So okay.. tell me Spock.. what is this LSD stuff all about?

Why do I want one?
What am I missing when I don't have one?
Why can't we get the official LSD from MINI and add it ourselves?

Inquiring minds wanna know!

-mark=

 

LSD = Limited Slip Differential (and FWIW, LDS = Latter Day Saints)

When a car goes around a corner, the outside wheels travel a greater distance than the inside wheels. They can't be hooked directly together. A differential is a set of gears that let the wheels turn different amounts. In a "normal" differential, one wheel at a time is getting the power applied to it while the other one is just going along for the ride. And as it works out, the wheel that has the least resistance is the one that gets driven.

This usually isn't a problem. But if one of the wheels goes off into the dirt or hits a patch of ice or gravel, that wheel becomes the one with the least resistance and it gets the power. The wheel with the least amount of traction. Not a good thing. This is how a car ends up getting stuck in mud or snow, with one wheel spinning while the other one is sitting there doing nothing.

A "limited slip" differential uses some kind of deep voodoo to sense when a wheel is slipping and apply power to the other wheel. Don't ask me how. It's voodoo!

This also turns out to be very nice for racing. When I was in high school, all the guys with the hot cars at the drive-in had limited slip.

As a factory option (new since Jan. 05), it's $500. Adding it on to a non-LSD car costs a lot more. (Like two or three times as much, I think.)

 

I do not know the technical aspects of it; however, the LSD helps with traction. The easiest way to realize the effect of it is to accelerate hard while turning. In a MINI without LSD, the inside wheel will spin. In a MINI with LSD installed, this will not happen because the power is transfered from the spinning wheel to the non-spinning wheel. Someone, please add-on or correct me if I'm wrong?

Quaife, (and maybe even an aftermarket LSD?) can be added afterwards, but it is a lot more expensive. (Usually around 1000 for parts, and 1000+ for labor)

 

Well, after I posted this I said to myself, you know, I'll bet there's a terrific web site that explains this a lot better than I can. Sure enough:

How Differentials Work (Warning - very graphics intensive. Might not be appropriate for dial up!)

Awesome web site! (And by the way, my description up above is a bit wrong!)

 

If you are using your MINI for street use only and aren't interested in track, autocross or driving school events then your stock open differential in your transmission should be fine. You save $500.

If you do performance driving there will be times when you will loose traction and then having a limited slip differential will help you maintain as much traction as possible.

From January of 2005, any MCS with manual transmission could be built with a factory installed LSD for $500. You can get the official MINI LSD part at a much higher cost and install it (about 10+ hours labor) or install a Quaife differential ($1100 for the part). Most owners don't want to spend that much.

So if you already have your MINI and you drive on the street only then you will be fine.

 

What's "loose" traction? Is that like trying to accelerate on gravel or something? Unless of course you were talking about "losing" traction...

 

Good call. I don't know why, but this is something that everyone on the Web seems to get wrong these days. Sure, you always see the classic "your - you're" or "its - it's" errors, and that's somewhat understandable. But it's a mystery to me when everyone unanimously decided to go from "lose" to "loose."

Sorry, off-topic but something that really needs to be addressed. I'm loosing my mind over this common goof.

 

Thanks for pointing this out. I was always dinged for bad grammar in high school English writing class. I couldn't figure the difference between contractions and possessives. It took me years to reform, but the Internet has had a corrupting effect. I have been trying to adapt, but there are always new acronyms and idioms to translate. I am trying, but the misapplication of "its - it's" still bugs me.

 

Dude, it's a joke. See the Spock reference? In Star Trek IV (the one with the whales), Spock is acting like Spock (so, weird), and Kirk tries to excuse his behavior by telling curious bystanders "he did a little too much LDS in the 60's."

 

Your response is highly illogical. Fascinating humans. :smile:

 

If you drive a lot in rain or snow LSD is a big bonus. Without it you have, essentially, a one wheel drive car, with it: two.

 

Got me on that one! Never saw ST IV.

 

Off Topic, but before email I could count on one hand the amount of letters/correspondence I would write in a month. Now I write ....well.....quite a few. The internet seem to have developed its own grammar. I think it's great. (notice .. its and it's)