Another Reason to Strip the Interior
[ October 7th, 2008 ] By: Mark Ozimek Posted in » Ramblings
Rattles.
Yes, you heard me. Rattles. Many people take out the interior of a rally car to make it lighter, but there are other unexpected benefits from doing so.
In a car that is flying over rough terrain all the time, all those plastic and metal parts inside the car have a tendency to vibrate loose. Clips wear or break, panels sag, screws come out, and so forth.
While this may not seem like a big deal, the resulting noise can be pretty distracting from listening to the normal sounds your car should be making. Worst case scenario, a piece breaks free and is floating around the cabin in an attempt to beat you and your co-driver up.
Why do I bring this up, you may be asking yourself. I tend to enjoy talking about things related to my own life, and in this case, it’s still my S70. The firmer suspension I put in a few weeks ago is starting to bring out a miniature chorous of fun sounds when I’m driving over rough roads. The Volvo has always made a few noises here and there, which is expected for a 10 year old car with 150k miles on it, but now it is distinctly noticable, and will take some getting used to because gutting my daily driver isn’t really an option for me!
So for those of you considering removing the interior of your racing car, you now have a bit more motivation to do so.
