Elise Suspension
Apolito Ghosh
One of the great things about being a car guy in CA is that there is a large number of fellow addicts around. This means that if you ever want to put some high dollar upgrades on a car you can usually find someone with a similar setup and get some first hand info about it. The latest to take advantage of this was Vincent from the GGLC who has been thinking of getting a set of single adjustable coilovers for his Elise and was having a tough time deciding between the Nitron 46mm Race Pro 1-Way and the BWR Penske Single Adjustable. Since the shocks run $2500+ he sent out some feelers on the forums and was able to get 3 cars together to try some back to back to back driving on some interesting roads for a highly subjective and completely unscientific comparison.
Route
The road we used for the test was CA-35 from CA-92 upto Alices Restaurant which is an extremely bumpy road with lots of cracks and undulations. It is however quite a twisty road so is very popular with sports cars, bikers and cyclists. We also did drive La Honda road from Alices down to CA-1 but that section of road is so smooth that we could barely tell the difference and ended up using the original stretch again.
This was far from a scientific test and is basically about subjective feel of the various suspensions on a fairly bumpy road. We did not have any specific test criteria going into this and just wanted to drive all 3 cars. I am just going to describe my feedback from all 3 in the order I drove them:
In the end if you want a good aftermarket suspension you cant really go wrong with either of these options and both vendors will work further with you to come up with the right package for your specific needs. They are both a massive upgrade over stock in terms of drivability and I wish I had bought them years ago instead of waiting 90k miles to make the change.
Hello Gents,new to this forum,i`ve been an S1 owner for 9 years,and undertake most servicing and repairs myself,i`ve just subjected the car to the S2 suspension upgrade,and taken it for a short test drive around the block a few times, the car feels alot different,especialy the steering it feels very light tuning into corners,is this normal? it seems to have lost it`s feel? i`ve not driven an S2 so i don`t know what the difference is?
something i'd not considered actually, i quite like the feel of mine, if i do go for an upgrade, i hope it would feel right afterwards, saying that ive driven gerags and been a passenger in martin's and ladders and all felt damn fine!
John, the S2 suspension itself won't make your car feel like an S2. There's a few differences between the S1 and S2 that make it feel different, the wheel and tyre size, the length of wishbones and the Geo.
Hello again Gents, an update regarding my suspension problems,the car was found to very twitchy on a longer drive,lots of head scratching, wheels off again, checked the part numbers of springs and dampers,the front springs were incorrect,s2 springs instead of lighter vx220 springs.called the supplier and exchanged the said units for the vx ones.Changed and taken for a test drive, still very light steering and twitchy! I`d also changed to the track rod ends at the same time? A call to the suppliers confirmed they had supplied s2 track rod ends which are 1/4" longer than s1 items,thus making the car toe in and making the car feel like it did S--T.
Also fitted new track rod ends and these were S2 on my S1 as recommeded by most people as they are more durable than original S1 units. Yes they are longer so you have to remove one [of the two] locking nuts and definately get the tracking reset asap; I thought I'd got mine spot on using verniers but it was stil out - if you made no adjustments it will be terrible and shred your tyres!
Here you'll find a full range of air suspension parts that are specifically designed to fit your Lotus Elise 2nd Gen (2002-2011). From all-in-one complete air ride kits that have everything you need to bag your Lotus Elise, to individual parts and pieces like control arms and camber plates. Bag Riders has it all. We even carry multiple lines of coilovers and coilover conversion bags if you're looking to bag your Lotus Elise 2nd Gen (2002-2011) on a budget.
It's time to bag your Lotus Elise 2nd Gen (2002-2011). Bag Riders offers a full range of air suspension parts and pieces that are specifically designed to fit your Lotus Elise. From complete air ride kits that have everything you need from the air management to the air suspension itself, to parts like control arms and camber plates - Bag Riders has it all. We even carry multiple lines of coilovers and coilover conversion bags if you're looking to get your Lotus Elise set up with air suspension on a budget.
Air ride suspension doesn't need to be complicated and that's where Bag Riders comes in. Our huge selection of air ride products, our unbeatable customer service, and our built in house complete air ride kits and management packages mean you can get that custom air ride kit of your dreams with ease. Bag Riders is here to make sure you have the best air ride experience possible. Not sure where to start? Reach out, ask us all the questions, and let us help you get your Lotus Elise 2nd Gen (2002-2011) on air suspension.
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DNA Racing has devised and created a series of kits to improve the work of the suspension and steering of the Lotus Elise Toyota engine. The kits include anti-roll bars, top mounts, uniball bars, suspension arms and tie rods kit.
All material presented on this site and generally sold by LAM Engineering Ltd., is intended to professionals and to use only COMPETITIVE, such as car racing. Therefore such material, because its intended use, is free from any form of warranty. For the same reasons LAM Engineering disclaims any liability relating to the misuse of such material on a public road.
The Ultimate Nitron solution for your track-driven Lotus! These triple adjustable racing shocks offer uncompromising performance and superior precision tuning for those who demand the best suspension. The Race Pro shock is a development of the 40mm GT3 kit but built from 46mm race components. A 16mm piston rod transfers more oil to the reservoir for improved fine bump control. This is a full race shock, the larger piston providing more control over the very short shock motions found under braking and corner exit under power. Nitron suspensions are THE preferred kit for Lotus track day enthusiasts and successful Lotus race teams.
Our suspension range includes the top names in aftermarket suspension development. A working understanding of these products and good relationships with the manufacturers allows us to provide our customers with the precise installation and accurate set-up for giving the best possible ride and handling experience. Whether you are looking for road, track or race equipment or setup we can help and advise you based on your requirements.
An in-house 3D digital imaging wheel alignment system allows us to make micro adjustments to all aspects of your geometry and wheel-alignment. This allows your new suspension to be perfectly setup once installed.
Road, track and race options are available in one-way, two-way and three-way adjustable formats and can be shipped via mail order or installed and fully set up by our experienced technicians here in our workshops. We can also offer track-side fine-tuning for our customers where we are able to help them get the best from their cars ride and handling after changes have been made.
We are pleased to be the UK importer for JRZ Suspension Engineering for all Lotus applications. JRZ factory support during the 2012 Elise Trophy and Lotus Cup UK series helped us achieve 10 podium finishes and 8 1st place wins for drivers in our Lotus Elise 111R race car fitted with the JRZ Race One-Way Adjustable suspension kit. This success was continued with our S1 and new Cup R cars, through 2013 and 2014.
There is a lot we can do to refresh the suspension of a Lotus Elise or Exige, from changing the wishbone bushes and bolts through to refurbishing the wishbone arms, to changing all the ball joints, drop links and track rod ends.
For when you want to push the car harder on road or track, the bushes can be upgraded to a stronger material, to prevent unwanted movement in the suspension. The Ertacetal option is the ideal fast road or track day bush material, but it does make for a noisier car.
Please note that our prices assume the suspension components come apart easily. On older cars with corroded components, additional labour may be required to dismantle, clean up and reassemble, and this would be at extra cost.
Has anyone ever done this? I'm sure that there will be clearance issues with the bell housing, but the subframe could be modified to fit. The question is if it's worth the trouble? I'm thinking of something along the lines of a Subaru/Porsche 915 transmission.
Dunno if he's thinking this way but I've often wondered if that could be adapted to a 914; add upgraded engine, trans, brakes and suspension geometry all in one fell swoop. Plus have it easily removeable for repairs.
If its a way to get an affordable transmission that can handle more than 350ftlbs, that also has good gearing for road racing AND auto-x, and it has the fringe benefit of moving weight rearward I'm all ears.
I keep going back to this - The Frankenfiat has such a bodacious power-to-weight ratio that the rear swingarm suspension seems like the big weak-point in realizing the car's potential. So if I were to graft on the Miata rear subframe/suspension, the rear end would be significantly wider than the front. Porsche has done this repeatedly - most notably on the 930. What would the handling ramifications of doing that be? In theory, with a rigid chasis (not yet!) the wider rear track would experience more unweighting of the inside rear tire, which would help rotation. But I'm sure that there are other dynamic forces at play. What says the brain trust?
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