Wavetrac vs the rest

[Woods247]

Have any of you switched from Quaife or MFactory to Wavetrac? Is there a noticeable difference in the grip of the inside tire at corner exit under heavy throttle with traction control off? My MFactory lets the inside tire blow off so I’m looking for a change but really don’t want a clutch type diff.

 

[Jabbit]

I have my first track day in 2 weeks. Same track I ended the season on. Changes to the car are fuel mods (but still on 93), different tuner, and Quaife LSD with 4.3 gears. There are a couple turns on this track where I was waiting for grip so interested to see how it does. I have not been in a Wavetrac or MFactory equipped car but I thought I could share my experience nonetheless.

 

[Woods247]

The MFactory has been the best mod on my car by far. I found an old MotoIQ YouTube vid about how the Wavetrac works and it has me intrigued. The design seems superior to our diffs but I wonder if it’s worth the expense to swap. Something’s telling me it is. Can’t wait to hear how your new gearing works. I’m considering that as well but corner exit grip is still priority. I added (or subtracted) front camber from -3 to -3.5 and that’s created a noticeable difference in fast turns.

 

[esp_martin]

@slyez documented his issues which are the same as yours with the quaife and decided to go with the clutch gripper LSD. drives his car to and from events/runs errands with it and says the noise/maintenance is livable but not sure how that translates to your needs. i know you asked for non-clutch solutions but maybe if he replies he can let you know of anyone who went from mfactory/quaife to wavetrac instead of clutch-based lsd

for what it's worth he notes that he thinks he saves a solid second every minute when he track races with the gripper vs the quaife

Fiesta ST NASA TT5, Build-ish, Results, Track Videos | Page 2 | Fiesta ST Forum

 

[M-Sport fan]

I've never had any of them in my car, but if I ever get the coin, and gumption to install one, it will be the Wavetrac.

I have wanted that diff ever since I could not have one in my Z28, unless I went to a full Ford 9" axle, which I was considering, just to be able to have the Wavetrac in it.

 

[kevinatfms]

The biggest thing with plated diffs is the durability and longevity of the plates. And the added NVH of course.

 

[esp_martin]

How a Wavetrac Differential Works (and why you want one for your GTR!) - YouTube

really great explanation of why this team didn't like the regular helical LSDs and didn't wanna go clutch plate (had no idea that traction control systems do not play nice with clutch plates since they like to go full lock which is really interesting given we can't turn off the torque vectoring in our cars)

wavetrac engineer is in the video explaining why their helical LSD won't *will still* transfer power to a wheel on a curb hop

 

[Magnetic]

Following

 

[Woods247]

How a Wavetrac Differential Works (and why you want one for your GTR!) - YouTube

really great explanation of why this team didn't like the regular helical LSDs and didn't wanna go clutch plate (had no idea that traction control systems do not play nice with clutch plates since they like to go full lock which is really interesting given we can't turn off the torque vectoring in our cars)

wavetrac engineer is in the video explaining why their helical LSD won't *will still* transfer power to a wheel on a curb hop

That’s the vid I was referencing. Thanks for linking it.

 

[Woods247]

In my search I found this vid which seems to prove swapping from MFactory to Wacetrac is a waste of resources:

View: https://youtu.be/H3FTG0RVBJU

 

[esp_martin]

In my search I found this vid which seems to prove swapping from MFactory to Wacetrac is a waste of resources:

View: https://youtu.be/H3FTG0RVBJU

based on how the wavetrac engineer explained how their proprietary gear locking collar(?) works, i think the affected gears need to already be rotating and only then will it keep biasing torque to the wheel with better traction when the other wheel has a sudden zero traction event.

lol, i completely get why that poster didn't want to hit a complete ice patch with just one wheel and no traction control while going 30mph to test that theory out though...

at least we know from a dead stop it won't do s*!t

 

[D-resonant]

at least we know from a dead stop it won't do s*!t

I realize you’re using colorful language to accentuate your point, but the wavetrac is a torque bias diff and is still sending torque to wheel with traction. Otherwise the Beemer wouldn’t move forward and just spin wheel on ice. The Wavetrac ratchet design just adds a little more bias to keep both wheels rotating together more than a MFactory that doesn’t use additional bias mechanisms. Both Wavetrac and Quaife also have little friction pads at bottom of the small helical gears to increase bias. The reports of Quaife‘s change of behavior over time can be the friction pads wearing out or the bottoms of helical gears being “polished“ smooth.

 

[esp_martin]

I realize you’re using colorful language to accentuate your point, but the wavetrac is a torque bias diff and is still sending torque to wheel with traction. Otherwise the Beemer wouldn’t move forward and just spin wheel on ice. The Wavetrac ratchet design just adds a little more bias to keep both wheels rotating together more than a MFactory that doesn’t use additional bias mechanisms. Both Wavetrac and Quaife also have little friction pads at bottom of the small helical gears to increase bias. The reports of Quaife‘s change of behavior over time can be the friction pads wearing out or the bottoms of helical gears being “polished“ smooth.

always good to get more info but you're taking my colorful language out of context. the context of the improvement of the wavetrac over mfactory being worth the time/cost of upgrading. in the case of a dead stop single driven wheel zero-traction there is no noticeable improvement over an mfactory.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

I've Ran Both Mfactory and Now onto a Wavetrac* The Wavetrac i get a little more torque steer than with the Mfactory. The Clutch discs inside the wavetrac will last a very long time. You JUST CANT use a LS/Limited slip Gear oil with them or it will diminish the effectiveness of the clutch plates.

 

[New_Daily]

I've Ran Both Mfactory and Now onto a Wavetrac* The Wavetrac i get a little more torque steer than with the Mfactory. The Clutch discs inside the wavetrac will last a very long time. You JUST CANT use a LS/Limited slip Gear oil with them or it will diminish the effectiveness of the clutch plates.

What made you switch?

 

[TyphoonFiST]

What made you switch?

Because I wanted to see if there was a difference that could be felt and it is minimal* its HELICAL VS. Torsen. I'll most likely stick with Wavetrac but I can't say bad about either* both are LSD but just perform alittle different.

 

[Magnetic]

Because I wanted to see if there was a difference that could be felt and it is minimal* its HELICAL VS. Torsen. I'll most likely stick with Wavetrac but I can't say bad about either* both are LSD but just perform alittle different.

Thanks for the honest take on this! I've been on the bench waiting to hear on weather or not it's worth the extra $ if I'm not tracking the car on the regular. If the difference is minimal I can be confident I won't be missing too much. I didn't want to feel bad about this down the road.

 

[dhminer]

Thanks for the honest take on this! I've been on the bench waiting to hear on weather or not it's worth the extra $ if I'm not tracking the car on the regular. If the difference is minimal I can be confident I won't be missing too much. I didn't want to feel bad about this down the road.

I’ll report back soon on my findings. My car is 90% street car, occasionally tracked. LSD going in on the 24th

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Thanks for the honest take on this! I've been on the bench waiting to hear on weather or not it's worth the extra $ if I'm not tracking the car on the regular. If the difference is minimal I can be confident I won't be missing too much. I didn't want to feel bad about this down the road.

You cant use Any oil with LS additive in it as it reduces the effectiveness of the friction plates also in the Wavetrac*

 

[Magnetic]

You cant use Any oil with LS additive in it as it reduces the effectiveness of the friction plates also in the Wavetrac*

So for those of us with BBK (In my case EBC) will this limit the use of the high performance brake fluid we usually upgrade to? So just for clarification, both of these cant use fluids with the additives right? What does LS stand for?