Quote:
Originally Posted by semis
Which workshop is that if you dont mind telling, and What's your impression with 4.556, do you think you'd go 4.88 if you were to do it again? i also have A/T , deciding between 4.67 or 4.88
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Award Diff & Gear Box Services Pty Ltd in Seven Hills, NSW
Great bunch of people. Happy to recommend their services.
For an AT daily driver I think the 4.556 is about perfect. Not sure if you drive around in perma sports mode like me, but even regular drive mode feels smoother.
While in sports mode I can comfortably putter around in 4th between around 38 and 60kph compared to previously being in 3rd and only being able to upshift to 4th at about 57kph. Any slower and the auto would down shift back to 3rd.
I can comfortably pop it into 5th at around 67kph for cruising around in 70 to 80kph zones.
As a result I'm actually seeing a pretty remarkable improvement in fuel economy. Simply keep an eye on my fuelly profile (in my sig below) and watch the next few fill ups for a rough idea. Be mindful I do drive enthusiastically with no regard to economy, my daily commute is short and at around 9000km my engine is still loosening up / breaking in so that can also impact on the change in economy of late compared to when new.
The one and only negative I've encountered so far would be the shift from 1st to 2nd being a bit jerky depending on how you accelerate. If accelerating gently from a full stop or flooring it the shift will go smoothly. Somewhere in between those two and it will jerk. This only applies in drive with sports mode activated and is something you get used to and learn the amount of throttle modulation for it to smoothly shift.
Naturally you will find gear breaking more pronounced in sports mode. Previously if I was say driving in a 50kph zone (round suburbia) and coming up to a roundabout I would of been in 3rd and dropped to 2nd, let it gear break down and ease through the roundabout if clear. Now I stay in 4th and only need to drop it to 3rd and still get a decent amount of gear breaking happening to smoothly sail through a roundabout and out again. Kinda hard to explain but being in the higher gear the process feels more fluid and graceful this is still all happening in a strong part of the lower (pre dip) power band.
The elephant in the room here is, as I did fit an aluminum drive shaft at the same time, I'm not sure what sort of an effect it is having in conjunction with the FD ratio. What I can say (since the mod) is the car has better throttle response and feels strangely more solid. Trying to put the feeling into words here. Perhaps the more appropriate way to describe the feeling is there seems to be a complete absence of any slack or play in the drive train now it all just feels instantaneous to even the tiniest of throttle modulation.
When choosing a ratio I would consider what other mods you intend to do down the line. For me this is enough for while the car is still under warranty. Down the line I will look to headers and a custom tune, which when added together with this mod, will make for a pretty quick car. Remember the ratio is a multiplication on top of whatever power you end up making from other mods and a tune.
Yes going a higher gear ratio will make this single mod more effective, but if I add the afore mentioned bolt-on's a tune etc I will end up with some wheel spinning monster needing me to consider other things like needing wider rubber and some supporting suspension mods to reign it all in. Not interested.
Its a daily driver, that I'm happily making small mods to here and there, to refine and improve what it does in a holistic way. Kinda like using a very fine grade of sand paper on a wood carving to gently smooth out some rough patches. The 4.556 ratio has hit that sweet spot for me.