what about a 99-04 gt auto rarely going to the track and driving about 80% in city and 20% on highway/interstate with full bolt-ons with a 2600 stall and shift kit and possibly a 75 dry shot of nitrous??

t.i.a

 

They always say 4.10s to everything... lol

 

hahaha true, true.

 

anyone else?

 

Well there really is no reason not to go with 4.10s. You're taking away part of your car that you NEVER see anyway. With 4.10s and the 3650 trans, your drivetrain (assuming engine capable) can still hit over 150 MPH. When do you ever go 150?

 

lower gears do more than lower ur top speed. with lower gears, a car will run out of breath quicker in the 1/4 mile, and if you dont have traction for an amazing launch, too low of gears can make your car slower. Gears are also about preference. the only car I'd be pretty likely to put 4.10s in would be a 99-04 GT automatic... I went with 3.55s in my car and am extremely happy with them. :shrugs:

 

Eh...I disagree on the "run out of breathe." Please explain..

 

They don't run out of breath and 3.55s are a great "compromise" gear. That's what is in my '06 and I am really happy with them but if I wanted to get the best times with my car, I would use at least 4.10s.

We can argue theroy back and forth until we are blue in the face but going with the maximum gear has always been the way it has been done at the track. That has not changed. That's why we concentrate on suspension setup and weight transfer and tires in order to maximize what we have. The gears themselves are useless if you can't get the power to the road.......you can on the street but you are not launching at 5 or 6K on the street.

As far as gears lowering you top speed, that's not true. They really don't. Yes, I have done the math and yes the math shows that, at redline in fifth, you are not going to be going as fast with 4.10s as you would be with 3.27s, but you are NEVER going to redline 5th gear....the car just doesn't have enough power. They all seem to hit a wall and run out of speed around 150ish. I personally found that the 4.10s allowed me to get to the higher speeds because the gears allowed the car to pull harder in fifth. Yeah, it was revving like a summabish but she got there.

Anyway, I have driven with 4.10s and I can tell you that it is fun and it sucks all at the same time......I got better times in the quarter but driving on the street was a pain because I had to shift ALL the time. You feel really weak on the highway too because fourth runs out at 110 mph and we have already stated that fifth kinda sucks. Now I can go to 110 in third but the car has enough power to push the gears.

Go look at the issue of MM&FF where they had the n/a shootout. All those guys were running well under 13 seconds in naturally aspirated GTs and Machs and the ALL had at least 4.10s in their cars.

Again, I personally don't like really steep gears in a street car but they do give you more punch.

I am quite happy with 3.55s, but I wouldn't bother going from 3.27s to 3.55s because it's not enough of a difference to make it worth the trouble of getting gear grease on your hands (it REALLY stinks LOL). That being said dudes, the difference between 3.73s and 4.10s on a 99+ car is only about 200 RPM, so why wouldn't you go for the 4.10s?

It depends on what you are looking for. Personally, I would never put low gears in my daily driver ever again.....but then again, at 36, I'm kinda old, so my tastes might be different than yours. I don't even like my car to be loud anymore. []

 

That was mostly my point. The few negative points against steep gears are almost null when you boil them down.

 

I really think if you go too low of a gear and dont have sticky tires you will turn worse times. You go through your "good" gears faster and are left with a long 4th gear to finish the 1/4. My buddy's GT really seemed to struggle through the end of the 1/4 mile but he had a great launch, so it made up for his slow top end. With really low gears u just dont have much of a powerband and are into the crappy gears more quickly.