Getting weight down in RS3, items to remove/change!

[Eat.Sleep.Race]

So I am curious what are the best weight savings for an RS3? Is there a topic already posted for this entirely?

So far I have done:
Front Pass. Seat removal
All trunk items
All rear seat items
AWE Track exhaust

So what are the next best things for a car that can be driven on street without affecting performance? How can we get to TT-RS weight? Possible?

Battery kit- does this require reprogramming? STM plug and play? Best kit?
Brake Rotors- (not getting rid of stock calipers) Rotors - Best kit savings? 2 piece floating?

Sorry if this is beaten post. Really would like fun suggestions to lose some more weight!

Thanks!

[rodacollier]

I can’t imagine taking the seats out of the car unless it was just track day. I would start with dropping 7-10 lbs a wheel for some rims. Fuel is 6lbs a gallon. :)

[Flom Motorsports]

swapping out factory body panels for carbon fiber ones. I know there are hood and front fender options out there, but they're not cheap by any means. yes going with the STM battery kit would shave a few pounds. not really sure how far you're willing to go, there's always the option to fully strip the interior, lexan windows etc. anytime you can swap factory parts for lighter ones made out of carbon fiber or titanium/aluminum, you should save weight. theres a company in poland that makes a full front tubular subframe, i believe their weight saving claim is 9kg, about 20lbs

[brad65ford]

Would like a sunroof black plexi option or something like that. Surely would remove some nice weight off the top of the car

[cheeba]

OP, it's probably best to state the purpose of the weight reduction. If it's for road racing, things like the sunroof, and a tubular subframe and control arms (because you're also getting adjustable camber and caster, which is essential for road racing), will take priority. If it's for simple drag racing, the brakes and wheels will take priority over non-rotating mass.

[Eat.Sleep.Race]

OP, it's probably best to state the purpose of the weight reduction. If it's for road racing, things like the sunroof, and a tubular subframe and control arms (because you're also getting adjustable camber and caster, which is essential for road racing), will take priority. If it's for simple drag racing, the brakes and wheels will take priority over non-rotating mass.

Drag racing. Want to get it as light as possible..

[cheeba]

Yeah, definitely start with the rotating mass. It's also unsprung mass, so as a benefit, handling improves - to me, considerably - when shaving a lot of weight from the brakes and wheels. Below is some info I had saved from when I originally looked into this. Some 18" wheels will clear our front brakes, so I'd look for some of those - in the 18lb range is about as light as you can get without spending something like $4k+CAD on a top-notch set.

AP Racing/Essex (TT RS, owner verified) - 21.6 lb/ea
Girodisc (RS3, per manufacturer) - 24.0 lb/ea
Neuspeed (RS3, per manufacturer) - 22.4 lb/ea
OEM (TTRS, per Jeff) - 27 lb/ea
OEM (RS3, per Girodisc) - 27.4 lb/ea
OEM (RS3, per Neuspeed) - 26.9 lb/ea

I'd look to the battery next since you can save about 40lbs there. If you're just swapping it for racing, you can also get a lithium unit at about 4lb, and half the cost of the STM kit, that will still crank our engine.

After that, I think you have to look to seats and interior stripping, or carbon panels if you want to keep it in daily form. Do you need your AC and stereo?

Honestly though, slicks on lightweight 18" wheels are going to pick you up a ton of time, provided the surface is prepped well.

[TheContrarian]

Never forget about the second spare tire attached to the driver. A serious racer is lean and mean.

[S3DUDE]

Here is my contribution as per yesterday 9 October 2020.

OEM rotors 29.2lbs
Neuspeed 2 piece rotors 22.2 lbs

[RSKYBET]

Here is my contribution as per yesterday 9 October 2020.

OEM rotors 29.2lbs
Neuspeed 2 piece rotors 22.2 lbs

Which OEM rotor variant did you have? Your factory rotor weight seems a bit higher than other samples.


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[S3DUDE]

^^ Yes, I was surprised too. I seen pictures on google and others reported 27 lbs and change. My car was built in the beginning of 2018. the difference between the stock rotor and the neuspeed is 24% lighter.

[HHughes1]

Which OEM rotor variant did you have? Your factory rotor weight seems a bit higher than other samples.


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The stock rotors on my 2019 TTRS were just over 29 pounds each The Essex rotors were 21 per

[BigDaddySRT]

Don't forget the man/ woman behind the steering wheel. There's some weight that can be shed there also.

I don't know how the cross balancing is on the RS3. You want to remove weights from both sides of the car.
For the extreme... remove all the HVAC/ Heating systems from the car.

[Patrick_l52]

pretty easy just change the rotor to carbon ceramic , using tillet carbon, battery , full titanium system

[S3DUDE]

Which OEM rotor variant did you have? Your factory rotor weight seems a bit higher than other samples.


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Go to this link and look at my last post. I added new pictures, I weighted the rotors with two scales now and I noticed that my rotors have a completely different shape of rotor hats as the ones advertised by ECS/Neuspeed on their website which makes a lot of sense. Most likely they posted the V2 rotors on that pictures. Again, please go to the link below and look at my last post I posted pictures and I also added the ECStuning link so that you can compare the two rotors design.

It appears that the V1 OEM rotors are roughly 2 lbs heavier compared to the V2s OEM rotors. Link below:

https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...-laying-around

[Neogenesis]

Never forget about the second spare tire attached to the driver. A serious racer is lean and mean.

Funny thing about that, I knew a guy I used to work with that really got into drag racing and lost over 100lbs specifically to be lighter at the track. Guess this hobby can have health benefits too.


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[Leonitus86]

Here is my contribution as per yesterday 9 October 2020.

OEM rotors 29.2lbs
Neuspeed 2 piece rotors 22.2 lbs

That's pretty significant on a rotor. Can you reuse the stock pads? Also is this for the ccbb or the standard rs3 brakes?

[S3DUDE]

^^^ Yes, I can reuse my stock pads but they had small cracks but on its defense I would say that despite having 17000 miles the pads had another 10000 miles of life on them. As per the rotors, I had the early version and yes they are crazy heavy. The carbon ceramics weight 12.6 or 12.9 lbs.