Got a question about cars? (2 Viewers)

[yenta]

^ Wow so detailed. I'm going to throw another question at you, you're doing so well!!

So I've been to Strathfield car radios twice, but so far they have been useless (can't get decent advice from then). I'm looking to improve the sound in my car, hence I'd like to buy some new, better speakers (I went there today and talked to this woman who was like "if you want better sound, you should get a new CD player rather than speakers" - WTF!!!! you need SPEAKERS for better sound, the CD player doesn't do crap to the sound! Idiot). So Anyway, I have a 93 model corolla hatch, and my idea is to get 4 inch speakers put in the front, and 6 x 9 inch in the back. The woman said it would be about $300 all up (including installation) but I will be going back in a week when they have a sale. The problem is though she didn't really give me any advice, she didn't tell me what the best set of speakers in my car should be. Sorry this is such a long crappy story but basically my question is what size speakers should I get? The ones in the front currently are like in the dash, but don't the circular 4 inch ones go in the door? And also if I get 6x9s in the back they'll have to cut into the parcel tray to do it, is it worth it? I dunno if you know inside a corolla but I'm just asking you since the people at strathfield suck.

 

[SlipStream]

What is your budget?

 

[INXS]

Wow you are hectic car man . Yes i read about the Stealth Fx in Hot4s i think, one of those car mags anywho. It's awsome, a flick of the cap to make it silent or loud.

Cheers man,

 

[INXS]

I also have another question for you sir.

My friend has a sexy 2.7l, 2003 Hilux, 5spd manual. My question is, how come some cars, have the one main driving wheel n the other wheel just bludges, it drives, but one is more powerful, more dominant, sometimes you will do a one wheeled burn out. ( Well this explains the one wheel burnouts i see on the road )

His car doesn't have LSD, so whats the best way to fix this problem. When he takes off from neautral, sometimes if he shifts to fast, the main driving wheel sometimes will spin and loose traction.

Would installing LSD fix this,? Then the driving power is distributed even amoungst the wheels?

You may aswell tell me about LSD while your at it too

Thanks man.

 

[DaddyK]

I dont wanna sound rude or anything people, but its called GOOGLE SEARCH, god damn, the man doesn't have all day.

 

[ToO LaZy ^*]

wasn't that the point of this thread???...
anywho..

has anyone tried drafting?..and does it really cut down THAT much air resistance.?

 

[INXS]

wasn't that the point of this thread???...
anywho..

has anyone tried drafting?..and does it really cut down THAT much air resistance.?

Yes exactly, asking questions is the whole point of this thread. As for drafting, i know it works in Grand Turismo.

I dont wanna sound rude or anything people, but its called GOOGLE SEARCH, god damn, the man doesn't have all day.

Well mate,

The list of possible questions is endless. Fire away. I'll be more than happy to help anyone out.

I rest my case.

Anyway, whats wrong with learning some new things about cars, from the expert himself slipsteam? Clearing up all the questions that i never knew the answer to.

 

[DaddyK]

No im not saying don't ask questions, but seriously, "oh why your at it tell me what LSD is all about" like come on...all you have to do is type it into the google search bar and you'll get like 20 answers. He will be able to answer more questions more efficiently if he doesn't have to explain every single thing.

 

[DaddyK]

wasn't that the point of this thread???...
anywho..

has anyone tried drafting?..and does it really cut down THAT much air resistance.?

Drafting is for racing pretty much so i don't think many people here have tried drafting. My answer will be a bit basic, slip can add to it if he wishes. Its not so much about cutting down air resistance, it is, but the air also creates some kind of a vortex behind the first car which sucks the car behind along for the ride, this is used in racing because, when the car infront is at full throttle and maximum speed, the car behind is being sucked along, thus using less of the cars maximum power, so the car behind pulls out and puts his foot all the way down and can coast past the front car at a few kmph more.

 

[INXS]

like come on...all you have to do is type it into the google search bar and you'll get like 20 answers.

Sorry but you are wrong again, google seach found 482,000 sites for limited slip differential. :uhhuh:

I'm also reading about LSD now too. Yes i did my own research. Wow.

 

[yenta]

What is your budget?

$250 - possibly stretch to 300

 

[SlipStream]

Hey everyone. Although I did say I'd personally help everyone, obviously my life isn't committed to a thread on BoS. Don't get me wrong, I love helping all you guys, but. The popularity of this thread has been a little unanticipated, to say the least. From now on, I'm going to have to rely more on links to other websites that I may be able to dig up to help peeps - takes a lot less time than typing up a whole essay.

So to start with, INXS.

I also have another question for you sir.

My friend has a sexy 2.7l, 2003 Hilux, 5spd manual. My question is, how come some cars, have the one main driving wheel n the other wheel just bludges, it drives, but one is more powerful, more dominant, sometimes you will do a one wheeled burn out. ( Well this explains the one wheel burnouts i see on the road )

His car doesn't have LSD, so whats the best way to fix this problem. When he takes off from neautral, sometimes if he shifts to fast, the main driving wheel sometimes will spin and loose traction.

Would installing LSD fix this,? Then the driving power is distributed even amoungst the wheels?

You may aswell tell me about LSD while your at it too

Thanks man.

Sir?? Well what a formal greeting! Right back atchya.

First question: one wheel spinning is the diff's fault. I would imagine the stock Hilux diff wasn't made for straightline acceleration, so it'd be a conventional design. Basically, the diff is "slipping".

The only REAL way to fix it would be getting a "limmo" - not a lengthy Cadillac but an LSD like you said. The power is not 100% even, but offers much more equal power distribution between the drive wheels should one of the wheels loose traction.

To learn all you need to know of LSDs and differentials in general, I found a site on Howstuffworks that gets the message across brilliantly. Click here.

has anyone tried drafting?..and does it really cut down THAT much air resistance.?

DaddyK explained it perfectly. Just to elaborate on his reply a tiny bit, "drafting" (an American term) is known in Oz as "slipstreaming" (yes my username is based upon it ). It only really comes into play at speeds over 150km/h, and you need to be literally only a few dozen centremetres from the car in front of you and you need to be an expert driver. It is extremely dangerous.

$250 - possibly stretch to 300

Fair enough - bout the same as little old me.

Ummm is there a Supercheap Auto nearby? I work at a Supercheap and they train us to go out of our way to help people. So you'd probably get better help there than Strathfield - hopefully there's someone there who knows something about audio.

CD Players do vary on sound quality. At work there is a soundboard with all the Sony head-decks. If you keep it on one pair of speakers and switch the head-decks, the difference between the cheaper ones and the more expensive ones is very noticable.

Car audios aren't my thing, to be honest. But for the best sound for the money, I can tell you to keep to the top brands and get 3-way speakers. 2-ways just plain suck.

Does anyone here know heaps about car audio?

 

[braad]

lol...go the detroit locker

hilux diffs are known as strong diffs are they not? or is that another type which has never been expanded on, to me at least

 

[gna]

for car audio id get some 6"s are the front and 6x9s at the back. Has good equal sound running through front and back. But with $250 you wont get very far at all....

 

[DaddyK]

Go kenwood, i rate there 6x9's highly.

 

[yenta]

Fair enough - bout the same as little old me.

Ummm is there a Supercheap Auto nearby? I work at a Supercheap and they train us to go out of our way to help people. So you'd probably get better help there than Strathfield - hopefully there's someone there who knows something about audio.

CD Players do vary on sound quality. At work there is a soundboard with all the Sony head-decks. If you keep it on one pair of speakers and switch the head-decks, the difference between the cheaper ones and the more expensive ones is very noticable.

Car audios aren't my thing, to be honest. But for the best sound for the money, I can tell you to keep to the top brands and get 3-way speakers. 2-ways just plain suck.

Does anyone here know heaps about car audio?

Well I want to get them from Strathfield cos I have a $150 voucher so it would be a waste not to use it. What's the difference between 2 way and 3 way speakers?

 

[SlipStream]

Jenna, I honestly don't know enough about car audio to answer that one in detail, but I can tell you that 3-ways have a tweeter, midrange (for higher frequencies like symbols) and a woofer (for bass). 2-ways have only a tweeter and a woofer.

A cheap 3-way is not better than an expensive, quality 2-way. I've been doing some reading here and there and my previous comment that "2-ways plain suck" was dumb of me.

However, generally 3-ways are the way to go - pardon the pun.

 

[cyrax83]

Well I want to get them from Strathfield cos I have a $150 voucher so it would be a waste not to use it. What's the difference between 2 way and 3 way speakers?

strathfield ain't great, but if your going into entry level and dont want to spend too much, as i presume in your case, then yeah it would be ok.

but yeah cd player can make a difference if you dont have an amplifier. the headunit powers all the speakers, a dodgy headunit will have crappy power output compared to a high end/better headunit. Yeah it does make a difference in sound quality. I'm not sure what headunit you have but i'm hoping that it can atleast power 4 speakers at like 30w or something each (it should say on the front of the headunit maybe).

Anyway it doesn't matter.

And dont get indash speakers =P if your going to get speakers, get emn on your door panels and in the back.

For the front, i'd recommend getting atleast 6". I think the corolla fits 4" stock on the fronts, but ask them if its possible to fit some 6" in there for ya. If it isn't just get the 4".

Some advice, dont get cheaper than cheap speakers, they'll sound like sh*t. Brands to avoid are Boss(!!! i bought subs when i started out in car audio, i'm still a bit of a noob but have learnt my lesson), Sony (i dont like there stuff personally..). I'd recommend either kenwood or pioneer for you.

I'd recommend getting the pioneers, good quality and great sound. Just get a pair of pioneers at the front door panels and some pioneer 6x9's and you should be set for what your looking to do i think ...

As for me, right now i'm saving (still !!) for a carpc with lcd =)
i would've had it by now but i just put in an exhaust today ! and i need to get an amp.

Anyway good luck and any more questions i'll try help

pioneer 4 inch : http://www.strathfield.com.au/ViewProduct.asp?ProdID=1003
pioneer 6x9's : http://www.strathfield.com.au/ViewProduct.asp?ProdID=1269

 

[w1ck3d_c10wn]

meh pioneer isnt that good, alpine is heaps better and not that much more expensive.

Rockford Fosgate for amps n subs tho \m/

 

[bong]

Don't bother going for new rear speakers, spend more for the fronts. Sound should come from in front of you, not behind, not from the side. $300 really won't get you anywhere, if you can boost the budget a little, do it in stages. Remember - cost of installation.

Headunit first - the usual alpine/clarion/pioneer, but panasonic and jvc make some nice decks as well.

Front speakers second - Coaxials are probably the way to go, 2-way splits are usually better, but they're more troublesome to install correctly. Have a look at Phoenix Gold, Boston, Hertz. You might find it suits you better than alpine or pioneer

Don't get sucked into that 2-way, 3-way. The difference is minimal if any, in a well made driver. And these are in the SINGLE driver anyway. Add in road noise and any difference is well and truly out the window, unless sound deadening is used.

A proper 3-way setup consists of separate components (woofer, midrange, and tweeter) and is quite hard to install and tune correctly.

Final note, whatever you do, DONT get suckererd into the "whoaaa, 1000W amps and 200W speakers". They will no doubt be in peak power ratings, aka: ILS (if lightning strikes). Look for RMS power ratings.

The usual headunits usually put out less than 20 watts rms before things start to get funny. Entry level coaxials depending what brand will take around 50 wrms.

After a sub? plenty of nice entry levels - JL audio, Image Dynamics, Digital Designs, etc etc

Amp? Audison, Phoenix Gold, hell, even the new jaycar series is pretty good for the money.

edit: if you have to go strathfield, buy a pioneer headunit from them, take the free speakers if they offer any, and then depending on the brand, use it to knock out the salesman and run away before they offer to install the lot for you.