do you have to balance the entire rotating assembly when you change to a lighter flywheel??
(i.e. counterweights)

 

u normally have to use a counter weight in order to use one


Dave

 

Lighter is not always better. Depends on your driving style/habbits and what you want to do with your car. If you do drag, you might wanna keep it mid, like 12-15 lbs... too light and launching will be tough without either bogging or burning clutches up. Then again if its a daily driver and you dont do much spirited driving, then going super light will only effect you in that itll be tougher to take off from a stop.

 

here is the way I look at it..

if ur car is a dd and u dont do much spirited driving then stay stock (u prolly are not building the car anyways)

if u auto X and are building the car... go superlight

if u drag race go superlight..

if u go super light u will have to retrain how to launch but its not that you will NEVER be able to launch it will be a learning process.. my buddy just swapped a stage 2 exedy clutch kit and a lightweight flywheel in his 06' evo 9 and for about 500 miles he could hardly drive (that and hes an *** hat at times lol) now he is perfect he can lauch, he can pull fine and his car is setup for auto X better then most cars.. he is top of the game even better then he was..

oh did I mention he also just had his transfer case rebuild when he installed it all so yeah he had problems not beating up the T case and learning a new clutch and flywheel..

trust me if u are gonna do it go big or go home.. (in this case go light or go home)

Dave

 

you might be able to "retrain" your launch strategy, but having a superlight flywheel vs a mid lightweight will still make launches tougher. Not only on the driver but the car. Youll either have to launch from a higher rpm to get out of the hole the same (more slippage), or you will have to feather the pedal more (also more slippage). I agree though if you are building a full out racecar that MIGHT do some sparse daily driving, then yes, might as well go superlight because you will have enough hp and hopefully a strong enough clutch to get you off the line. But most people just do some light tuning and dont expect to do anymore drag or autox than maybe once a month. So going 12-15 pound IMO is still best for a moderately modded dd. Then again its sort of an opinion, personal taste.

 

opinion is 100% correct this is always going to be on an opionion basis and not only that but I have ONLY used the super light flywheels... so I have no experience with the mid weight ones


Dave

 

From the Mazdatrix website...
http://www.mazdatrix.com/f-writng.htm

 

Another thing to remember is, when using a light weight FW, your engine braking ablility will be greatly reduced.

 

what are u talking about when u let off the gas after installing a lightweight flywheel the engine decels SUPER FAST...

Dave

 

Wrong thread sorry.

 

+1 I used to have a Honda Prelude with a light Spec flywheel. Let off the gas and youd nearly be in the dash

 

When you let off the gas, brake and down shift to let the lower gears slow the car down, your now reduced rotational mass will not be as effective in slowing the car down as your heavy stock FW.

I think what you're referring to is the sharp throttle response difference when you let off ur gas.

If you try what I say, you'll feel what I mean.

 

so i just wanna know.......im replacing my clutch and the flywheel....both are torn to shreads..heh....now i dont know too much about the lightweight flywheel i read what ya'll sed in past pages but its just like one arguement so i didnt learn anything really....so if i get just a standerd clutch kit(i work for firestoen and i think thats what they're putting in....well plus its cheaper...and im on like a $600 money budget here total) so yeah car doesnt run at all....so if i put in a standeard clutch would it be alrite to put a lightweight flywheel in or would that be really bad?? the lightweight flywheels just seem cheaper...like i was lookin at the ACT streetlite flywheel....cuz its only like $220 and i can afford that....yeah i take that abck about the 600 thing...i actually only have about 260 to spend on a flywheel....ioncluding shipping and tax and all that.....i know i've writin a lot but PLEASE if somebody could just give me some avice that'd be ****** aweomse! thanks! or u could IM me...headbang33...aight peace up c-town down

 

My opinion is that if it's a daily driver and not to be highly modified, and the original flywheel is not damaged, just leave the original in and replace the clutch disc, pressure plate, t/o bearing, and pilot bearing/seal and be done with it.
If the flywheel is damaged, just pick up a used original equipment flywheel as they can be found cheap.
There is no doubt that a lightweight aluminum flywheel causes some driveability issues along with the quicker revs, but if you read the previous posts from the guys that have the aluminum flywheel, you get the good and bad stories, which are all true. The choice needs to be yours.

 

what are u doing with your car.. if only a daily driver I would just machine your stock flywheel if possible.. if u need another flywheel then a light one would be fine but go with a midweight flywheel

Dave

 

what the hey
lightweight flywheel makes any car 100x more fun to drive.
its not really a power mod.

yay:
less waiting for revs to drop in between shifts
throttle blip is more responsive and quick
car loves higher rpms much more than before

the downsides are... not downsides IMO
going from a stop is harder. less rotational inertia. solution: launch/go from higher rpms.
revs drop too quick between shifts! solution: stop shifting like a grandma
throws off your rev-match. solution: learn to more accurate with your throttle blip.
omg my engine braking sucks now! solution: use your brakes.

if you have extra money, put it in.
if you don't, it's not necessary (but what modification IS necessary? lol. -fd's excluded.)

 

ummm.....yeah it cant be machined unless u go back in time.....the ****** thing cmae apart.....the outer ring(teeth) came OFF.....this oldckool mechanic dude at my shop even sed on how he's seen a lot of **** in his day but never what he saw came off of my car.....and also i AM tryin to modify it.....thats what im sayin...this might be a good oppurtunity to get some tune up parts ya know?.....its just the money issue i dunno if i can afford a stage 1 or 2 clutch or whatever....so if i get a standard clutch and a lightweight flywheel i should be cool? OH and also do i need to get the counterweights? cuz i notice it IS cheap with just the flywheel....its like 400bux or so when it comes WITH the counterweights....so do i need them counterweights? yes? no?....thanks for all the help!

 

standard clutch and a lightweight flywheel is fine.
i drove like that for a while. since its a regular clutch, try not to abuse it too much.

if you're that limited in budget, maybe its best not to get it right now.

and yes i believe you do need the counterweights.

 

and i just need one right? one counterweight?

 

If the flywheel doesnt come ith one then yes. You will need the correct rear counterweight. IF you have an S4, be sure to get an s4 counterweight, same for S5. The counterweight your looking for is the automatic trans counterweight, since the manuel one is built onto the flywheel. I got mine at mazdatrix for $135

 

If you actually think about what you're saying you'll realize you're wrong.

"Engine braking" is improved when rotating mass is reduced, or more appropriately, the moment of inertia is reduced. (the radius of the mass is significant, simply reducing the overall mass does not necesarily result in a lower moment of inertia)

The only case where a heavier flywheel will decelerate a car more effectively than a lighter one is when the vehicles inertia is used to _accelerate_ the flywheel.

If you are not rev-matching and you make the clutch take up the speed difference between the engine RPM's and transmission input-shaft RPM's there will be period where the engine must be accelerated up to the correct rpms before the clutch can be fully engaged (1:1 relationship between engine speed and transmission input shaft speed).

However, this is a momentary effect, once you have the engine speed and transmission speed matched and clutch fully engaged, for the rest of the deceleration the _lighter_ flywheel will result in quicker deceleration. This is for the same reason that a lighter car will coast to a stop in a shorter distance than a heavier one, there is less inertia.

"Engine braking" is also more effective when the overall mass of the vehicle is lessened, for the same reasons as reducing the rotating mass, just from a different perspective.

 

correctomundo... i can say from driving cars from stock then going light flywheel, you deff. see a change in engine braking. Stock has rotating mass that wants to keep going, so it makes the engine slow, slower. Less weight and it will slow down much faster and the engine can slow you down faster.

 

What you say does make sense. But heres my experience with my previous car with a light wt flywheel.

I let off the gas, clutch in and down shift. Release the clutch and the rpm shoots up higher than when the car had its stock flywheel. The car also coast faster than it will with the stock flywheel. Its a very noticeable difference from stock. In all, I still love the use of a light weight flywheel; didn't take long to get used to it.