TL;DR: If you have a Quaife ATB, is it a bit twitchy on the motorway (65mph) when lifting off and getting back on the power?
I had a fun weekend on some very twisty roads and utterly destroyed my 2-pinion diff (along with a pair of front tyres). No regrets!
I've gone for the nuclear option and replaced it with a Quaife ATB (this one from Minispares)
...and I think I've gone too far. Funny, that.
Good points: it's more progressive than a plate type LSD: it doesn't suddenly snatch the steering wheel out of your hand, and traction through the corners and on rough surfaces is phenomenal: you can feel it hunting for the traction.
However if I'm driving on a cambered motorway, steering ever so slightly to one side to go in a straight line, there's a bit of a weave when transitioning between drive and coast. It's almost like torque steer, except there's no torque. Or like a loose rear axle in an old RWD.
Suspension is set up about as accurately as lasers will allow. Front: 1.5mm total toe out, -1° camber, 3° caster. Ride height is set so that the driveshafts are perpendicular to the wheels (minimises drive angle differences from side to side). Bump steer is... about average for a Mini, and shouldn't be relevant to this problem. Rear is -0.5° camber, 2mm toe in. It's on discs with 10 x 4.5" ET35 wheels, 165 tyres so the scrub radius should be quite reasonable.
Marketing says "Drives like an open diff under normal conditions" and "You won't know it's there until it starts to work". Clearly I'm doing something wrong, or I'm a lot more sensitive to how my car handles than the Quaife marketing department.
Anyone got any first hand experience?
(I've found this thread which is encouraging, maybe I can further reduce the twitchiness by fitting firmer suspension bushes.)
Edited by growlerbearnz, 29 May 2021 - 11:28 AM.