Seam Welded Chassis a no-no

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Paulie

Paulie

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I wanted to bring this right to everyone's attention in case nobody has noticed yet. If you're wondering what upgrades to get for your car, don't choose the seam welded chassis. I have discovered that it's the largest contributor to the bouncing effect we're all experiencing. Although it's not the only contributor and fast cars will naturally be affected by agressive driving, I think that the small improvement to lateral grip it offers (if there is any to be noticed) is largely outweighed by the bouncing.

Just another tip from your local Lion's Den Performance shop, helping you go faster every time the green flag waves.
 
If you don't seam weld the chassis you can't get the works package correct?
 
Joey D
If you don't seam weld the chassis you can't get the works package correct?
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Yes that's correct. My advice is hold off getting the seam welded chassis until you're going to get the Works package, then just get them at the same time so you don't have to race any races with it.👍

I found this via driving a fully modified Z06 with and without the seam welding, and a V8 Vantage with and without the seam welding. When I got level 3 suspension for the V8 Vantage it made next to no difference to shock absorpstion. Kind of annoyed I can't have 2 of the same car. The Works Corvette is a lot bouncier and less fun to drive than a fully modified non-seam welded Corvette, uglier than non-works, and only 4-5sec faster at Spa.
 
I noticed this too... seam wealding seems to make the car over-stiff... contributing to the bouncing.
 
I think it's worth adding that if you can soften the suspension enough to make up for the reduced chassis compliance, seam welding can improve the car's cornering predictability by a fair deal.

Apparently, some stage III suspension upgrades don't provide settings soft enough to make this work out on a rough track like the Nordschleife though.

However, since this upgrade can be sold at any time without incurring a loss, I'd not generally advise against it. I'd rather recommend you see if you can make it work with a softened suspension and if that is not the case, just sell the upgrade and revert the suspension setup.
 
Just droped the seam weld option on most of my cars and noticed a dramatic improvement on both "bounce" and smoothing of lift of oversteer. It seems you can basicly OVER stiffen the chasis very easily with the seam weld option, nice to see that the tuning physics can allow you to go way outside the box.
 
It might work in the game, but it's completely unrealistic.

You absolutely want as stiff a chassis as possible on a track car - welded in roll cages and seam welding aren't just for safety, a stiff chassis allows the suspension to work properly.
 
Yes but you need to alter the suspension to get the best from it. if you don't then it becomes too stiff.
 
I have another no-no, the Chevy Cobalt, Honda Civic Si, and a number of other cars no doubt. They all seem to lock the brakes at 1/4 or less brake pressure and handle like crap, nothing but oversteer no matter what you do. In addition, a completely upgraded Cobalt has 560Nm of torque, just over 400hp (300kw), and if that's not mental enough for a FWD car, you can't make the low down gears longer, which means wheelspin in 4th gear even, if you're turning. 1st gets to around 50km/hr, 2nd 80km/hr, 3rd 120km/hr, 4th 160km/hr, 5th 200km/hr and 6th goes all the way to around 260-270km/hr, which means without Nos 6th gear is dead when you hit it, but necessary so you don't top out. 1st-5th are way too short for that much power in any car let alone a FWD one, far too much wheelspin. The Camaro has similar issues with short gears and wheelspin.
 
Paulie
I have another no-no, the Chevy Cobalt, Honda Civic Si, and a number of other cars no doubt. They all seem to lock the brakes at 1/4 or less brake pressure and handle like crap, nothing but oversteer no matter what you do. In addition, a completely upgraded Cobalt has 560Nm of torque, just over 400hp (300kw), and if that's not mental enough for a FWD car, you can't make the low down gears longer, which means wheelspin in 4th gear even, if you're turning. 1st gets to around 50km/hr, 2nd 80km/hr, 3rd 120km/hr, 4th 160km/hr, 5th 200km/hr and 6th goes all the way to around 260-270km/hr, which means without Nos 6th gear is dead when you hit it, but necessary so you don't top out. 1st-5th are way too short for that much power in any car let alone a FWD one, far too much wheelspin. The Camaro has similar issues with short gears and wheelspin.
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Works/RX7 has the same problem... Fine in stage 3, but once you go works gears 1-3 are too short, redlining right when you shift into gear... then from 4-6 its ok... no matter what I do to the gears, it doesnt change... so I had no choice but to leave it at stage 3...
 
Will it still bounce with the Works conversion? I had this done on the Corvette Z06 and noticed considerable bouncing on some tracks. I got the Works conversion done for the Tier 4 challenge - but I still notice it on some places. Is this just my driving or does it still occur even after Works?
 
Last night I tried to do the Carrera GT challenge @ Spa. (Manufacturer race)
I did not see the option to tune this car, how did you stop the bounce on this car? In all the straights it just starts bouncing, if I slow down everyone just flies pass me
Any suggestions?
 
Ram-Rod
Will it still bounce with the Works conversion? I had this done on the Corvette Z06 and noticed considerable bouncing on some tracks. I got the Works conversion done for the Tier 4 challenge - but I still notice it on some places. Is this just my driving or does it still occur even after Works?
Click to expand...

Works is generally better than the seam welded chassis on its own, but bounces more than a car without the seam welded chassis (depending on car). My Works Camaro still bounces everywhere.

raz_10
Last night I tried to do the Carrera GT challenge @ Spa. (Manufacturer race)
I did not see the option to tune this car, how did you stop the bounce on this car? In all the straights it just starts bouncing, if I slow down everyone just flies pass me
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

No amount of tuning would fix flawed physics anyway. I gave up on that race.
 
Paulie
Yes that's correct. My advice is hold off getting the seam welded chassis until you're going to get the Works package, then just get them at the same time so you don't have to race any races with it.👍

I found this via driving a fully modified Z06 with and without the seam welding, and a V8 Vantage with and without the seam welding. When I got level 3 suspension for the V8 Vantage it made next to no difference to shock absorpstion. Kind of annoyed I can't have 2 of the same car. The Works Corvette is a lot bouncier and less fun to drive than a fully modified non-seam welded Corvette, uglier than non-works, and only 4-5sec faster at Spa.
Click to expand...

Only? That's alot of time.
 
Paulie
I have another no-no, the Chevy Cobalt, Honda Civic Si, and a number of other cars no doubt. They all seem to lock the brakes at 1/4 or less brake pressure and handle like crap, nothing but oversteer no matter what you do. In addition, a completely upgraded Cobalt has 560Nm of torque, just over 400hp (300kw), and if that's not mental enough for a FWD car, you can't make the low down gears longer, which means wheelspin in 4th gear even, if you're turning. 1st gets to around 50km/hr, 2nd 80km/hr, 3rd 120km/hr, 4th 160km/hr, 5th 200km/hr and 6th goes all the way to around 260-270km/hr, which means without Nos 6th gear is dead when you hit it, but necessary so you don't top out. 1st-5th are way too short for that much power in any car let alone a FWD one, far too much wheelspin. The Camaro has similar issues with short gears and wheelspin.
Click to expand...

You can add the Works S2000 to that.

Does eliminating seam welding help with this traction problem? Or is it strictly because of gearing limitations?
 
Traction problems when you're not bumping are primarily because of gearing limitations.
 
raz_10
Last night I tried to do the Carrera GT challenge @ Spa. (Manufacturer race)
I did not see the option to tune this car, how did you stop the bounce on this car? In all the straights it just starts bouncing, if I slow down everyone just flies pass me
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I got the PC version 1.1 and I tried the GT challenge and I won, by a mile.

How? All the AI just jumped of the track on lap one..... :(
 
m00ndancer
I got the PC version 1.1 and I tried the GT challenge and I won, by a mile.

How? All the AI just jumped of the track on lap one..... :(
Click to expand...


I got my PS3 update last night will try this race tonight.
 

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