I agree with saturn........short of a suspension engineer responding to this thread, no one here is going to be able to answer your question. So, everyone else's comments are just going to be guesses......which are basically useless.

So here is my best guess......with the added weight of three additional adult passengers you would probably exceed the limits of the tires long before the limits of the suspension......so stop worrying.

 

Excuse me but what is the point of getting a sports car if you aren't going to drive it spiritedly from time to time? There is suspension wear every day that you go out and drive it. Shocks loose their dampening force, rubber bushings get worn. They are wear items. Unless you hit something or bottoming out, i don't see how this would accelerate wear much more than if you drove that way alone. DRIVE!

 

I can say this much, sports cars are made to be driven spiritedly. Other than increased wear on wheel bearings and suspension elements, you can actually break stuff.

by breaking stuff I mean you might lose control of your rear end and the wheels might slam into the curb and break your rear axle, driving with a full will make it easier for you to lose control. the side forces might also rip your rims right of the wheel hubs, although the wheels SHOULD lose traction long before that happens, I'm sure it happens next to never.

I've done some stupid passing on curves in my life which scared the crap out of me while and after I did it, I'd only drive hard on a track an empty road or a large vacant parking lot with nothing to run into.

 

HAHA that's great. Anyways, I love how all of ya'll call it "spirited driving." It's a nice way of saying, "driving the car way too fast."

 

spirited driving is like... accelerating fast and revving high for me.

very hard to do with people in the car. it's fine if i only have one passenger, but when there are people in the back, it kinda sucks. car feels way too heavy.

 

this post is dumb to me

you can fill the car to the top and hook up two trailors and it'll be fine .. it's show-off-driving thats a problem here not wear of the car

do your shoes wear out more when you run through mud or when you walk on carpet .. nah .. dont feel like saying anythign else

 

I was really just wondering if other people have done much spirited driving with 4 people in the car, and if so did it cause any problems. As far as filling the car to the top and hauling trailers while driving hard, obviously that could cause problems. The shoe analogy, not a good comparison. Thanks for responding though.

 

I'd wager that most of the accidents that occur with 4+ occupants are probably more due to the fact that teens and young adults are driving with thier friends which are either a distraction or an impetus to show off and "overdrive" the car.

I can see additional wear on the engine, tranny, differential, axles, tires, brakes, frame, suspension etc since all of these systems will be affected by the car having to cope with the additional load.
Of course, it's a continuum, not a binary state.
Is it harder on the car? Yes.
Will it break your car? There's no easy way to tell.
Will it put more wear on various components than if you did the same thing with a lighter load? Definitely.

How much depends on how much (additional mass, how hard you push it, etc).

 

Generally speaking, you'd skid off and crash before you could inflict enough forces to structurally damage the car, if that's what you're asking.

 

In which case you've really sharted the bed.

 

You mean like this?:

 

Hahahahaaaaaa........

Ok, here's my 2 cents.... with the extra weight you can overload the tire traction at lower speed. Like someone said earlier the limit is just lower with the extra weight. You are not damaging anything but if you did hear your suspension ran out of travel at the rear, frequent occurrence will damage something.

 

that pic is funny as hell

 

looks like a tad more than 300 between your three sons!

 

LMAO!!!