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Weight of Air Conditioning


willcrook
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Someone once told me its like having a passenger with you.

But I do not think its anywhere near that.

Other than the compressor, the rest of the system doesn't wiegh much.

perhaps they meant, when it was on and the strain on the engine?

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from a comparison i did on another car the biggest difference in weight was from the cast iron brackets that hold on the extra kit to the engine. these can weigh more than the air conditioning system itself.

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Always makes me laugh when people talk about the weight of A/C etc. If its not on you wont notice the difference.

You will notice the difference more if your a fat *******, rather than the weight of AC.

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The weight of the A/C imo won't make that much difference, driving ability counts for alot. As far as i'm aware there's not a GTi that's been to Santa Pod from here that's got below a 16.0 (feel free to correct me if i'm wrong) and i managed a 16.0 in my GTi and that has Leather, A/C and side airbags, so don't works your self up about something that doesn't make a huge difference, yes there will be a difference but i'd be suprised if you could really notice it.

Edited by Diamondblack
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i have to diassagree air con makes a noticable difference. if you get a flat 16 on the 1/4 mile with aircon then you will be in the 15's without it, its as simple as that.

it depends on how sensitive as a driver you are to a car and its performance, every little helps. and in this case its a lot. a little is when you do things like i did to my car, like only having one window winder so had to take it of one door and put in on the other when i wanted both windows down. and taking out indivdual fuses for items i no longer had in the car. it gets laughed at by people who dont understand. but appreciated by those with performance background. only by doing lots of little things do you achieve the best or a target kerb weight.

to lose a few grammes in motorsport can cost thousands of pounds. so to remove a big weight like air con, for free, is not something to be sniffed at.

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i have to diassagree air con makes a noticable difference. if you get a flat 16 on the 1/4 mile with aircon then you will be in the 15's without it, its as simple as that.

it depends on how sensitive as a driver you are to a car and its performance, every little helps. and in this case its a lot. a little is when you do things like i did to my car, like only having one window winder so had to take it of one door and put in on the other when i wanted both windows down. and taking out indivdual fuses for items i no longer had in the car. it gets laughed at by people who dont understand. but appreciated by those with performance background. only by doing lots of little things do you achieve the best or a target kerb weight.

to lose a few grammes in motorsport can cost thousands of pounds. so to remove a big weight like air con, for free, is not something to be sniffed at.

Then get a standard GTi without A/C and prove me wrong. I can't wait to see your results, i know for a fact there are a lot of people on here who know how to drive a car to it's full potential yet there still has been no evidence, and, how is that when i drove a GTi without A/C on the same day in the same conditions it wasn't any quicker, when it's been RR'd (also on the same day in the same conditions) with more power than mine? Reinforcing my point that it doesn't make a huge difference.

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Always makes me laugh when people talk about the weight of A/C etc. If its not on you wont notice the difference.

You will notice the difference more if your a fat *******, rather than the weight of AC.

guess i shud be shedding a few pounds then!

on an everyday car, i can't see there being any difference in performance. most mk5 golfs have a/c as standard that can't even be switched off, yet i've never heard of a single owner complaining about it being too heavy. if anything, it would increase fuel consumption with it on!

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Then get a standard GTi without A/C and prove me wrong. I can't wait to see your results, i know for a fact there are a lot of people on here who know how to drive a car to it's full potential yet there still has been no evidence, and, how is that when i drove a GTi without A/C on the same day in the same conditions it wasn't any quicker, when it's been RR'd (also on the same day in the same conditions) with more power than mine? Reinforcing my point that it doesn't make a huge difference.

i not sure what you mean are you asking me to prove the laws of physics to you? if you removed 1 kilogram yet alone all of the air con system the car would accelerate faster lol. unless you want to run a 1/4 mile free fall over a cliff.

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i not sure what you mean are you asking me to prove the laws of physics to you? if you removed 1 kilogram yet alone all of the air con system the car would accelerate faster lol. unless you want to run a 1/4 mile free fall over a cliff.

It's quite simple really, try putting 2 and 2 together and making 4, failing that try reading my post. I think you'll find i wrote 'Then get a standard GTi without A/C and prove me wrong', would that or would that not help you to prove the laws of physics to me? rolleyes.gif style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

Also if you bothered to process what i said in either of my posts you would also realise that i'm not whole heartedly disagreeing with you, i think you'll find what i originally wrote was 'it wouldn't make a huge difference' and from what i've seen, read and experienced it doesn't. Processing this a bit further would also result in realising that i've actually agreed there would be a difference.

At the end of the day, we could discuss this for years but what does it matter? I don't care my cars quick enough for a standard example and your not about to prove me wrong, so this discussion is going no where and it's not helping the original post.

What we should conclude from this is, as always, buy on condition and spec rather that preconceptions. This is a Lupo GTi, not some stripped out race car, in the real world drivng here and there you'll be fine with either.

Edited by Diamondblack
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hear hear to you Luke! if i wanted a faster car, i'd buy one! i love my car the way it is, not gonna strip it out, remove anything in a quest to make it faster. on a daily driver, i seriously doubt that you would notice ANY benefit from removing the a/c, tho u'll feel a lot hotter on a hot summer's day!

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you are not going to reely notice the difference on day to day driving by havin air con.. maybe if u are racing you may notice the difference but just driving around the streets it wil just feel the same. if i had the option i would always have aircon even though it wasa alittle heavier

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There is definately a difference with AC on, although on a road going everyday driver im sure id rather stay cool than worry about a small loss in power.

Also if you get your AC topped up every 18 months, it means your AC will run more efficiently and will definately reduce the risk of the system breaking down.

R134a gas is both the refrigerant and lubricant for the AC system, every system looses 10-15% of the gas each year. the less gas you have increases fuel consumption and increases the risk of AC failure (expensive could cost you a grand)

Get your gas refilled roughly every 18 months, Great if you know someone in the trade my neighbour will do it for a favour biggrin.gif style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> i know another guy that works for a company, he offered to do it for £20 so dont go to the Dealers make freinds with an aircon guy.

It's not a full check up, but if you re-gas that often your system shouldnt go wrong anyway.

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the main reason i bought my lupo gti is because it didnt have air con. it took me a long time of looking up car specs etc to find a list of suitable cars. it even involved peronal emails to honda to find out if they made any s2000 without aircon lol.

it matters to some, maybe mostly to those who are a bit mental like me. but i registered on a lot of car forums to check things out. there are people who like lightweight. the intergra type R clubs are an example. and its not just individuals or clubs that like the quest of lightweight, it is found in manufacturers also. some car makers are very aware on the benefits of keeping the kerb weight down for their customers instead of piling junk onto them.

diamondblack i will do my best to "process" in the future.

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