Top Gear....

[Kris H]

Definitely right about the driver although my tyres do look a bit more melted than I thought they were so I must be doing something right. Blaming it on the suspension gives me an excuse for the moment.

 

Will get the suspension when I can afford it though, but with the rims etc it's going to cost £3k which is the downside...

[Scott_Mac]

Ouch, ouch, ouch!

 

Thats a whole lot of cash!

 

At least Nitrons, 38's and Victories if you can find them are only around £2k for the S1....

[Ladders]

Kris, what have you done to yours then?

 

Thought You had just put a sport exhaust on?

 

Sounded damn nice whatever you'd done!

[Bramble111s]

What confuses me is why didn't Lotus put the 'better' aftermarket suspension on when they built it?

Would it not meet their weight or cost targets?

Or is it not better, but different? for track more than road?

noisier?

[Scott_Mac]

Harder ride, more expensive, lack of an expensive option at delivery time etc....

 

Most cars that come out of the factory have to balance cost, ability, appeal to as wide an audience as possible.... most press reviews rated the 135R as too hard and uncompromising for the road, i thought ti was fantastic...

[Simon G]

Kris, I would suggest that you do the Nitrons first, get a geo done at Horizon, stick with your wheels and tyres, see how you get on. I wouldn't recommend AO48's as an all year round tyre. You would be better off with Advans or Toyos. Speedline are bringing out some wheels for the S2 soon, I was told they will retail for around £6-700 all in. If you do it in stages you may end up saving yourself some money!

[Kris H]

Kris, what have you done to yours then?

 

Thought You had just put a sport exhaust on?

 

Sounded damn nice whatever you'd done!

Cheers - there's a hurricane and a crafty sports cat as well, and have obviously removed the induction resonator box thingy too, which is what makes the S2 111s so quiet. The sports cat I think does actually make quite a lot of difference since mine seemed louder than some of the other janspeeds according to what folks were saying.

 

Simon - you're probably right about the nitrons first - just that the understeer is really beginning to get on my wick and some wider rubber would be a good start. Think my rear tyres are a lot more knackered than I thought they were as well when I've actually looked at them more closely. Will keep an eye out for the speedlines too though - cheers for that.

[Scott_Mac]

If you want wider rubber... get some Toyo's, they are 195 on the front - or at least that is what Walshy runs.

[Kris H]

Don't know about that though since I think that the bridgestones are probably the better tyre and don't suffer from side wall flex, which I am mostly not wanting to have! I am trying to come up with a reason to justify the nitrons etc really.

[Scott_Mac]

You just need a little bit more air in the Toyo's... Walshy told me to stick an extra 2 in mine... which would mean running at 26/28

[Kris H]

I think Walshy buying them might be because they are cheaper though and I expect he goes through the odd set or 12!

[Scott_Mac]

Is car his on a maintained lease... apparantly they are now requesting a minimum of 5k miles from each set - he said maybe from the rears, but not the fronts!!! He claims to be very hard on the brakes so wears the fronts out first

 

Though he said he ordered a set on tuesday... and then again on wednesday

 

So i reckon he just likes them