Say WHAT?!?! Do you know what you speak?! You're contradicting yourself. 4.10's will be faster than 2.73's, but slower than 3.73's??? Ok, keep smokin' the crack pipe! And as for mileage? BARELY worse than 3.73's, BARELY. I ran BOTH 3.73's AND 4.10's behind the A4 in my car ... and I daily drive my Camaro ... I think I'd know .

I "slightly agree" with your cons, but again, the mileage difference (even compared to 2.73's) is not what one might expect, the "weaker than" issue exists for pretty much ANY 10-bolt, regardless of ratio! And spinning more off the line??? Try less! Well, maybe not "less", but it's "different". If/when you get 2.73's spinning, the tires are spinning FAST. Break the 4.10's loose, and while YES, the tires are spinning, they're actually not spinning that "fast" (esp. while you're still in 1st gear) due to the very low ratio. It actually doesn't take long to get under control, hooked up, and on your way. Even on STREET tires, I dropped from running ~2.1 60' times down to ~1.9's going from 2.73's to 4.10's.

Good traction, esp. w/MT ET Streets, I agree with you. Spray isn't my thing, so I can't comment. Bad to shift into OD during run? Again, I agree. But 4.10's being BAD for a track car?!?!? Like Al pointed out above, you have engine RPM and tire height to play with to gain you extra speed out of 3rd gear, in which case you can get motoring pretty darn quick before you're shooting for 4th . And if the car is near stock? Then there's no concern of over-running 3rd gear either.

I LOVED the 4.10's behind my A4. Preferred them to the 3.73's I had.

 

With the added mechanical advantage, it takes less power to spin the tires and keep them spinning. In other words if you spin launching at 4k w/2.73s then you'll spin as easily at 2k w/4.10's. Then also from a roll, if you spin when you drop down at 20 mph under full throttle, you'll do the same with less throttle at the same MPH.

I ran a car w/4.11 gears for 12 years and then went down to 3.08s for 6 months before I sold the car. W/the 4.11's I had much more traction problems than the 3.08s. On street radials I lost a race to a bro-n-law's stock 5.0 because I had no traction in first or 2nd. Granted I made up most of the ground by the end of the run, but he was still ahead. After I went down to 3.08's we were together off the line but I edged ahead by a car length. This was on the same type of tires. With 3.08s it would spin some in 1st and chirp in 2nd where as before w/4.11s one it broke loose it would spin all through first and most of 2nd unless I feathered it. I also watched a friend go from the 3.42's in his 70 Z to 4.10's and he went slower because of the lost traction. Now once he put some soft tires on, it was a different story. That was also my case. When I went out racing I'd put my soft tires on and still didn't hook great, but it did run much quicker.

The weaker than issue stems fro the fact the more 4.10 geared 10 bolts grenade than others with more radical combos pushing them.

 

Maybe it's one of those "case-by-case" problems. I found that my traction issues were very, very minimal, and in fact, much easier to control. And from a roll?? Unless I was doing ~20 mph or less (hardly ever) then the tranny would only kick down to 2nd, and wouldn't spin anyway (because it shifted out of 1st so quickly in the first place).

I know that for me, the 4.10's had many of the same (approx.) speed-based shift points as 2.73's, except just 1 gear higher/lower (depending how you look at it). Basically, it was like adding an extra "low gear" to the 2.73 setup, and everything else stayed the same, except the acceleration was greatly improved for each window of speed.

The 4.10's lasted for dozens of hard launches in my car, on street tires and DR's, UNTIL I got into doing road racing ..... they didn't like the hard, constant "on again, off again" of the road course! Neither did the 4L60E!!

But what I'd like to point out is this: if someone thinks that traction will become an issue with 4.10's? or mileage will suck?? It will be very similar with 3.73's. 4.10's just improved the launch and acceleration that much more, and I really did prefer them. But 3.73's aren't "the perfect ratio" while a 4.10 is "way too much", as many people seem to claim. To be honest, it really depends on your setup, and what you're looking to do. 3.42's are really a "perfect" gear in a lot of cases too!

 

Ok, dude. In plain english. A 4.10 rear will make your car accelerate faster, but since you will most likely shift into OD pre 1/4 you will be slower than 3.73s in the 1/4... unless you make a lot of changes just to do so.... but then again, if this is SO EASY to do, then why doesn't everybody agree with YOU?

I didn't contradict myself, you just can't comprehend.

 

Well I already have 4.10 rear just waiting to go in so I will know first hand how they work. As for shifting into overdrive int he quarter I can just up my tire size and gain mph.

 

No matter what rear you go with, it'll be faster than what you have now, and that's all that matters.

I went with a 3.42 rear and gained a few cars on my brothers car from my factory 2.73s

 

Actually, I CAN comprehend . You didn't exactly make your point clear when you first stated that 4.10's would be slower than 3.73's (that's like saying a car with nitrous is slower than one without, but forgetting to mention you meant under a specific circumstance, ie: the bottle is disconnected, therefore the car w/nitrous is heavier than the one without! ).

I would ASSUME that if a person is setting their car up, they would optimize what they've got. What person would choose to cross the 1/4 mile in OD if they had the option not to? With my otherwise stock LS1, I was crossing the line doing ~107 mph, still well under the red-line, and in 3rd gear .

If/when you start modding to go FASTER than the limit of 3rd gear, chances are you're starting to get into more serious motor work. If you've done so, but neglected upgrading your valvetrain, then that's your own fault. Otherwise? You've got the ability to hold 3rd gear across the line and rev higher than ~6000 RPM (ie: ~6500, which can help get you upwards of ~120 mph).

Then as others have mentioned, taller tires will get you more speed again, still in 3rd.

But back to a relatively stock car, you won't hit 4th, so then 4.10's will still be faster than 3.73's .

 

I did make it clear. If you can comprehend as you say you did then clearly you just didn't read.

 

Buddy, what is your deal?! Really, I'm not trying to be a dick here, but you did NOT make yourself clear. Not until you posted this did you make your point:
..... initially you simply said: What didn't I read that you allegedly said that would have made me understand what you meant until/unless you posted your "in plain English" response?????

Anyway, I do understand the basis for your opinion that 4.10's may be slower in the 1/4 than 3.73's if one were to hit OD. I guess that's a circumstantial issue. And if 4.10's are so bad for the 1/4 mile, then why do so many guys run them with their M6's?? How many people do you think shift into 5th in the 1/4 mile?

 

I have 3.73 and i can not get traction until second gear so i think the 4.10 will just be a waste in gas and in performance. Automatic in our car have such a steep first 3.06 that it just doesnt make much sense to go to 4.10 gears. Just my .2

 

The M6 gearing is totally different. We were talking about A4s.

Common knowledge:
Optimal Gears for A4: 3.73s
Optimal Gears for M6: 4.10s

It's "common" for a reason.

 

My deal is EVERYTHING said to you in the post you speak of was already said in the first page of the thread. Had you read everything you would see this.

I said nothing new in that post, just REPEATED what I had already said.

You say I'm not making sense, I say you never read what I typed past my very first post on the first page. It's pretty cut and dry.

I'm not trying to argue, I just don't like when people pull "facts" from a thread about what someone has or hasn't said based off of SKIMMING.

 

LSWHO have you had 4.10's in an A4 car?

 

Optimal for what?

I think you mean is it's most people's opinion that those gears are the best compromise for a street/strip car.


Also lack of traction is not a reason to pick 3.73's over 4.10's. Thats like saying a car with a blower is slower because it has a traction problem. It's not slower, it just needs slicks.

 

Here's my first hand experience with my car and my weenie cammed n/a combo...With 3.73s and 275 50 R15 M/T radials (26" tall) I went 11.36 @ 119.75 with a 1.55 60'. When I switched to 4.10s and 275 60 R15 M/T radials (28" tall) I went the numbers in my sig...I was crossing at 6000 now, with the 28s and the 4.10s I'm at 63-6400 thru the traps...Both runs were made in similar weather conditions...

I highly recommend A4s to go with 4.10s if they switch to a 28" tire...I had the 4.10s in before I went with the 28s and it was hard to hook out of the hole...28s and 4.10s in an N/A A4 seem like the hot ticket...and I drive the thing everywhere...

--Alan