Whats the difference between 3.42 and 3.23 gears? All I know is that 3.42 are better and that M6 = 3.42, A4 = 3.23. What makes the 3.42 better and how does it drive differently?

 

3.42 and 3.23 are ratios - 3.42:1 or 3.23:1 (same goes for 2.73's / 3.73's / 4.10's, etc).

The higher the number, the "lower" the gear ratio is. If you've noticed a lot of 6-speed guys run 4.10's in their car. What this means is that instead of it taking only 3.42 turns of the driveshaft to get 1 turn from the axles (3.42:1) it will take 4.10 turn to get 1 from the axles (this means the engine will rev higher per given speed).

As a rule, most guys stop at 3.73's with their auto, and go to 4.10's with 6-speed.

With an auto and 3.23's, it's not worth changing to 3.42's because there's not much of a change. But what all lower ratios will do is make the car rev more on the highway, BUT they will give you much better acceleration off the line (that's the prime motive for running lower gears).

Hope that helps??

 

Are you looking to get difrent gears? Someone local here in MD is selling a rear with 3:73 gears reall cheap. Let me know, i could help ya do the install and give ya a few dollars for your current rear (that i will use as a spare)

Send me an email if you want ASadler@zalco.com