Weight reduction: An overview and a few ideas

[admin]

For many car enthusiasts who love to customize their vehicles, making their vehicle lighter is often a main goal. Why? Well a lighter vehicle accelerates faster than the stock model as there is a greater power to weight ratio so in a way, decreasing the weight of your car, has the same effect as increasing your horsepower. A lighter vehicle also leads to better braking as the brakes do not have to work as hard to fully stop a lighter vehicle and better handling.

The best way to lighten your new car or truck is to remove parts which you do not need as well as to take the vital parts of your car and replace them with lighter models. The following tips will outline specific ways in which this can be achieved.

When replacing items on your car, parts made of carbon fiber generally tend to be lighter than the stock parts. That is why you should replace your stock hood and trunk with a carbon fiber hood and trunk. The amount of weight this will reduce varies from model to model, but generally, you can expect to lighten your vehicle by around 30 pounds through this alone. You may also want to replace your stock wheels with lightweight wells that weigh anywhere from 8-12 pounds less. Your header and exhaust can also be replaced by lightweight performance parts and this can reduce the weight of your car 15-20 pounds. Finally, replacing the stock battery with a lightweight battery can take of an additional 8-10 pounds off the weight of your car. By replacing just a few stock parts, with lighter performance parts, you can lighten your car by around 70 pounds.

However, when replacing parts on your car, there is more to consider than just weight. Make sure that the replacement parts you are using are made of good material from a reputable company and will improve the performance of your car and function properly.

Apart from making a few changes in the part you use on your Honda vehicle, there are some parts that you can completely remove and lighten your car further. If you are racing, be sure to remove these parts on the day(s) of the race as you probably will not need them during the race. Removing just the spare tire from the back of your car can cut over 20 pounds of the total weight. If this car was purchased solely for racing, you may want to consider removing the passenger seat and the rear seats. Keeping just the driver’s seat in the car and reduce the overall weight of the car by more than 35 pounds. You should also remove the floor mats as they are not a necessity and surprisingly can weigh up to ten pounds. Removing the muffler on race day can reduce the overall weight of your car another 10 pounds.

There are also heavy metal fixtures in your glove compartment that can be removed, your air conditioner can be removed, (although I do not recommend this because it can get very hot in the car, especially during the summer months), cruise control can be removed as can your rear wiper, sound tar, and much more. Finally, if you are not keen on listening to the radio or music in your car, removing the radio and speakers can subtract over 10 pounds from the weight of your car. Finally, make sure you have removed all items from the trunk and any additional items from inside your car that may add some weight. (40 pound dumbbells in the trunk don’t exactly help your cause.)

There are many ways to lighten your car and although some are more extreme than others, such as removing the seats versus removing the spare tire, in a race, each additional pound helps. This article has mentioned many of the best ways to remove large amounts of weight from your car without sacrificing performance, but there are a number of other ways to lighten your cars as well. Although these other modifications may only take away four or five pounds each, if enough modifications are made, these small weight deductions add up quickly and can significantly lower the weight of your car. If you are not the most mechanically savvy among us, you may want to bring your car down to the shop to get some work done, especially where parts are being replaced. (But there are also a number of things you can do to lighten the weight of your Honda without consulting professional help.) Everything from your steering wheel to your rear windshield can be replaced and made lighter and there are hundreds of things you can remove on the inside of your vehicle to reduce the weight of your car even further. All that is required is a little experimenting to see if lighter parts improve the performance of your car and to see what effect removing a certain item has on your acceleration and handling and make a decision on whether that part should stay or go.

Purchasing a light vehicle to start off with helps, but if you would rather choose a heavier model based on performance or preference, following the tips above can help lower you car’s weight and lead you to racing success, or just a better driving experience.

If you have removed a part from your car that was not listed in the above article and found it to be helpful in the overall performance of your car, be sure to share your experience and help others out by posting what you did and how much weight it reduced here. There is only so much that can be mentioned in one article. Also, be sure to post what model and year car you made the modification on as there maybe differences from model to model and from year to year.

DISCLAIMER: The contents of this article are not necessarily the official views of, nor endorsed by, the owner of HondaClub(com).

[AP1fun]

I would like to note for the S2000 owners that the S is 50/50 weight distributed which effects turning. If you take the spare out you'll need to lighten the front (battery or hood for example) to maintain this.


Also, for everyone; 100 pounds only equals .10 seconds (adverage) in the quarter mile.

[MAdMaxx]

dude this is aswome...i'm going to go tear my civic appart!!! lol

[][\/][ario00013]

i was looking on how to do weight reduction and i found this Honda club site i think this post is good info and i think taking out the spar out your car ,changing the hood to carbon and new carbon seats would be good but carbon is very expensive for 1 Greddy carbon fiber drift 4 point harness seat is around 299 A SEAT! its way to much to pay that much for a carbon seat is there any better way of weight reduce in your car changing the factory parts works good to my brothers Chevy cavalier with weight reduce and rear wheel drive is a good drift car i was wondering any better way to do with out paying for carbon fiber and cutting up the out side and making it weaker is not a good idea i no this is the Honda club but I m thinking about getting a Nissan 240sx and i wont to keep the look stock less police on you and make the car light as possible and make it better the factory tuned can any one think of a better way of weight reduction the Honda s2000 2001 is a good drift car too ok if any one no’s a better way of weight reduction with out carbon fiber post some thing up id really like to no

[AP1fun]

Originally Posted by ][\/][ario00013

i was looking on how to do weight reduction and i found this Honda club site i think this post is good info and i think taking out the spar out your car ,changing the hood to carbon and new carbon seats would be good but carbon is very expensive for 1 Greddy carbon fiber drift 4 point harness seat is around 299 A SEAT! its way to much to pay that much for a carbon seat is there any better way of weight reduce in your car changing the factory parts works good to my brothers Chevy cavalier with weight reduce and rear wheel drive is a good drift car i was wondering any better way to do with out paying for carbon fiber and cutting up the out side and making it weaker is not a good idea i no this is the Honda club but I m thinking about getting a Nissan 240sx and i wont to keep the look stock less police on you and make the car light as possible and make it better the factory tuned can any one think of a better way of weight reduction the Honda s2000 2001 is a good drift car too ok if any one no’s a better way of weight reduction with out carbon fiber post some thing up id really like to no

Your gonna have to pay to play. Origin offers carbon fiber door pannels for the 240sx and you can do the lighter seats, but as you said they are expensive. Without CF or replacing heavy parts with aluminum your pretty much stuck.

[derwinv]

Like the article mentions, I suggest not removing the AC system. I did that and regreted it. It gets pretty hot here in CA.

[underdogs33]

took the ac out of my 91 civic hatch as long as back seat all stock seat belt bracets made my car alot lighter you wouldnt beleave how much the stock seat belts weigh my doors are so light now its unbeleavable

[JdmDc5]

pulling panels out is easy but putting it back is a bitch

[Honda In Blood]

This is some nice info dude.. thanks.. about taking a back seat out of the 1995 civic any tips??? im doing it my self

[PrimeTimeV6]

Its very easy. You will take the bottom out first then the back rest. The bottom will probably just clip in and the top might have 2 bolts holding it down. Good Luck and play safe.