User:Autofoam



It has been more than a week, actually, 9 days to be exact since the autofoaming of my car. The 9 days was certainly an experience to begin with, not because autofoam takes 4 - 7 days to cure and work it's miracles on the car, but each day itself, presents "another level up" for our JDM entry level car. Everyday is a different driving experience. Hence, the daily reports I posted previously. Here are the recaps of the reports: -

Report within first 24 hours of Autofoam.

Immediately you can feel the difference.

1) Cobble stone effect on some of our roads definately muted 90%. Will pass the Paris road test. 2) Potholes, manholes, uneven roads sound muted 90%. The sound of a low thud heard. Conti effect. 3) Closing the doors gave a more re-assuring thud, as opposed to previously. Sounded more like a Toyota door. 4) Steering feedback better and can feel the road, since chassis is stiffer. 5) Cruising at 120kmh is like driving 30-40kmh. NO JOKE THIS!

Report within 48 hours of Autofoam.

6) The car feels like its more "ONE PIECE". You feel that the car is like a solid roll cage. With more curing time, the car seems to have adjusted to its new foamed body. Doing corners is a "ONE PIECE" feeling. Perfect. The handling definately improved, with even better steering feedback. The foam gives and EVEN torsional rigidity enhancement from the front to the back of the car, top and bottom. Its even better than any strut / ARB add on!!! 7) The sound of music is better from crappy stock audio. 8) Cobblestone, pothole apa nama road imperfections more muted, and now the thuds have become more of a softer thud. The foam is starting to absorb all vibrations.

Report within 72 hours of Autofoam. 9) Now the vibration and harshness greatly reduced. Feels like riding in a Camry!! 10) Handling excellent with ONE PIECE effect. Hard corners done with more ease, much reduced. understeer/oversteer compared to previously 11) Raining yesterday, couldn't hear rain drops on the roof.

Report within 96 hours of Autofoam.

12) Rained heavily yesterday. Going through puddles, shallow and deep alike, you couldn't hear the splashes. 13) Going through puddles, shallow and deep alike, at corners was a breeze. Went into it easily easily. PIECE OF CAKE. 14) Handling in wet conditions superb.

In a nutshell what impresses me are 2 things overall: -

1) NVH; and 2)  Handling

NVH In the NVH area, one of the noticable reductions is the noise and how autofoam keeps it low. Usually, as the car goes faster, the road noise would proportionately increase with speed. Would you believe that going 160kmh lets out the same level of noise as going at 40kmh? At 160kmh, you probably have wind noise, but road noise is kept at 40kmh levels. It is very impressive that Autofoam "maintains" noise constantly at whatever speeds you are driving. I did not have to adjust the volume of our sound system as I go faster!

Vibrations and harshness are noticeably reduced also. In the first 3 days, I noticed that the car becomes very stiff (more on that in handling later). You feel that your suspension is too stiff and the ride very bumpy despite the conti-feel of the car. On the 4th day, for me, it changed. VH reduces dramatically. Now I understood, that as the day passes and as Autoform cures, chemical reactions start to have it effect on VH. From the 4th day onwards, vibrations are much reduced. No more rattling from the interior. And harshness? If the car went thru roads with pebbles or roads that has lost its tar but gravels still intact, the "pebble" effect is abrorbed effectively at the ABC pillars so effectively that what you hear may be just a silent roar. You could not, I repeat, could not feel these imperfections at your left foot. So impressive.

HANDLING Two words "ONE PIECE" effect. Desmond may call it the "Invisible Roll Cage" effect. I have installed struts and ARB's in the past. Definately handling have improve remarkably. However, unless you do a complete set, i.e. from front to back, you will never get the level of improvements to the handling. If you upgrade the ARB on the back only, the back of your car handles better, but what about the front and middle of the car? More importantly, what about the pillars and top of your car? A topless car always handles worst that a topped car. It is a fact. The pillars and roof add as much torsional rigidity to the car by as much as 45% (this is taken in reference to a DB9). The point of this is, if you do not "strengthen" the pillars and roof, you will never maximise the ONE PIECE effect. In rallies, roll cage not only provide safety to the driver, but also dramatically increases the torsional rigidity of the car and improve handling.

When the Autofoam was done, apart from the obvious ABC pillars, was the undercarriage autofoam. The undercarriage autofoaming was on the platform of the car and the subframes. What this means, the platform, the very foundation (or the backbone) that your car is built upon would receive the autofoam treatment. The front, back and side platforms were autofoamed, in addition to the subframes. That is the bottom bit of the car. For the top, ABC pillars were done.

With the front, back, left, right, ABC pillars (top) done, my car received the complete overhaul for chassis strengthening. The driving experience is ONE PIECE i.e front, back, left, right, ABC pillars following the direction of the wheels. Very little oversteer and understeer. Body roll remarkably reduced 80%. The steering became more precise too. Rather than turn your steering by an extra 0.5cm, you get the accuracy and immediate response with less turn of the steering. Feedback is better too.

These 2 factors alone justifies the investment in autofoam for my car. Any other improvements apart from NVH and Handling, to the car comes thrown in with Autofoam. I am indeed very impressed and happy with the results.

In the coming months, for long term test, I would post more developments on autofoam in my car.