping 20 pounds over the course of a year with your figures are. . .

<working the calculator>

NOTHING!!!

Please. 20 pounds will not be enough to notice a difference. If you're lucky, you might save like a gallon of gas a year. There are very few practical things you can remove from the Fit to improve gas mileage. You have to be realistic about what your intentions are. If you are going for more performance, removing things like the interior might be an option, but if fuel efficiency is your goal and the car will remain a daily driver, there's not much you can do. Replacing the battery is good, as well as intake, exhaust, and wheels/tires. You'll likely notice a MPG gain with the intake and exhaust not so much because of their weight advantage (although they surely would be lighter), but because they allow the engine to breathe better, which is more efficient. Wheels and tires may play a very small role in better economy, especially if you do mostly in-town driving, but most of the difference will be in road feel due to lower rotating mass.

Think before you pull something off your car. If it's less than 20-25 pounds and is a daily convenience item for your daily driver car, leave it there. That includes the damn spare and jack.

Mike

 

Has anyone done a JDM front/rear bumper swap and weighed the changes?

I bet that drops a good 40lbs or so on the ends(good for handling too)

 

the best thing you can do would be get a lighter flywheel if you've got a manual, (along with lighter/grabbier clutch if you want performance).

Rotating mass is a huge killer, expecially when it's near your engine, reducing the flywheel mass would be like reducing mass on the car itself multiplied by like a factor of 4-8 iirc. (dont have calculations in front of me)

 

This thread isn't about gas mileage. Sure if you drop enough weight it should improve mpg, but that's not what this thread is about.

Dropping weight off the front end of a front heavy car will improve handling. Not to mention overall weight loss will improve acceleration. It's common sense. No mathematical equations are necessary.

 

There is a lot to consider when you start messing with weight distribuition in a car. even if you remove weight from the front to shift the CoG back many dont take into account how the CoG vertically, if there is a large enough shift you can change the roll couple and actually increase weight transfer in the front end all the while moving the CoG backwards.

Indeed there are plenty of mathematical equations neccesary.

 

I'm talking about taking 100 lbs or so off the front end max. Nothing too extreme there and no math is necessary. It will do nothing but help the handling characteristics of the car.

I could see if you were able to drop 300 lbs or more off the front and how that could disturb things possibly. Even then I wouldn't be too worried.

At some point suspension (springs/shocks) would need to be changed to match weight if someone was serious. Corner balancing as well.

 

100 lbs off the front is like 8% of the front end weight

this can change the location of the center of gravity by quite a bit, the distance between the roll center and center of gravity can usually be measured in inches, an 100 lbs of weight can easily disturb this by a large percentage


thats not saying that a 100lb drop will produce bad handling indefinetly but i'm not the type of person that just goes about doing something without first analyzing what the probable outcome would be

 

Yeah, I know. I was simply answering the question that was presented.

Oh, and dropping weight off the front of a FWD car will not necessarily improve acceleration. At some point, it takes too much off the drive wheels and traction is lost. Just a small point. Since the Fit is not super in the horsepower department, the small reduction in weight up front will probably not hurt it much there.

Mike

 

Agreed. Ever seen a stripped down Civic at the dragstrip? SPIN SPIN SPIN...it's like the car just floats around.

 

so here's a quick question:

I see alot of people going for 15" rims, as they are lighter than 16's and 17's. But what about the tires? If you go with a 15" rim, you would need to compensate for circumference with a larger tire, which will weigh more correct? do tires weight more than rims? at some point won;t the weight savings just even out between 15 and 16, or even 17 (depending on rims)

also, is there such a thing as a light weight tire?

 

going for 15'' rims?? Do you mean staying with 15" rims as in the factory sport ones are 15". I change to konig heliums and the overall weight of the tire/rim drop about 6 lbs ( I dont remember how much was but there is somewhere in the forum ) point, it weight less now!!!!!!

BTW there is no such thing as lightweight tires (that I know) tho I've been wrong many many times.

 

Well, technically, some tires are lighter than others, so they are lightweight by comparison. If you go to The Tire Rack and look at a tire's specs, it should list its weight. One of the lightest performance tires I've seen is the Toyo T1-R. One of the heaviest is the Falken Azenis RT-615. At somepoint, you have to consider what is more important: grip or weight. The T1-R is a great tire, but it's not even close to the Azenis in terms of grip. Even though the T1-R is lighter, I'm sure any racer would choose the Azenis first because of its grip.

Wheels also have lots of variances in weight. I once bought a Miata with a beautiful set of 15x7 Mille Miglia wheels on it. They were nice until I went to remove them for the first time; they were astoundingly heavy. I put them on the scale and was practically embarrassed to find out they weighed over 21 pounds each. I very quickly replaced them with a set of Enkei RP-F1s in the same size that weigh a bit less than 10 pounds each. By changing wheels and buying new tires, I dropped 13 pounds off each corner. Think I felt the difference in the car? You'd better believe it.

Depending on the wheel and tire, one may weigh more than the other. I would guess that the factory 15" Fit wheel and OEM tire probably weigh about the same, with the combo being about 35 pounds. Not bad, but you can shed some weight by going to the aftermarket, and the increase in width and grip of performance wheels and tires will more than offset any increase in weight toward the outside diameter of the combo.

Mike

 

***Azenis FTW***

 

I agree, But for the traction I use Toyo RA1. they go a little further on traction than the azenis, tho the azenis are great!

 

I plan on using the Odyssey PC 625 or 680.......

Because I have a 13 lb 680 in my 2003 Nissan Maxima 3.5.
Installed in July 03 and living right between Chicago and Milwaukee, no cold starting issues. I also have the Odyssey 680 in my BMW R1100-RT motorcycle, installed summer of 98, just replaced it 2 weeks ago.

The Odyssey batterys are military spec and no other battery comes even close IMHO (except the Optima, which is too heavy)

Great thread, some folks dont get the weight issue.