[Mr. 5]

I've been on a lightweight kick lately so today I wanted to see how much weight I had saved.
I got rid of my 19" wheels a while back and made up my mind that the 17" koseis would be my daily driver wheels. It was then that I started to care more about weight savings than looks.

Anyways, these are the things that I have done to help with the weight savings:

Macht Schnell downpipes
Autobahn Exotics Exhaust
Braille 17 lb Lightweight Battery with Macht Schnell moounting kit
17" Kosei Wheels
Back Seats Taken Out
Passenger's Seat Taken Out
Driver's Seat replaced with Recaro Pole Position Seat
Trunk padding taken out

Do I drive with my car like this all the time? No, but this is how my car is set up when I go to the track.
My daily driver consists of everything above except for the following:

Back Seats Taken Out
Passenger's Seat Taken Out
Driver's Seat replaced with Recaro Pole Position Seat
Trunk padding taken out

So, I found a scale that was validated by weights and measures and is in 20 pound increments. 20 pound increments is really good because a lot of the truck scales are in 80 or 100 pound increments since the tractor trailers are so heavy. I can't tell you exactly where I went because this company is not a scale company. They sell gravel and they didn't want me to advertize for them. The way it works is you move your truck on the scale, they weigh it then you load up your truck, they weigh it again and charge you for the difference.

I drove on the scale and saw that my car weighed 3500 lbs with me in it. It was actually fluctuating between 3500 and 3520 but it stayed at 3500 much longer. My fat A$$ weighs 220 so my car alone with 1/8th tank of gas weighs 3280. The stock car weighs 3600 lbs so I managed to save 320 lbs!

There are always a few people that make the statment..."You saved 5 lbs with that. Big deal! What is 5 lbs going to do?"
So I'd like to say that it all adds up. Taking 320 pounds off of a car that wieghs 3600 pounds is going to provide excellent results.

EDIT

The figure of 3600 pounds was taken off of the BMW web site. To be specific, the unladen weight of a 6MT 335i is 3593 lbs, and this includes 5 gallons of gas. The weight of my car with 2-ish gallons of gas was 3280, so if I had another 3 gallons of gas then I'm up to around 3300 pounds. This makes a weight savings of 293 pounds and not 320 pounds.

Unladen Weight
660. The "unladen weight" of a vehicle is the weight equipped and ready for operation on the road including the body, fenders, oil in motor, radiator full of water, with five gallons of gasoline or equivalent weight of other motor fuel; also equipment required by law, and unless exempted under Section 66l, any special cabinets, boxes or body parts permanently attached to the vehicle, and any machinery, equipment or attachment which is attendant to the efficient operation of the body or vehicle. Unladen weight shall not include any load or any machinery or mechanical apparatus, such as, but not limited to, wood saws, well-drilling machines, spray apparatus, tow truck cranes, and grinding equipment. The unladen weight of a vehicle shall have no application in determining any fee under this code or the Revenue and Taxation Code other than Section 9400.

[ajvee]

That is really cool Mr. 5. So what is the main discernible difference during cornering and braking? Also, how much of a pain is it to return it to daily driving mode

[v4voodoo]

I am betting most of your weight savings was those seats. Curious, did you weigh your passenger or driver seat when you took it out?

[Mr. 5]

Originally Posted by v4voodoo

I am betting most of your weight savings was those seats. Curious, did you weigh your passenger or driver seat when you took it out?

You're right. A lot of it is.
The front seat is 65 pounds.
The rear is aproximately 80 pounds.
So I saved 40 on the driver's seat because the recaro weighs 15 pounds.
65 and 80. So that's 185 right there.

[joec500]

300 lbs of weight savings is like adding 25-30 HP!!!

[Ramos]

Craig, I really think it's time for you to leave this poor car alone and invest in a track toy that you can really go crazy on !!!

[WilliamE92]

I'm jealous, how long approx. does it take you to yank all the seats out?

[Bomis]

So how does the car feel powerwise compared to before doing these weight saving mods?

[slowSwede]

Mr.5, if you have a wife or girlfriend, she should start giving lessons to other women "Understand the needs of you man". Ehh...she could start with my wife.
Don´t know how you get away with putting that much time on car stuff, do share.

[stimpy]

Nice dude - should be about 30 horse there.

[TommyK]

ya i took my rear seat out too. i love it you can hear the exhaust better and you save all that weight but best of all no seats for people to sit on (hint: go drive yourself to lunch you lazy a**)

[Bomis]

Originally Posted by slowSwede

Mr.5, if you have a wife or girlfriend, she should start giving lessons to other women "Understand the needs of you man". Ehh...she could start with my wife.
Don´t know how you get away with putting that much time on car stuff, do share.

+1000 LOL

[Jonny550]

every 100 plds = -10hp right?

[jpsimon]

wait you're daily driving with no seats except for your own?? Or you were just testing to see how much weight could be saved?


nevermind, i can't read.

Do I drive with my car like this all the time? No, but this is how my car is set up when I go to the track.

[Slidewayz]

Never mind straight line acceleration...it must do wonders for the car on the track !!!

[cn555ic]

You should put a lock on the refrigerator a month before you goto the track so you can really go at the leanest possible weight! lol Damn I could imagine what your car looks like!

[Mr. 5]

Originally Posted by Ramos

Craig, I really think it's time for you to leave this poor car alone and invest in a track toy that you can really go crazy on !!!

I really wish I had a track toy, but I'm happy with this.
This is the funnest car I have ever had!

Originally Posted by WilliamE92

I'm jealous, how long approx. does it take you to yank all the seats out?

I can take out the rear seats and the passenger's seat in about 20 minutes now.
Last night my wife got a phone call while we were watching a movie. I paused the movie and started with the seats. By the time she got off the phone, I was almost done.

Originally Posted by Bomis

So how does the car feel powerwise compared to before doing these weight saving mods?

It feels great!
It's much easier to spin the tires for sure.

Originally Posted by slowSwede

Mr.5, if you have a wife or girlfriend, she should start giving lessons to other women "Understand the needs of you man". Ehh...she could start with my wife.
Don´t know how you get away with putting that much time on car stuff, do share.

Yah, I love her! She realizes how much i like messing with my car, but all she requests is "balance". As long as i spend as much time with the family as i do with the car then she's all good with everything.

[BALLAJL15]

Originally Posted by cn555ic

You should put a lock on the refrigerator a month before you goto the track so you can really go at the leanest possible weight! lol Damn I could imagine what your car looks like!

Hey how did you know Hotrods secret!? He drains all unnecessary fluids from the car and takes diuretics... He has also been know to do his "testing" in the nude to save more weight. Not that I saw this though

[Bimmer This]

Time to jump on the treadmil Mr. 5 and try to slim down to about 175 lbs!

[SennaZ]

Getting 300+ lbs out of any car is great - good job! Now, of course, you realize the next 100 or so will be very expensive.

[StartupJunkie]

Mr.5 - thanks for representing other "big" men out there, i'm at 225lbs and i'm saddened by the fact that when I run my car i'm already at a 50+lbs disadvantage (also sedan).

I didn't think the 17" Kosei cleared the front rotors, that is good to know. What colors wheels did you pick? I'm going to have to look at doing the same.

Junk

[forza1976]

Man my car needs a diet. Weighed it saturday @ bandimere, 3910 lbs with me in it. I'm 6'2" @182 btw