by "sony1492" (sony1492)
Published 06/02/2017 at 15:24
by "sony1492" (sony1492)
Published 06/02/2017 at 15:24
Tags: Lexus
STARS: 1
Ramblings after the jump.
I painted all the welded areas and then put window sealant over any areas that might see water.
The first drive there was a noticeable difference, this is partly due to the fact that before I even got the asphalt the car had to drive about a mile on dirt road that maxed out the suspension and did it’s best to flex the chassis. The areas I focused on were in front of and around the door jams. What started all this was seeing the stressed spot welds around the A pillar so its safe to say that alot of flexing was occurring in the areas that I welded.
So it does feel stronger, and now that one part dosent flex you can feel everything else flexing. I can tell that the subframe bushings are completely toast, when you give it gas you can feel the rear suspension move which is significantly more pronounced than before. And since I didnt do any seam welds widthwise on the chassis you can feel it twisting better than before. The handing wasn’t really improved because I didn’t do enough of the chassis, but feedback is improved. Will definitely do more later.
"Discerning" (discerning2003c5z)
06/02/2017 at 15:31, STARS: 0
Cool. Keep up the good work!
"AuthiCooper1300" (rexrod)
06/02/2017 at 16:05, STARS: 0
I always thought it would be an interesting idea. Then one day I read this post which pointed out that in modern cars crash protection obviously takes into account how the stock body will deform; i.e., if you start seam-welding a car and then you have a very serious accident the crash energy won’t dissipate so easily (and the car may start bending or even breaking up in areas which, for your safety, it should not).
The guy who wrote the article races a fast Alfa Romeo 75 Evo in club events and, sure enough, he had seam-welded his car as much as possible - but he wanted to warn others about the possible side effects.
"sony1492" (sony1492)
06/02/2017 at 16:50, STARS: 0
I certainly thought about that but, this chassis has seen upwards of 300,000 miles, and has spot welds that are giving up. The frame is also cracking up ahead of the shock mount. The structure was already compromised and I made sure not to seam weld any of the crumple zone, for now all of it was the door jam and the front of the cabin area.
"AuthiCooper1300" (rexrod)
06/02/2017 at 16:58, STARS: 1
I perfectly understood why you did it; given the fact that your welds were popping out, your car should certainly be safer now than it was. Please note - I am not criticising what you did.
But that article really made me think that seam welding a car just to make it handle better may be riskier or trickier than it seems, in terms of unintended consequences.