You’re installing a new Flywheel—should you go heavy or light?
Whether you’re replacing your Flywheel to improve performance or because your factory Flywheel cracked, you have a decision to make. Do you go heavy or light?
Heavy Flywheels are those weighing 30 lbs. or more. Typically, when you need the additional toque for street driving or Drag Racing, a heavier Flywheel is chosen. The rotating inertia from a heavy Flywheel moves a car better from a stop, which gives you a smoother idle, easier gear shifting, and prevents your RPMs from dropping too fast and stalling the engine. It’s why car makers often chose heavy cast iron flywheels for cars coming off the production line. Unfortunately, cast iron Flywheels can crack from the high heat cycles in motorsport and break. Billet Steel and Aluminum often are better alternatives for today’s car enthusiasts.
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Cast Iron Flywheels aren’t engineered for performance use demands.
Lighter flywheels work better when you are already moving instead of frequently taking off from a dead stop. Therefore, they are much better for activities such as Circle Track Racing, Autocross, or Road Racing. Flywheels weighing less than 30 pounds allow you to make rapid RPM changes to accelerate out of a turn or drop speed to take a sharp turn.
The downside is that under typical racing circumstances, you have less ability to leave hard from a complete stop. To illustrate the extremes, let’s look at Formula 1 cars and high horsepower dragsters. Formula 1 cars use 4 lb. Flywheels which is why the crew pushes these racecars out of the pits. On the other side of the spectrum, some 650+ horsepower and torque drag racing vehicles run super lightweight flywheels because they do not need any rotating inertia to help them leave from a dead stop. Their engine has high horsepower and enough torque to do the job! For most enthusiasts, you need something in between.
G Force Performance offers a variety of Flywheels made from durable billet Steel and Aluminum. We engineered our Flywheels for street drivers as well as autocross, circle track, and road racers. They range in weight from 35 – 12 pounds. You can see our complete Flywheel Product line to get details about each of our Flywheels, including applications, ring gears, balance, clutch disc size, SFI rating, and more.
