Car upkeep - Refresh - Mileage wear & tear

[wildbillk]

(couldnt find a thread in 5 different searches) Found some like the current minolta thread but I have alot more to ask and I think this deserves it's own thread.

OK I am a bit confused and suprised 💡 . I haven't been playing this game for long yet but I have been looking at car data after it has been used a bit. My only car with ALOT of wear and tear is a minolta I use for enduro. The reason I use this car is not because it's my favorite, it's because it is a faster then hell car that is easy to acquire on a track I use for B-specing money (El Capitan 200m - NTSC). The first time I A-specced the enduro with a Saleen S7. From then on I used the Minolta Toyota I won to B-spec several more for cash. These are some figures I acquired about used car stats. I would like to see more comparisons but this is the only car I have with significant mileage.

Straight from winning (El Capitan 200mile enduro), not touched, pure stock.
Minolta Toyota 88C-V
0.0 miles
Power: 919 HP (907 on paper) @8000rpm
Torque: 667.52 ft/lb @5000rpm
P/W Ratio: n/a (forgot to get number before upgrading)
Weight: 850kg
No upgrades

Brand new winnings, upgraded but no oil change or wash.
Minolta Toyota 88C-V
0.0 miles
Power: 1164 HP (1148 on paper) @8000rpm
Torque: 778.12 ft/lb @5000rpm
P/W Ratio: 0.730
Weight: 850kg
All possible upgrades (turbo, nos, rigidity)

Brand new winnings, upgraded with oil change and car wash.
Minolta Toyota 88C-V
0.0 miles
Power: 1223 HP (1206 on paper) @8000rpm
Torque: 816.96 ft/lb @5000rpm
P/W Ratio: 0.718
Weight: 850kg
All possible upgrades (turbo, nos, rigidity)

Used car after rigidity refresher, Oil change, Car wash.
Minolta Toyota 88C-V
5717 miles -done mostly on El Capitan
Power: 1184 HP (1168 on paper) @8000rpm
Torque: 791.35 ft/lb @5000rpm
P/W Ratio: 0.695
Weight: 850kg
All possible upgrades (turbo, nos, rigidity)
Sorry I didn't log the info before the oil change and refresh. It was down to about 1120HP until oil change brought it back up to the 1184HP.

So I find some very surprising facts which were commented on in many posts but I couldn't find any solid collected data.

1) An oil change helps EVERY car acquired either purchased, won, or used. I tested this out with some production cars I bought, non production cars purchased, and cars won. All were new with 0.0 mileage. After an oil change, all saw a 4-6% boost in HP.

2) Car Wash doesn't seem to affect anything. (can someone confirm this? Doesn't seem to change HP at all but I wonder about handling characteristics or downforce, if it's very different on a dirty car to a clean one?)

3) A car will significantly lose rigidity after about 2000 miles making handling alot more difficult. I am not sure if a rigidity refresh restores it 100% *

4) A car will lose max HP with mileage which (seemingly) cannot be recovered. While an oil change might get you back lost HP, the engine will steadily lose it's max potential with mileage gained. I am not sure what the gradation for loss is or how it steps. Maybe someone can help here. (say a car with 5 oil changes done at 10k miles as compared to 1 at 2k miles, if there is a HP differential). Overall the change might not be too disastrous (given the %'s), losing 40ish HP (like the minolta did) is nothing to scoff at. That might be the difference between winning and losing in a straight against a new R92 who's a tough competitor. I also don't know to what extent this affects the power curves but I'm sure it does a little, especially on the low gears, and also affect top speed a few MPH.

*Can someone inform us if they find a car loses it's max potential handling from many rigidity refreshes? Like say your first refresh at 2000 miles restores 90% of it's loss, but at 10k miles the loss is much more substantial and the rigidity restored is much less. I understand this would be hard to really quantify as it's more about feeling but I would think any car with very heavy mileage, say 15-20k would really show it's frame wear even after refresh compared to a new counterpart.

All this came from my concerns about racing certain favorite cars I have which are difficult to replace such as the Pescarolo C60, Audi A8 and others which were very expensive or difficult to acquire. Of course this is a major concern for the Black LMP cars, F1, etc which are so hard to come by (I don't have yet). Beating up one of those in a long enduro concerns me alot as it might others.

I will do some more testing but I hope others contribute here as well. I am also wondering how big of an effect this data has on the black LMP cars. Does their high mileage show a different restoration (oil/rigidity) curve then lower mileage cars? We all have our cherished favorite cars and keeping them at or near peak condition is something to think about IMO.

Thanks

edit: oops screwed up a cut and paste for number 1)

 

[Dave A]

I think that with regards to the horsepower going down, the cars do lose their maximum bhp the more you use them, but there is also a maximum limit they can lose, so once the car has lost a certain % of power it cannot lose any more, you get to a point that every oil change brings it back to the same level each time. It's not the right time of day for me to load up the PS2 and start experimenting, but maybe when I get time I'll have a look into some solid info.

 

[niclake13]

1) Yes, the oil change helps every car... and actually, it helps brand new cars that you win too.

2) Car wash doesn't seem to do anything except to make a car more appreciative for photo mode.

3) No clue... I'd assume that it might.

4)live4speed is right... you can't lose more than a certain percentage.

 

[-Cheezman-]

1) Yes it helps all cars, every car I buy, I change it's oil before it touches the track. Old habit from GT3...

2) Over time your car will come to look dull, all a car wash does is make the car look shiny again, it doesn't really effect performance, but, I'm not 100% sure.

3) Once you do a refresh, it is like putting in a whole new chassis, it will bring it back to 100%

4) I'm pretty sure after you lose the maximum, you can make it back up with an oil change. Also in GT3, I remember after some engine wear, the Engine HP would go up a little (or alot), then go down, I don't think GT4 does this though.

 

[FaLLeNAn9eL]

1,2,4 i have nothing to add to

#3 i BELIEVE car wash affects aerodynamics. i read it somewhere but i forget where. having a dirty car does have an effect on performance. correct me if im wrong

 

[Pupik]

The chassis refresh option seems to appear after about 500 miles; whether the car was new, or many miles used to begin with. I think the only exception is the "magical" F1 car, the power never increases/decreases, there's no oil change, and no chassis to refresh.

Both my Suzuki GSX/R-4 (new) and the GS 300 '91 (started at about 40,000 miles) need refreshes at around 500 miles, but I'm sure it's actually at some nice, round kilometer figure, such as 800 km, that the refresh symbol appears.

 

[niky]

Chassis refresh does seem to be independent of banging, and most anything around 500 miles or 1000 kms will need it.

As for the Car Wash... in GT3, the Car Wash actually affected top speed. I.E.: dirty car, you lose 5-10 mph off the top. Clean car, you can reach theoretical max.

I suppose the dirt raises your cd numbers by 0.02 or so. In GT4, I haven't noticed the difference, but then, you're not usually hitting V-Max on any of the racing tracks anyway.

 

[Greycap]

Of course this is a major concern for the Black LMP cars, F1, etc which are so hard to come by (I don't have yet). Beating up one of those in a long enduro concerns me alot as it might others.

Nothing to worry about in these cars, the black beasts are already used and thus they have lost their full potential long ago. You can drive them without concern, they were in the worst possible condition when you bought them. Of course you will need to refresh the chassis every now and then, and the same applies to oil changes, but these will return the cars to the state they were in when you got them.

And about the Formula, it's another "don't worry be happy" car, no matter how much you drive it, it won't lose power and the chassis will stay in top condition forever.

I hope this helps, keep them roaring!