| AF Reviews |
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| Written by Administrator |
| Sunday, 21 June 2009 03:41 |
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What customers say... Here's my long overdue FR on Autofoam. I did Autofoam quite some time back probably Jan 07 after taking in the advise from Bro Fireclone and Spectre. I did the undercarrige and sills only. As experienced by bro fireclone, the full effects of the autofoam only surfaced after a few days of "sunning".
The effects are especially apparent when traveling on those roads paved with those stupid patterned tiles at most new hdb driveways and over humps. The whole car feels more solid and stiff. On sweeping corners the car rolls less and feels more 1 piece (Those who has felt the differences between a car with roll-cage or strut bars and a stock one will know what i mean). There is also a side-effect (abet a good one) of some sound insulation transmited through the hollow sills and undercarriage. My verdict is this Pros Wed Apr 25, 2007
Pre-amble I promised every1 a short driving FR while i wait for my upgrade to Super Ultimate Package ++ to cure. today is the 2nd day and i hv memorised the handling sensations and my driving experience in the last few days as well.... In addition to the extra chassis sections i had autofoamed, i also got KLAuto to soundproof the roof and the rear dashboard panel. we decided to use another German soundproofing material called SIKA .... the main difference w DEADPAN is it has a metallic sheet covering it on 1 side so acts as a heatshield in particular the roof section. 1. Initial Post-AF Ultimate ++ Upgrade Treatment it was raining the whole day and as i inched closer to my FD, mixed feelings and thoughts ran thro my mind ... i wondered wat kind of difference this is gonna make .... how much more improvement can i reap out of this upgrade .... how would the cabin noise be ..... so decided not to be too presumptious and just sat down .... then slowly turn the ignition key ..... when the engine started .... i noticed how much softer the engine was heard ..... i stepped on the accelerator pedal to give it some revving pitch , aiyo ... this is a similar feeling i got when i say in bro torxwrench car ... feel like in a coffin ... [Laughing] 2. Driving experience hard to find another verb to describe this feeling .... but it simply puts a smile or a grin on my face each time i take the hiways .... 3. Clinical Analysis a. Noise – overall cabin noise is even better and more insulated against external noise in particular during hi-speed driving. How this is achieved ? i remember the Wegro SC mgr told me the trick to reducing hi-speed noise is to foam the whole A-pillars. Having this section now fully foamed has resulted in a great reduction in wind noise. With exception of the slight whistling sound created fr the replica mugen visors, driving at 150-160kph is extremely comfortable and no noticeable external noise noted especially when u put the stereo volume at 10. Now every empty cavity of the chassis have all been filled up. This has helped to prevent noise resonance and absorbs road noise produced when the car is travelling over speeds of 80kph. b. Vibration & Harshness – the chassis seems much tighter then before and i dont find my steering vibrate going over imperfections on the road ... whether it is small potholes, undulating roads, uneven roads, yellow speedbreakers are becoming more bearable. While i always enjoyed the more responsive hydraulic steering system of the FD1.8, tis time round i feel the steering gives even more feedback and the nose behave attentively to keep to the driving line as my car glide thro the hiway at speeds of 140-160kph. c. Handling – wat else can i say except the handling sensation is very addictive and astounding to another level. this car feels even more like a reliable sports tourer used for long long drives at hi-speeds. The feedback tat i get from the steering wheel is more responsive and makes the FD nose more attentive to keep within the driving line and it doesnt feel stressed. I find my body moves less and right elbow presses less on the right door panel shoulders. d. Cornering feel – the most marked difference is the cornering experience. The AF treatment for the Ultimate ++ package simply ties the whole FD chassis and all the strut bars i hv installed together into a coherent synergy of chassis strengthening platform…. car doesnt twitch and still remains very comfortabl eto drive. When i left KLAuto, there is a corner turning into the Ampang elevated hiway fr Tun Razak and its a mighty sharp corner. I took this corner at 75kph, up from 60-65kph tat i normally would comfortably take it previously. My general assessment in the last few days is i m able to increase my cornering speeds by some 10-15% at a very comfortable steering level and dont feel the stress feedback from the front suspensions or the tyres slipping. I hv get to take other corners at the same speeds john take in his chicken wing FD but i shall leave tat for another story to tell.... he3x In this last 2days, soaking up any corners is really fun cos in addition to the added confidence, i find the car doesnt feel stressed in managing going into and out of corners more agressively. The only shortcoming i m beginning to feel is how the stock suspension are no longer able to keep up the higher cornering stress levels. one of the things i noted is when i either emergency brake or brake from 150kph to 100kph, i find the front nose dips less and the whole car feels very much more composed when slowing down abruptedly. e. Driving in the Rain - soundproofing the roof has totally eliminated the attap roof sound when there is a heavy downpour. i oso noted tat today, my car was less hot parking under the hot mid-noon sun when i left the car for 1hr. f. Hi-speed Stability – I hv taken tis car upto 180kph++. Its really stable … and more interesting is it doesnt feel like i m doing 180kph. the best crusing speed w comfortabel roadholding now is around 145-165kph. the only downside in crusing at these speeds is the braking capability whenever there is an emergency situation. I typically try to adhere to the speed limits and at most i travel at 100-120kph .... tis last 2days i find myself goin at 140-155kph w/out realising it. it just a different and more enjoyable experience. 4. Emergency situations I cursed & demonstrated sensory profanities and showed my anger to tat idiot. came down a confronted him and he was apologetic ... seems he was quarelling w his girl next to him and a spate of anger made him decide to vent his frustration on the road. gave him a good lecture and told him to stop driving if he cant behave .... small kid, only 18-19 yrs old. the rest of the drivers were equally abusive .... anyway lesson to be learned is .... modding your car to improve road handling will make the car more forgiving & responsive and thus avoid an eminent accident. yes driver skills notwithstanding. the only shortcoming travelling at higher speeds is to make sure the braking system is upto the mark as well .... together w better rated tyres. (bro taka - a 4-pot BBK w slotted rotors seems very practical and sound now for me ....) I will a week before pursuing another field report as i would let the autofoam treatment 1week to fully cure to reap it best effort & transformation on my car .... until the next .... HAPPY MODDING & BE SAFE ! Ed - Honda Civic FD
What happens to an Autofoam car in the event of an Accident? A picture tells a thousand words. The pics below are taken from our Spore operations where we AF accident cars during the repair stage. As you can see, the only way to repair a hurt chassis is to cut, weld, re-jig ( tarik or pull ). For body panels like doors, mudguard, one can ketuk back to shape. BTW,in Spore, they dont even ketok a panel...they just replace AutoFoam is Not applied to body panels.
So to answer Thphangs question..... 1) Use the correct formulae for the appropiate area. AutoFoam has different densities & formula for different area application. 2) AutoFoam is Fire Retardent. So when they need to cut & weld the affected area, it would not burn. 3) AutoFoam is non hydro-scopic. It does not absorb moisture & shrink over time. This will ensure lifetime performance. 4) AutoFoam CAN be removed in the event of accident in certain specific areas. It is formulated to be so. 5) Affected areas can be re-AutoFoam after repair. Over the many years, there had been a few AF cars that turtled, side slapped onto walls, climbed over a mountain curb ( including a FD). After repair, the owners are still happily enjoying their rides [Very Happy] .
FR on Autofoam (KLAuto) Its barely 24 hours since getting the complete package... so still needing time to settle in. But driving out the shop with a small dip/slope the effect is felt immediately. The chassis does not flex as bad or typically as it does. Overall: its honestly hard to describe the improvements. Body roll/pitching as improved much better than any kind of bars would help..(i think). The foam is definitely going to be much lighter than fitting all those bars. (Not to say those enhancement bars do not do its job.) Its also quieter.... car is much more connected, as is the engine. I was thinking how to find an engine damper to fit the R18s' but i may not need to do that anymore. Its still early... so.. perhaps an updated FR to come in the coming weeks.. especially after a track run...? heheheh Desmond.. thank you for the personal attention and very nice chatting with you. Thanks for sharing some electrical tips. Your guys did a good job detaching and putting back the necessary panels. As much as this may sound 'slanted'... is this mod worth it? - it will supplement your ARBs, bars and gantongs(whichever) very well... plus it give syou sound proofing too!.. and its light-weight! If you're into handling like me... its definitely seriously worth looking into. From one skeptic to another..... go and save some money for this mod. I'll upload some pics later... but its abt the same as those by fireclone. Enjoy.
Autofoam……. It is going to be difficult to articulate the results but I will try to make it short and concise. I decided to opt for the Track Pack foaming which covers pretty much everything. Whatever can be filled with foam gets filled with foam, and a few other cavities as well thanks to our 6’s chassis designed more like a European chassis than a typical Japanese one. First of all, let’s talk about things I’m not really interested in, specifically the N (noise) and V (vibration) parts of the acronym NVH. I don’t usually play music when I’m driving as I prefer to reserve my ears to detect any strange sounds coming from the engine bay, drive train etc. The good thing now is that I don’t have to listen so hard in order to hear everything. Inside the cabin is muted ……quiet…..almost too quiet sometimes even when running the car above 120 km/h. Road rumble from my new wider rims and tyres are barely perceptible in the cabin, I know they are there but it sounds like I’m running on hard sponge rather than rubber. Another noticeable difference is the lack of wind noise which I used to get when taking the car above 150 km/h. Does Autofoam reduce NV, I think we can say a very big yes to that one. Now the part I wanted to improve….the (H) handling. This is even harder to articulate than the NV because your ears can hear and your body can feel the vibration but how can I describe the handling. I guess it can be surmised into one word and that word would be “calm”. What do I mean by calm? I mean that it is no longer a wrestle with the car when pushing in and out of corners, there is no need for your palms to get damp and for your heart race anymore because you know the car will come out of the corner sitting flat and without excessive body roll and understeer. This was a common problem I had with the stock set up (which all Mazda 6 drivers know is better than most stock sets ups). Yes I lowered the springs, changed the shocks and put front tower and rear bracing and that helped a lot but the Autofoam has brought a whole new dimension to the handling. Allow me to explain further. We all have a favourite corner which we use to test our skills and our cars, am I correct? Well mine is the one after the 50 sen toll when driving on the east / west hwy between Cheras and Taman Desa. With my stock set up I could take that corner at around 120 km/h with a ton of understeer and a prayer. With the bracing things improved quite a lot, I could get the car out of the corner at 135 km/h with less understeer and without need to pray. After the foaming, well…..so far I got to 165 km/h out of the corner sitting flat, very slight understeer but general feeling like the car was on rails. It seems that my “nerve” is the new limiting factor now. I’m seriously pleased with the performance of the chassis. The car “feels” as though it should weigh 10 tons, it is just so tight and solid, but at the same time more responsive to steering input and the cornering ability is phenomenal. It makes me feel like a better driver than I truly am. The shortfalls in my driving skills are compensated by the foaming. Anyone who doubts the validity of the foaming should take time to be my co driver. I can guarantee that you will feel a huge difference over the set ups you are using now. I’m into performance mods, I like my car to go faster and have more acceleration. Did Autofoam make my car faster? Nope. Did it increase my HP or torque? The answer again is no. What it did was to allow me to use more of the current HP and torque in a more controlled and safe manner based on my driving skills and driving habits. Autofoam gave structural rigidity to the car in places where bolt on bars simply cannot be used. I spent quite a lot on mods over the past year and when I consider “bang for buck” outright value, Autofoam comes second on my list only being surpassed by the Trust turbo kit. I would like to extend my thanks to Desmond for his advice and guidance and to his crew for doing a thorough and professional job."
A long overdue one from me.... It has been more than a week, actually, 9 days to be exact since the autofoaming of my car. The 9 days was certainly an experience to begin with, not because autofoam takes 4 - 7 days to cure and work it's miracles on the car, but each day itself, presents "another level up" for our JDM car. Everyday is a different driving experience. Report within first 24 hours of Autofoam. Immediately you can feel the difference. 1) Cobble stone effect on some of our roads definitely muted 90%. Will pass the Paris road test. Report within 48 hours of Autofoam. 6) The car feels like its more "ONE PIECE". You feel that the car is like a solid roll cage. With more curing time, the car seems to have adjusted to its new foamed body. Doing corners is a "ONE PIECE" feeling. Perfect. The handling definitely improved, with even better steering feedback. The foam gives and EVEN torsional rigidity enhancement from the front to the back of the car, top and bottom. It’s even better than any strut / ARB add on!!! Report within 72 hours of Autofoam. 9) Now the vibration and harshness greatly reduced. Feels like riding in a Camry!! Report within 96 hours of Autofoam. 12) Rained heavily yesterday. Going through puddles, shallow and deep alike, you couldn't hear the splashes. In a nutshell what impresses me are 2 things overall; NVH and Handling NVH HANDLING When the Autofoam was done, apart from the obvious ABC pillars, was the undercarriage autofoam. The undercarriage autofoaming was on the platform of the car and the subframes. What this means, the platform, the very foundation (or the backbone) that your car is built upon would receive the autofoam treatment. The front, back and side platforms were autofoamed, in addition to the subframes. That is the bottom bit of the car. For the top, ABC pillars were done. With the front, back, left, right, ABC pillars (top) done, my car received the complete overhaul for chassis strengthening. The driving experience is ONE PIECE i.e. front, back, left, right, ABC pillars following the direction of the wheels. Very little oversteer and understeer. Body roll remarkably reduced 80%. The steering became more precise too. Rather than turn your steering by an extra 0.5cm, you get the accuracy and immediate response with less turn of the steering. Feedback is better too. These 2 factors alone justifies the investment in autofoam for my car. Any other improvements apart from NVH and Handling, to the car comes thrown in with Autofoam. I am indeed very impressed and happy with the results.
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| Last Updated on Sunday, 21 June 2009 04:15 |
