Strip Car (And Spare Tyre) Q's

[dannyboy2005]

Going to Strip the car.

While at the local cruise on Sunday a Gti was hammering it round, we approached the guy and he said tis all standard, standard engine and suspension. He had it fully stripped (Carpet Included)

He said about if you remove the back wheel, the back end gets a bit skippy and can skid out? is this true? (I'm lowerd 40mm)

And removing door card's, unwanted plastic (A + B pillars)& Carpet, REALLY make a big difference? How much weight could you save?

Thanks

[VTR_Andy]

ive left the driver door cards in, ripped everything out the back end, rear wiper motor, all plastics, all sound deadening, seatbelts, down to the metal. has made a bit of a difference like but not too much!

[Mochachino]

Going to Strip the car.

While at the local cruise on Sunday a Gti was hammering it round, we approached the guy and he said tis all standard, standard engine and suspension. He had it fully stripped (Carpet Included)

He said about if you remove the back wheel, the back end gets a bit skippy and can skid out? is this true? (I'm lowerd 40mm)

And removing door card's, unwanted plastic (A + B pillars)& Carpet, REALLY make a big difference? How much weight could you save?

Thanks

I should leave the back wheels on mate, wont get far without them.

It will make the rear abit more skittly, obvious really as there isnt as much weight holding it down.

[pos_blue]

It does make a little bit off difference but if comforts a big thing for you then its probably not worth it. Spending a bit of money on a proper exhaust system that will give you the correct back pressure etc and actually add power rather than just noise will have a btter effect, but obviously that costs money whereas stripping the interior is free lol

if you dont liek it or dont think the difference is worth it its not exactly hard to stick it all back in, try it!

[Finchowned]

Spare wheel on a VTS with tyre is 16.4kg. When you add the wheels cage and tool kit it's over 20Kg worth of stuff which relates to the equivilent of adding 2Bhp. Not a lot but every little helps.

I persoanly found it a bit loud without the rear seats so put them back in but removed the sound deadening under the boot carpet, rear wiper and the engine fresh air pump which in total saved me about another 10Kg.

Rallye door cards up front will save you about another 8-10Kg and removing the sunroof will save you 8Kg.

Standard -
Power at Flywheel (BHP) : 120
Weight without Driver (KG) : 935
Power to Weight Ratio (BHP Per Ton) : 130.40

Some stripping -
Power at Flywheel (BHP) : 120
Weight without Driver (KG) : 887
Power to Weight Ratio (BHP Per Ton) : 137.46

So, you could save 46-48Kg just by removing a few bits and bobs (sunroof's a bit more involved) and still keep the comfort and noise levels you like :) Do iiiiiit!

Oh yeah, dont worry about the back end handling any different. Never made an ounce of difference to the rear end imo.

[DaN90]

Nah nor mate he is a 106 owner lol. Meh!

[Sean_VTS]

Ive got mine completly stripped nothing in apart from dash, seats and cage.

Ive never found my back end sliding out tbh not even in the wet.............

[wickedrob]

mines totally strip at the rear nothing, found it better, bit noisy but who cares. when i have to brack hard the back end seems to lock up more then the front, but i think it handles better as you can throw it around alot easyer

[Lucas_LFC]

anybody know the weight gains saved for stripping out the rear of the car...not a total strip?

cheeers

[Karl]

id guess around 25kg+ wheel, bench, doorcards.

[matt_vtr_15]

I would agree with karl on the weight saving...

Since stripping mine i have found the back end steps out if you are taking sharp bends with excessive speed!!

Round roundabouts the back end of mine can slide outagood 15 degrees...

[Karl]

I would agree with karl on the weight saving...

Since stripping mine i have found the back end steps out if you are taking sharp bends with excessive speed!!

Round roundabouts the back end of mine can slide outagood 15 degrees...

will depend on your suspension, tyres and generally how you drive the car.
not just the weight removal in the back.

[blackie_2k5]

agreed agreed, mine soon to be striped, at the end of the day any weight saved = better performance but as said do watch it as if you strip the rear it WILL be more twitchy, you think youve got the engine etc up front and seats, you strip the rear ou got fuook all

[Karl]

agreed agreed, mine soon to be striped, at the end of the day any weight saved = better performance but as said do watch it as if you strip the rear it WILL be more twitchy, you think youve got the engine etc up front and seats, you strip the rear ou got fuook all

put a full tank of fuel in.

that will counteract anything you've removed. :P

[Sean_VTS]

put a full tank of fuel in.

that will counteract anything you've removed. :P

+1 petrols noisy when its splashing about :(

[matt_vtr_15]

will depend on your suspension, tyres and generally how you drive the car.
not just the weight removal in the back.

Well it never did it before but now does since lowering and weight removal...


I think the main reason is due to lowering... As i have 4 mint yoko's on all with atleast 6mm of tread....
Ifind it fun...

[Karl]

still shouldnt just hop out driving normally,
are you taking your foot off the loud pedal?

[matt_vtr_15]

still shouldnt just hop out driving normally,
are you taking your foot off the loud pedal?

lol sorry mate...

normal driving it is fine.. not much twitch..

its when I reach a certain stretch of countryside it becomes a drift machine...

with the foot planted on the load pedal...

before i stripped it and did the same sorta thing though it didn't really kick out at all...

just the lowered suspension and weigh loss seem to make it a bit twitchy...

suprising considering the cage weighs only about 10kg less than what i took out...

[Lucas_LFC]

im just going to remove the spare wheel and accessories, and the sound proofing in the boot and thats about it because i want to keep the practicality of the car, but lose a bit of weight

[Ste]

I had mine on spax adjustables and it took me a while to dial it back in again after pulling all the weight out. It was only noticeable on good rubber, but on shit rubber the backend stayed in and the front understeered.

I have nothing in the car but what i need to go forwards and stop.

[webby]

ste really isnt joking about how bare the car is, i was shocked. btw did you get the matrix out mate?

[Ste]

ste really isnt joking about how bare the car is, i was shocked. btw did you get the matrix out mate?

Not yet, weathers too nice lol!.

Ill get around to it eventually.

[titchster]

Taking weight out the back obviously makes it lighter, less weight over the wheels = less grip, although once you start to get used to it, it's fine.

[AlexB]

stripping can make a huge difference in aa cars behavior

i had a stripped (no dash or anything) 1.1 and it was the most fun car ive owned tbh as you could just fling it round corners and it wasnt shabby in a straight line either

however you want to try and keep the weight even

dont just strip the rear get weight from over the front axle too

[L16_vts]

does make a differance even taking your spare wheel off...

[Finchowned]

Another good mod for anyone with alloy wheels is getting some Citroen C5 (15") or 106 Rallye (14") steelies on board. Saves weight, looks cool and reduces unsprung weight so it's all good!