Welded differential on S13, Good or Bad ?

[zilvialatorre]

hi zilvia !!!!!

what are the goods/pluses/adv. in having a welded diff. against unwelded diff in general ?

what is better having welded diff or installing viscous LSD ?

please advice.....

[mkomar24]

Been discussed a million times but in a nutshell, welded is cheap, low maintenence, predictable, and a lot of fun with lower power levels. It is also less streetable, chirps around turns at low speeds, wears out tires faster, and reduces turning radius somewhat. Good on the track, somewhat annoying on the street. Search should turn up plenty of relevant info.

[allntrlundrgrnd]

lol @ "the goods"

[nismo racer]

do it, thats all i got to say just do it if all else fails buy an open diff again for cheap.

[BillWatcher]

I have had mine for a bit now, at slow speeds the chatter is not that bad, you can drive on the street with no problems, once sliding feels really smooth. Bad = technically its a ticking time bomb. You will get about a year give or take out of it, then you buy another open and weld it or by that time you save up enough money for lsd status.

Recommendation: DO IT!!

[repda916]

I have had mine for a bit now, at slow speeds the chatter is not that bad, you can drive on the street with no problems, once sliding feels really smooth. Bad = technically its a ticking time bomb. You will get about a year give or take out of it, then you buy another open and weld it or by that time you save up enough money for lsd status.

Recommendation: DO IT!!
what you mean? "ticking time bomb."
when i bought my car it had a welded diff. not knowing who welded it kind of scares me but w/e. if the weld was to break, could it cause me 9if i was driving) to swerve or anything?

[thefro526]

Check out My Review Thread it has some good info from me and some other interesting tid-bits of info.

http://zilvia.net/f/chat/207490-my-s13-welded-differential-review.html

Straight up, do it and deal with it. Drop the diff and take it to a halfway decent welder and you'll be fine. After about a month you forget about it.

[SochBAT]

PS. you don't wear down your tires faster. You wear em down at the same rate. Know your shit.

[handinpants]

well they are great and inexpensive, but get used to your wheels hopping when you make right or left turns at an intersection at 40+ mph... my 2-way does that shit. i though something was broken, til i remembered the wheels were locked

[BillWatcher]

well they are great and inexpensive, but get used to your wheels hopping when you make right or left turns at an intersection at 40+ mph... my 2-way does that shit. i though something was broken, til i remembered the wheels were locked


Not sure who welded your diff, but mine does not do that at all, only chatters and skips in parking lots.

[FaLKoN240]

I've had the same welded diff in my cars for like 4 years now.

2 different ones, 2 years on each of them.

One gear oil change and they never blew on me or anything.

I would do it again.

The only reason I want to get an LSD is because I'm curious.

[!Zar!]

Been discussed a million times but in a nutshell, welded is cheap, low maintenence, predictable, and a lot of fun with lower power levels. It is also less streetable, chirps around turns at low speeds, wears out tires faster, and reduces turning radius somewhat. Good on the track, somewhat annoying on the street. Search should turn up plenty of relevant info. Lower power levels only? wtf. Elaborate so I can tell you why you are wrong. Reduced turning radius? WTF.
Tires wear out faster!?
Holy misinformation batman!
I have had mine for a bit now, at slow speeds the chatter is not that bad, you can drive on the street with no problems, once sliding feels really smooth. Bad = technically its a ticking time bomb. You will get about a year give or take out of it, then you buy another open and weld it or by that time you save up enough money for lsd status.

Recommendation: DO IT!!
Ticking time bomb? A YEAR!?
Not sure who welded your diff, but mine does not do that at all, only chatters and skips in parking lots.

Mine skipped. Cheap tires make noise. Quality ones don't.

[mkomar24]

[quote=!Zar!;2390264]Lower power levels only? wtf. Elaborate so I can tell you why you are wrong. Reduced turning radius? WTF.
Tires wear out faster!?
Holy misinformation batman!

No misinformation sir;

1. Not only lower power levels, you can use it with 900 hp if you wanted to I suppose, What I mean is that people with stock power levels will have an easier time sliding with a welded than say a J30 viscous or skyline viscous. When you are making 500 hp you probably know why you need a kaaz or nismo 2 way or 1.5 way or whatever you prefer. At 500hp you will have the wheels going so fast most of the time any lsd would be fun for you. I have had a helical, many viscous diffs, and several welded in miatas, AE86's, S14 and S13's and in each application I noticed that at stock power levels the welded seemed to be the most fun. The viscous diffs seemed to require higher wheel speeds (thus needing more power) in order to lock up. Sometimes they seem to open up when you are making near stock power levels. Put in an SR however and the issue seems to be minimized.

2. Technically turning radius does not change. However, when both rear wheels are locked together, the outside wheel drags or scrubs during a turn and causes a tendency toward understeer until the limits of traction are reached and you move into oversteer. The outside tire is fighting the turn under grip trying to pull the car back into a straight line. An lsd allows the outside wheel to turn instead of scrub and allows the front of the vehicle to turn in the desired direction. Once you have both rear wheels burning off however this means nothing since the turning radius effectively becomes limited by wheelbase.
3. The second effect from the scrubbing is reduced tire life. Every time that wheel is being dragged along it is wearing rubber off the tire. When you turn sharp with an open diff, the rear wheels turn at whatever speed they need to turn and do not scrub against the pavement. A welded diff forces the outside tire to turn slower and as it slips and chirps along it wears out the tire. I noticed that in daily driving, I was wearing through tires with the welded at almost double my rate with the lsd. This is real world experience and simple geometry at work. If you let a wheel turn 2 times when the distance traveled should equate to 3 turns, the tire must have broken traction and we all know that breaking traction leads to tire wear.

I may be new to Zilvia but I have years and years of experience with cars and drifting. I am a professional mechanic and I have lost track of the amount of fabrication, engine swaps, and conversions I have done years ago. I appreciate constructive criticism so please explain if my information is incorrect, but please, do not take me for an idiot.