Lightweight Flywheel?

[SLU_S5]

Anyone have one?

Looking for comments on how it may change the car's ability as a daily driver. I've heard mixed reviews from different car owners - some love it and enjoy a nice improvement in acceleration and throttle response. Others say that a lightweight flywheel will make the car buck, surge, and decelerate too rapidly making it a total pain in every day driving conditions. My driving time is split about 50/50 between the freeway and city. I track MAYBE one or two weekends each year.

Is it worth the $1000+ expense? - Audi recommended that I replace my FW when the clutch gets replaced. Thinking I could probably have the OE one resurfaced though.

[JamesRS5]

Its an expensive job unless you're replacing the clutch anyway which cuts down on the labour costs. I'd also really consider a very mild lighten and a good balance or just leaving well alone for your intended use.

The negatives of a lightened flywheel far outweigh the positives on a car that will be used twice a year on the track and spends half its time in traffic.

[SLU_S5]

Its an expensive job unless you're replacing the clutch anyway which cuts down on the labour costs. I'd also really consider a very mild lighten and a good balance or just leaving well alone for your intended use.

The negatives of a lightened flywheel far outweigh the positives on a car that will be used twice a year on the track and spends half its time in traffic.

That's what I was thinking. I'll need a new clutch very soon and now I'm trying to figure out what else to do while I'm in there. Seems like a simple flywheel resurface may be the way to go considering the fact that I daily drive my car.

[JamesRS5]

Thats what I'd personally do. You won't have any noticeable gains from a mild lightening but a good balance after its refaced will be benificial.
A 4WD car won't really gain much from a lightened flywheel as we have large losses trough the transmission already, all you may notice is a loss of torque at low revs or the need to add more revs to pull away smoothly, you may notice a sharper throttle response but again on our 4WD chassis I'm not sure it would be as dramatic as it would in a front drive car or a light weight rear drive car.

[JoshDub]

Isn't the OE one dualmass? Is there some way to resurface these DM flywheels now?

[JamesRS5]

Oh, if it's dual mass and there's chunks falling out of your clutch (on your clutch post) then you will probably need a new flywheel

[SLU_S5]

Oh, if it's dual mass and there's chunks falling out of your clutch (on your clutch post) then you will probably need a new flywheel

Oh lovely. It is dual mass.

[SLU_S5]

Confirmed - My indie said I will need a new flywheel. He recommended a single mass FW as a replacement.

Thoughts on this one?
https://www.ecstuning.com/ES2826499/

[JamesRS5]

For all the reasons we talked about above.....I wouldn't do it.

[SLU_S5]

For all the reasons we talked about above.....I wouldn't do it.

And the search continues haha. Definitely need to have a discussion with my mechanic.

[NaiveTurtle]

Confirmed - My indie said I will need a new flywheel. He recommended a single mass FW as a replacement.

Thoughts on this one?
https://www.ecstuning.com/ES2826499/

From all the research and reviews on ECS products I would stay away from this one. Go with JHM or Eurocode.

I do not have a lightweight singlemass flywheel on my S5 yet (yet, it will come), but I did have one on my B7 S4 and it was wonderful. I had a stage 4 Kevlar clutch and it was not very difficult to drive. Would be easy to daily. Especially in the S5 with the pressure modulator in the clutch line between the master and slave (which you should delete if you can, for a better pedal feel), which makes these cars a breeze to drive. A lightweight flywheel will take a few days to get used to but after that it's cake and almost easier to drive in my mind. The benefits of a lightweight flywheel massively outweigh the negatives.

Don't be scared of it, you just have to be a little more mindful as all. To me, I think being more aware of your vehicle makes you a better driver cause you tend to pay more attention to things.

[JoshDub]

There you go.

Also just search for all the b7/b6 s4 lwfw reviews.

[JamesRS5]

Please do plenty of research on the pros and cons, I've been here and done this and wouldn't do it again on a road car hence my suggestion of a mild lightening.

[Nick.T]

Anyone have one?

Looking for comments on how it may change the car's ability as a daily driver. I've heard mixed reviews from different car owners - some love it and enjoy a nice improvement in acceleration and throttle response. Others say that a lightweight flywheel will make the car buck, surge, and decelerate too rapidly making it a total pain in every day driving conditions. My driving time is split about 50/50 between the freeway and city. I track MAYBE one or two weekends each year.

A lightweight flywheel is one of the best mods for anyone who drives their car spiritedly and take the engine to high rpm often and enjoy shifting/heel toe, on the track or street/canyon roads. Once you shift from gear to gear at high rpm with a lightweight flywheel and feel the responsiveness, it would be hard to go back to the heavy OEM setup -- it's like driving with lightweight alloy wheels, then drive with heavy steel wheels.

The major drawback is installation cost -- to throw away a good flywheel for something much better, when it's not yet needed. In your case, that is not an issue.

Most complaints about lightweight flywheels are true but depend on a few important aspects: A) the car/how big the engine is (torque/stall), B) the flywheel type (how light/ friction material).

Complains about stalling when starting from a stop are from cars with weak 4 or 6 cylinders with little torque. Audi V8's (and likely SC V6's) have nearly zero problem with stalling.

The other noteworthy complain is noise. Depending on the flywheel/clutch brand, expect some rattling (chatter) from roughly 1,000-1,600rpm when lugging 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gear -- for example, 2nd gear at 1,000rpm and stepping on the throttle 50% or more. Everything else after that is not much different than typical OEM, dual-mass setup in terms of noise.

For me, installing a lightweight alloy flywheel was one of the best modifications (top 2). I feel Audi added the heavy, steel flywheel to their performance cars to please grandpas/grandmas and other senior citizens who rip through the street at or bellow the posted speed limit.

[ColtS5]

The negatives of a lightened flywheel far outweigh the positives on a car that will be used twice a year on the track and spends half its time in traffic.

Huge Ditto.

[ECS Tuning-Audi]

From all the research and reviews on ECS products I would stay away from this one. Go with JHM or Eurocode.

Our LWFW is SFI certified. This certification means our ECS-engineered flywheel is safe and reliable during the rigors of competitive racing; it's also safe and reliable for years and years of street use. If you're not familiar with what SFI is see below.

The SFI Foundation, Inc. (SFI) is a non-profit organization established to issue and administer standards for the quality assurance of specialty performance and racing equipment. SFI certification indicates a flywheel has been certified using industry-standard SFI Spec 1.1 standards by an independent testing body to ensure quality of both design and materials for flywheels utilized in competitive motorsports. This testing requires that the flywheel must hold at 10,500RPM over an extended period of time for validation of durability, design, and construction.

Jason

[SLU_S5]

I have confidence in ECS products. Never had an issue with any part I bought from them.

I learned that a buddy of mine has the same (or similar?) ECS LWFW in his S4 and he loves it. He said coupled with his stage 2 clutch, It is a major improvement over stock, and is never an issue for daily driving on the freeway and around town.

That said, order placed... I'll do a writeup once everything is installed in 2 weeks.

[ECS Tuning-Audi]

Thanks for the order!

Jason

[Brycej]

I have the Eurocode LWFW / Clutch installed... a few embarrassing starts when first installed, but great once I adjusted to it. Still a bit of a challenge on hills so if I lived in San Francisco, I'd probably be a bit more hesitant.

One thing no one has stated (perhaps because it's not really all that important) is that your fuel mileage gauge starts reporting all kinds of wildly unrealistic values... I commonly get 200 MPG on the highway when I hit the gas, then back off... something fun to show the wife just what a great investment it is. :)