OEM Type R LSD better than Quaife ATB?

[Kozy]

Evening all, just a quick question to put forward to you experts here. I currently have a Quaife ATB diff fitted to my 96 Civic VTi, but having never driven a Type R I'm not sure how it compares to the OEM diff fitted by Honda in terms of performance, both on road and track. The Quaife seems fantastic during 'normal' road driving, but perhaps a little lacking on track, although being the only trackday i've done in any car, I was not sure what to expect.

Anyone got experience with both? I understand the ATB unit becomes useless if one wheel leaves the ground, i.e. skipping a curb, but other than that, I've not read any direct comparisons. If the general consensus is that the Quaife is the superior item I may well retain it should I choose to upgrade to a Type R in the new year.

[havoc]

They both work on the same principle, so any differences between the two are going to be down to the specification and the materials, e.g.
- What's the torque bias ratio of each (maximum split of power between wheels - 2to1, 3to1 etc)?
- What's their maximum load?
- What tolerances have they been built to?

As a non-engineer though, I'd venture you'd have to be a very good driver to notice any significant difference between the two. So if you're happy with the one you've got, keep it!

[Kozy]

I see. I was under the impression that the OEM LSD was a clutch pack locking type, whereas the Quaife is a helical torque biasing system?

[havoc]

OE on the DC2 and DC5 Integra Type R's (plus the JDM EP3 and FD2 CTRs, and probably the old EK9 too) is a torsen-type helical LSD. Don't know any specifics beyond that, except that in the Integras it's VERY effective!


Edit: Oh, and I had a 1.8VTi which had a viscous-coupling LSD on it. Better than nothing, for sure, but not torsen-good. And IIRC neither of the UKDM CTRs (EP3 or FN2) have anything. Not sure what if anything the old EG/EK-series 1.6VTi's have as standard. Come to that, not sure what's in the ATR...

Edited by havoc on Saturday 6th December 13:54

[Kozy]

The UK VTi has no LSD, mine was fitted by the previous owner, and is rather good!

Didn't realise the OE ones were helical, thanks for the insight!

[Marf]

Kozy said:

The UK VTi has no LSD, mine was fitted by the previous owner, and is rather good!

I had a quaife ATB in my VTi, and an ATB-a-like in my Charade Turbo, absolutely great diffs, ideal for a daily driver. The charade had a clutch pack type in it before the torsen, it was very fierce and did the job, but not ideal for road use as it was clunky and horrible at maneuvering speeds, and needed rebuilding every 10k or so.,

[Marf]

Kozy said:

Anyone got experience with both? I understand the ATB unit becomes useless if one wheel leaves the ground, i.e. skipping a curb,

Thats right, with a torsen if one wheel leaves the ground you lose all drive. Similarly if a driveshaft snaps, which happened on my VTi, you have no drive either. When it happened I was unaware of this "feature", I thought for a while I'd buggered the gearbox

Edited by Marf on Saturday 6th December 14:32