My M3 needs to lose some weight.

[JasonM3er]

I want the car to look as stock as possible but I would like to shave off between 300-400lbs. I am not willing to remove my spare and spend a HUGE amount of money but I am ok with spending some. Just go CF doors etc. Lets hear some ideas!

[///M3Matt]

you wont remove your spare but you would do CF doors???

[Zaks]

I want the car to look as stock as possible but I would like to shave off between 300-400lbs. I am not willing to remove my spare and spend a HUGE amount of money but I am ok with spending some. Just go CF doors etc. Lets hear some ideas!

i'm no expert but i think i'd start with the rear seats, but then again i don't know if you want it stock from exterior or interior? i don't know if there's much else other then lightweight seats in front, but that would look aftermarket too much, and other ligthweight parts. good luck

[///M3Matt]

remove all the seats, the spare tire, put a CF hood on, and racing shells.

[SoonToBeM3]

Not sure how much youd like to spend but I know there are LTW aluminum hood trunk and doors you could buy or carbon fiber in any of those pieces. Taking out your spare is the easiest method for a good few pounds and removing the rear seats.

[bimmerboy328i]

If you don't care for interior, take all the interior out and carpet. Remove everything in the trunk and the spare.

[JasonM3er]

you wont remove your spare but you would do CF doors???

Was a typo.. meant NO CF doors.. hehe

[JasonM3er]

remove all the seats, the spare tire, put a CF hood on, and racing shells.

I have heard that removing the spare greatly reduces the vehicle's structural integrity, that if I was to get rear-ended the damage would be a lot worse.

[JasonM3er]

Other things I thought of...

I know TMS sells block-off plates for where the foglights were.. how much do foglights really weigh? Couldn't be more than a couple lbs...

A/C? How much of a pita is it to remove? Will I need a modified serp belt to run with no A/C? How much of a weight saving am I looking at?

Stock wheels vs OZ supperleggras? What kind of savings?

[///M3Matt]

OK, are you racing? If not, there is really no point. Lighter wheels would be huge, street car or race car. Dont remove the AC unless it's a dedicated track car. I wouldnt screw around w/ foglights, not a big difference. Never heard about removing the spare tire as far as loosing structural integrity, total BS.

[norcalbmw]

exhaust, sound deadener, seats

[heifetz17]

Just be sure not to take everything out of the back and nothing from the front. You don't want to compromise the car's weight distribution.

[m3mobbin]

The one of the biggest weight savers is installing lightweight racing seats. If you replace both of your front seats with racing seats you can save around 70lbs. Other biggies are LTW batteries by Hawker, lighter exhaust, cf panels, sunroof motor delete, lighter wheels and tires (many people forget that tires weigh just as much or more than tires)... The back seats are a free and easy weight saver but all the pieces together don't weight that much, probably less than 30lbs. total.

I have a cf hood, racing seats, spare tire removed, very light exhaust, and some other little things my car weighs like 150lbs. lighter.

[M52 POWER!]

Without my spare the car just spins out in 1st/2nd gear even from a high speed roll :(. Also if you're concerned with structural integrity the spare is part of it if you get hit from the back hard.

[thejlevie]

As previously mentioned, remove the spare and back seat and swap the front seats for racing shells. In addition to that get a set of lightweight 17" racing wheels and pull the AC and heat system. Oh yeah, pull all of the carpeting and sound deadening material from the cabin and trunk. That should yield a 300lb (or just a bit more) reduction in weight.

The car might not be much of a daily driver in that condition, but it will be lighter.

[GazM3]

400lb - good luck

seats, interior trim, sound deadening, sunroof, a/cond, baskically anything that dont serve a purpose. geez even 200lb weight reduction is not easy.

[JasonM3er]

400lb - good luck

seats, interior trim, sound deadening, sunroof, a/cond, baskically anything that dont serve a purpose. geez even 200lb weight reduction is not easy.


400lbs... yeah I am a dreamer. I see now that it wont be possible for how much of the car I want to leave intact. Does anyone have a picture of the rear seat delete handy? hehe

[norman]

are u planning on racing the M on the track?

[JasonM3er]

Not at this point no. Just want to be happy with the car without having to go to FI.

[thejlevie]

400lbs... yeah I am a dreamer. I see now that it wont be possible for how much of the car I want to leave intact. Does anyone have a picture of the rear seat delete handy? hehe
The seat comes out real easily, so you can pull it and see what it looks like.

[JasonM3er]

On I/O port racing's website under their roll-cage installation write up, they made it sound like the rear seat cushions were a real pita to get back in; something about spring clips?

[norman]

if you are not tracking the car, just leave as is and enjoy the car...

[tpb31]

Here is what I have done to lighten my car to give you some ideas...I mostly track my car, but it does spend some time on the streets.

1...C/F Hood
2...Racing Buckets...Huge difference as both of the racing buckets wiegh in less than one vader
3...remove back seat
4...Removed spare and all the plastic parts in the trunk
5...Leightwieght battery from Odyssey
6...After market exhaust...I got the edge loud version, but there are lighter ones
7...Lighter weight rims
8...I don't let my wife in the car, that right there saved 110lbs...j/k

when money permits again, I will be doing a C/F Trunk lid, C/F sunroof insert, I would also like to find some aluminum doors from a Lightweight M3

[bimbum]

in addition to all the other stuff
replace all glass with plastic
remove all carpeting and padding
a/c system delete
remove all unneccessary electrics ie. stereo crap, obc crap, pw, pdl

does the spare contribute that much to structural integrity? I think if you're in an accident that bad at that point it won't make too much difference, the car will be toast and someone's getting hurt either way.

[odortiz]

check my site. i like weight reduction.

[mcclaskz]

Race or don't race, in between is a little silly...
You don't want to take out your spare tire or interior, which is free, but you somehow think spending thousands of dollars on CF or aluminum would be worth it? Scrape all the undercoating off, ditch the sunroof. My race car looks stock from the outside, but it weighs less than 2700 lbs.

[SseeDragon]

I want the car to look as stock as possible but I would like to shave off between 300-400lbs. I am not willing to remove my spare and spend a HUGE amount of money but I am ok with spending some. Just go CF doors etc. Lets hear some ideas!


Get on a diet and lose some weight :redspot :devillook

[Mekihead]

Get on a diet and lose some weight :redspot :devillook


You beat me to it. I was just going to say that. I'm 6'2" and 240lbs. If I could get down to my ideal weight, I'd shave off some 60lbs. :eek:

Damn Qdoba!

[JasonM3er]

Race or don't race, in between is a little silly...
You don't want to take out your spare tire or interior, which is free, but you somehow think spending thousands of dollars on CF or aluminum would be worth it? Scrape all the undercoating off, ditch the sunroof. My race car looks stock from the outside, but it weighs less than 2700 lbs.

Its not so much an issue of money, its more me wanting my M3 to look nice. :)

[JasonM3er]

check my site. i like weight reduction.

Did you weigh those items you pulled? 70lbs for the rear seats seems extreme.

[odortiz]

it might be a high estimate. i did not weigh them. the bottom part is really light. the weight is in the seat backs. they are heavy. i'm just comparing to the weight of the front seats by feel. there's also the thick rubber pad under the seat for sound insulation

[JasonM3er]

it might be a high estimate. i did not weigh them. the bottom part is really light. the weight is in the seat backs. they are heavy. i'm just comparing to the weight of the front seats by feel. there's also the thick rubber pad under the seat for sound insulation

Oh ok. Is there exposed tar under that rubber pad? Is the rubber pad held down by anything or just held in by the weight of the seats?

I gutted my 97 GTi since I left the windows down in the rain :( It was a complete nightmare once gutted, there was tar in the footwells and my shoes got pretty tarred up... then dirt and stuff stuck to it and it looked pretty nasty. Trying to avoid the same thing from happening again.

[Darth Maul]

I've done pretty much what everyone here has, no back seats, no carpets in trunk, no tools, no spare, dtm kruez wheels, corbeau trs seats. The other day I weighed my car and it was 2800 w/my back seats, I'm kinda curious to see what it is with out back seats.

[JasonM3er]

I've done pretty much what everyone here has, no back seats, no carpets in trunk, no tools, no spare, dtm kruez wheels, corbeau trs seats. The other day I weighed my car and it was 2800 w/my back seats, I'm kinda curious to see what it is with out back seats.

Yeah thats pretty much my target weight. I plan on throwing on sway bars/x-brace and a couple other goodies that weigh a little, so hopefully they will wash with your stereo stuff and I will be at 2800. Do you have a picture of the back seat delete?

[jmitro]

is 2800 with full tank of gas or empty? i'd be surprised to see a 300lb weight loss with what you've done. maybe 150-200 or so. my other question is what is stock curb weight based on....full gas tank or empty?

[PointMEby]

I drop floor mats/all trunk carpets,trunk holder things, spare, jack, tools etc. and have a c/f hood and its great gain for DE's. There's def. an improvement in acceleration. When I bought my c/f hood there was no noticable gains(duhhh), it just improved what I was already gutting. I would recc. leaving the car stock unless its DE time, then gut it out. You'll drop an easy 100 lbs. Then with your money buy cf hood/trunk/doors if you got the dough .You'll easily drop another 100-200lbs. I would rec. spending your money (1500+) on carbon parts on something more useful...headers..cams..and just gutwhat you already have when you need the weight out.

[odortiz]

I've done pretty much what everyone here has, no back seats, no carpets in trunk, no tools, no spare, dtm kruez wheels, corbeau trs seats. The other day I weighed my car and it was 2800 w/my back seats, I'm kinda curious to see what it is with out back seats.
does your car have a sunroof?

as to the tar under the back. go at it with a heat gun and a plastic scraper. then some adhesive remover to get the small stuff left. ther is tar everywhere. i took it all out from the front of the back seat to the rear of the car. ther is also lots on the vertical panels (gone too)

[sirtiger]

drive naked

[jerseym3]

change the front and rear glass to racing glass/plexi glass (forgot what it's called). take your radio and speakers out... might get kinda boring.

[JasonM3er]

change the front and rear glass to racing glass/plexi glass (forgot what it's called). take your radio and speakers out... might get kinda boring.

plexi glass in the front is really bad idea. Plexi yellows and scratches very easily... so having it in the front is a no-no. Plus.. this is a street car.

[Kell]

If this M3 is not a racecar, why even lose the weight? You're going to have to do a HELL of a lot to get 400 lbs off of your car. Completely strip the interior down to two racing seats, even one maybe, no carpet, no panels, no headliner, sunroof motor delete, remove the air bags, take our the spare tire, remove ALL carpet and sound deadening padding in the trunk, all plastic panels in the trunk, tool kit, carbon fiber drive shaft, carbon fiber hood, carbon fiber doors, carbon fiber trunk, carbon fiber sunroof, carbon fiber spoiler, carbon fiber mirrors, remove window washer fluid tank, ASC delete, AC removal, radio removal, lighter wheels, lighter exhaust, lightweight battery, and that's pretty much all I can think of.

Even that won't get you 400 lbs, and while doing all the stuff I listed, you'll have some serious weight distribution problems. Also, if you're riding on stock suspension, your car will not handle the same anymore. Your cars suspension was designed for it's weight. Also the alignment would need tuning. A lot of mechanical things change as weight decresses. It's not as easy as saying "Hey, I want my M3 to be light."

[Darwin006]

Ok so you said you want to lighten up your car but you don’t want to spend a lot of money well guess what. Where is no way you’re going to lose 300 pounds with out spending a lot so.
1 Get some racing seats
2 CF hood and paint it as you don’t like the look (I don’t blame you I don’t like it too)
3 CF trunk lid and paint it
4 CF doors paint them
5 Remove the back seat
6 CF sun roof
7 Lightweight wheels
http://www.mashaw.com/Graphics/BMW%20Catalog%20V%202.1.pdf