# Weight and weight reduction



## neary (May 15, 2013)

I searched and found nothing. Anyone else have any interest in weight reduction? I am working on dropping weight to 2800lbs on my eco mt ill post results asap should be done this week. I would like to see what everyone else is looking at for weight by trim and transmission options if possible. Please keep it to weight verifies by a certified scale like a cat scale.

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## blk88verde (Apr 30, 2011)

I have replaced my stock Cat Back exhaust with a Borla - that has got to be worth a few pounds as you lose the muffler. The other thing I may do is when the time comes for a new Battery is to go with a Braille or other light weight Lithium Ion battery. I have added back a few pounds with 4 Ultra Racing bars and braces.


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## neary (May 15, 2013)

Interestingly enough i hit my mark exactly 2800 lbs on a cat scale, lightest cruze i have ever heard of. 3/4 tank of gas without me. 64 36 F/R split is pretty sad but it is fwd. And the proof 

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## BowtieGuy (Jan 4, 2013)

Wow what did you do as far as weight reductions to get down to that weight?


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## blk88verde (Apr 30, 2011)

Yes - please let us know of the weight reductions. I believe my ECO is registered at 2964 lbs.


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## neary (May 15, 2013)

That is with most of the underbody aero removed the shutter system removed upper grille removed. Working on a way to channel air to intercooler and radiator better, flaps removed from other grille snorkel for airbox removed. Full strait pipe from first cat to rear of car. Sound deadening removed. Trunk interior removed, driver power seat replaced with non power seat. I will admit the interior is not as attractive and its pretty much un reversible but i have seen an increase in mpg and it is certainly faster. I am driving in town around 40mpg and a 19mph average with allot of lights. I have seen as high as 46 mpg on the 25 mile record 100% City. I am about to go on a 500 mile one way trip i will let you know if the underbody aero is really worth while. Btw i averaged around 35 in town before i started this. The car is noticably better off the line now and as a strange side effect the clutch is much easier to fully engage without the sound deadening. I know not everyone wants to do something like this but i plan to own the car for another 180k miles so its worth it for 5 mpg to me 

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## tecollins1 (Nov 6, 2011)

I've prob got the most sound deadening in my car on the forum... Lol
I would hate to weigh my Eco haha


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## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

tecollins1 said:


> I've prob got the most sound deadening in my car on the forum... Lol
> I would hate to weigh my Eco haha
> 
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com App


You'd probably end up equal with a non Eco, or close to it.


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## H3LLON3ARTH (Dec 16, 2011)

tecollins1 said:


> I've prob got the most sound deadening in my car on the forum... Lol
> I would hate to weigh my Eco haha
> 
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com App


So far lol.

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## blk88verde (Apr 30, 2011)

> Interestingly enough i hit my mark exactly 2800 lbs on a cat scale, lightest cruze i have ever heard of.


 I believe that is less than stock Sonics are weighing in at.


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

Although they probably won't STAY pressurized very long (seepage), replacing the air in the tires with HYDROGEN should make the 'scales' show a smaller number (wink,wink)!


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

70AARCUDA said:


> Although they probably won't STAY pressurized very long (seepage), replacing the air in the tires with HYDROGEN should make the 'scales' show a smaller number (wink,wink)!


I'd use Helium - it's slightly larger so it won't seep as fast and it isn't explosive - no HindenCruzen


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## smorey78 (Apr 8, 2012)

whay don't you go with the carbon fiber hood, fender and rear deck...that will shave about 200 lbs

Exterior


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

obermd said:


> I'd use Helium - it's slightly larger so it won't seep as fast and it isn't explosive - no *HindenCruzen*


I love it! A 'new' car name, the _*HindenCruze!
*_


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## Mick (Dec 31, 2011)

Isn't removing the underbody panels and shutter system counter productive?



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## VictoryRedLTRS (Mar 26, 2012)

Very nice weight savings, my 1LT is well over 4,000 lbs according to the Gross Vehicle weight sticker on the driver side door jam. I would love to lighten it to 2800 lbs or less but its gonna take a lot of work taking things out and replacing with lighter parts ( carbon fiber hood, fenders, deck lid, ect.) So far I only have my rear bench seat and back rest deleted from the car and all the trunk lining, and under hood padding.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

VictoryRedLTRS said:


> Very nice weight savings, my 1LT is well over 4,000 lbs according to the Gross Vehicle weight sticker on the driver side door jam. I would love to lighten it to 2800 lbs or less but its gonna take a lot of work taking things out and replacing with lighter parts ( carbon fiber hood, fenders, deck lid, ect.) So far I only have my rear bench seat and back rest deleted from the car and all the trunk lining, and under hood padding.


Gross vehicle weight is the maximum weight that the vehicle can weigh with all passengers and cargo. It is not the weight of the vehicle itself.


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## VictoryRedLTRS (Mar 26, 2012)

Good to know, figured that was a little much for a compact.


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## nebojsa (Jan 3, 2011)

I would love to loose about 20-25 lbs, but my wife is a **** good cook. :th_angelsmiley4:


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## Poje (Aug 2, 2012)

I have a plan to reduce weight too, but it wont be that extreme, lol.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

nebojsa said:


> I would love to loose about 20-25 lbs, but my wife is a **** good cook. :th_angelsmiley4:


You can have my extra 40 lbs. :1poke: I have the same issue.


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## neary (May 15, 2013)

I hope to take it further, i will keep everyone posted. As far as the underbody panels and such, everyone makes such a big deal about them, i am putting them to the test this Weekend i am going on a long trip over 1000 miles total. Should be long enough to determine.

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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Out of curiosity, what gets exposed when you remove the underbody panels?


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## neary (May 15, 2013)

The underside of the motor, but to be fair most cars don't come with extensive underbody panels so i don't see what it can hurt. I still have them in my shed just in case but i have been without them for a week no issues, and the bottoms of the panels were not gouged or scratched. So i dont think it scrapes often and I'm lowered. 

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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

neary said:


> The underside of the motor, but to be fair most cars don't come with extensive underbody panels so i don't see what it can hurt.


Those panels are there strictly for aerodynamics and noise. Removing them won't really "do" anything bad to the car, though people complained about their engines getting dirty after the shield cutting recall was performed.

If the vast majority of your driving is done at low speeds where aero makes little/no difference, then removing those parts might be worth it for the weight savings. If you spend much of your time at speeds above 40 MPH (above which the Eco's shutters close) then you're probably better off leaving them in place, which also definitely goes for the grills and any other aero bits you've removed.

If ultimate weight savings is your goal, based on your sig you could save a pound or two peeling all the plasti dip off your hood and wheels, and stripping all the tint (  ). Going back to the OEM GoodYear Fuel Max 215/55-17's will save a BIG chunk of rotating weight (4-6 lbs per tire) as they only weigh 19 lbs each if I remember right, and save you some fuel from the LRR design to boot. I would understand if you said you were going for a performance tire, but what the heck is Primewell? 

On that note, you are running a 225/45-17 which is only 25" in diameter instead of the OEM 215/55-17 which is 26.3" diameter. That change alone means that your fuel economy, either on the DIC or calculated from the odometer, is 5.2% optimistic. This means you have to calculate your mileage based on fill up volume and your odometer reading divided by 1.052. If you haven't taken that into account, your 40 MPG DIC city average is probably more like 35 MPG by the time you account for the optimistic DIC (I correct my Eco at 7%).

Not that 35 MPG city is bad... not at all! It's just not as high as you may think it is.


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## neary (May 15, 2013)

Lol ya my front tires were going bald and it was 200$ a tire for s04s or 105 for the primwells. I am into performance as welland the primwells are way stickier thdn the assurances the 35mpg estimate was after the tires. The aero has yet to interfere with any mpg i saw 40 -45 hwy before removal update on hwy mpg to follow. 

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## VictoryRedLTRS (Mar 26, 2012)

Anyone know how much the whole back seat(bench,60/40) weights all together? Jw. How much would u have to remove to loose roughly 300 lbs? I'm assuming a lot. Figure backseat roughly might be 40-50 lbs, spare tire 20 lbs, trunk lining 2 lbs....oh BTW I'm LT1/RS


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## neary (May 15, 2013)

Removing 300lbs would not be overly hard on a non eco model but i think it was around 100 or 150lbs of it would get you stock eco weight i am 6mt eco the lightest configuration and i am pretty barren to get the 200lbs reduction to 2800lbs. Speaking of which update, hwy mpg WAS affected. I struggled to get my usual 45 hwy it required slowing down about 5mph off normal pace. I ended up just being happy with 40mpg average at 75mph cruise control set. The lighter weight makes the car feel different it is now a little more precise but also edgier around turns i had a pretty bad oversteer problem trying do my usual brake/coast in power out, downforce is now needed at my normal spirited pace. As a plus the car feels way more precise now, i feel like with the addition of some downforce on the back end and stiffer springs or coils the car could easily top anything in its class for handleing. I am a fairly good driver and i had no problem leaving a mustang gt behind this weekend on a very curvy road and I'm not tuned. 

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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

70AARCUDA said:


> I love it! A 'new' car name, the _*HindenCruze!
> *_


That is close to *Holden Cruze?*


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

Aussie said:


> That is close to *Holden Cruze?*


...but, it'd only be applicable if it were _made in Germany _and _imported_ to Aussie land!


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## jsnmccune (Feb 12, 2013)

If you replace your stock car battery with a gel battery you can lose almost 30 pounds.
ZZP offers one for the Cruze.
ZZPerformance - Race Battery #ZZ-RACEBAT


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

jsnmccune said:


> If you replace your stock car battery with a gel battery you can lose almost 30 pounds.
> ZZP offers one for the Cruze.
> ZZPerformance - Race Battery #ZZ-RACEBAT


I use an Odyssey PC680 in my Corvette and it works well. That car's 5.7L engine is over 4x the size of the 1.4T and has a higher 10.5:1 compression ratio to boot. The battery struggles a bit when temps get down to freezing, but a small engine like the Cruze's shouldn't be a problem to start.

http://www.odysseybatteries.com/battery/pc680.htm

Don't sit around using the stereo with the engine off, though. It's a small battery and has limited reserve... it doesn't take long to run it down, but for regular daily driving use it's great.


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## Suns_PSD (Feb 16, 2013)

I've lightened a car before and its not easy to do it w/o ruining the car. Also the weight savings people quote, just aren't accurate. 

Cf hood, fenders and trunk lid will literally only save 20-25# max. I've weighed the parts. The stock components combined weigh less than 100#.

I also have a lightweight battery in my car, great bang for the buck. $200 and I saved about 18#.

I weighed my entire leather backseats and it was like 22# for the entire set up. Not really worth losing so much functionality. 

Removing a donut spare and replacing with a compressor and plug kit saves a solid 25# for next to free. 

Also removing the under belly pans will notably reduce mpg in the highway I promise you that. 

In short, get rid of your spare, when you need a battery replace it with a lightweight jobber, work on your driving technique, and don't tear apart your new car. 


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## blk88verde (Apr 30, 2011)

> I also have a lightweight battery in my car, great bang for the buck. $200 and I saved about 18#.


 That is what I plan on doing - but not until the OEM battery dies.


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## neary (May 15, 2013)

In my current configuration i have yet to weigh, i am currently on a 500 mile trip and am averaging 42mpg. Over the first 300. But the weight i have dropped has changed the car. And i have almost full interrior now probably around 2800 still maybe slightly less j don't miss the interrior i don't have really. Would i reccommend what i have done to someone wanting to improve mpg no but to anyone trying to go faster and doesn't mind altering the car do it!

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## ErikBEggs (Aug 20, 2011)

There was a pretty in depth thread about a Subaru WRX going on a diet. I think the owner got it down to a 2500 lbs or so I can't remember. Might be worth checking out but I can't find the link!


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