Eibach Springs

[AL G]

Good Morning,

 

Was having a look under my car (as you do) - and was having a look at the recent new red Koni's the previous owner fitted.. The springs are "Eibach" - i think thats how it was spelled.. Are these standard ?

 

I'm saving up for S2 suspension anyway from Steve Butts ( advice from you lot, as Nitrons are way more than I need ) so this is just a random question really.

 

Cheers !

[juicetin]

Yes Eibach springs are standard on S1 and S2 shocks. They are extremely good.

[AL G]

cheers mate, just wondered . . .

 

Thought I'd clicked an extra "Mod" that the last owner didn't tell me about.. (Like the Janspeed Stainless exhaust I discovered recently ;0) - I thought it was blowing when it was back fireing ha ha

 

 

It almost makes up for the fooked window that took me weeks, and £90 to fix !

[Martin R]

Alasdair, im having my Bilsteins fitted Friday i will give you a report on them

[juicetin]

You simply wont believe how much better the Bilsteins are, however after 4-5k miles mine are starting to sound like the old Konis. This may just be mine though and i'll have a chat with Steve Butts.

[AL G]

cheers to ya both, look forward to reports..

 

What ride hight are you going/have you gone for ?

[juicetin]

I think it works out at about 125mm front and 140mm rear on my car.

 

highest circlip, ie. lowest ride height at the front

Middle circlip, ie.. middle ride height at the back

 

If I were getting them fitted now i would go for the lowest ride height at the rear too.

 

Cheers

JE

[Martin R]

Ive gone for 125 / 135. £545 including postage from Steve. I cant wait

[Martin R]

Ive just got back from Horizon after having the Bilsteins fitted. I had a small detour for a road test. My Koni,s must have been about shot, what a difference. The Geo has also helped as well. It will have to have a real road test on the Notts run. Hold on tight Liz The car now feels very very stable

[Martin R]

Liz and i have just given the blue bomber a road test. Its my first lotus so i have nothing to compare it with. I have heard people say the Bilsteins transform the car and i can only agree. How much is down to the Bilsteins and how much is down to Mikes geo i dont know. The car on Konis appeared to oversteer a bit. I was happy with this although it did give me a couple of suprises exiting roundabouts in the wet. I quite like cars to oversteer a tad, its a personal choice i suppose. The car on Bilsteins feels very neutral and once you get used to it first class and very stable. I will not miss the billard ball knocking sounds. All in all well worth the money

[GCCK]

Mike's geo does dial in a fair bit of understeer. Too much IMO - to the extent that I'm taking it back to him to make it more "pointy" again. Since he won't divulge his settings, it's hard to know what's needed. I've also noticed increased wear on the INSIDE of my rear tyres since getting the geo.

 

As set, it's great on road as you often want to shed speed in unpredictable bends, so removal of lift-off oversteer is A GOOD THING in such circumstances. On track, however, it's a liability - at Donington I was having to turn in still on the brakes, and steer on the throttle, at the expense of outright speed.

 

On the other hand, I've got Mike's geo on 5-year old Koni LSS... The S2 spring/damper units are such an improvement due to their compliance - manifested in much better ride and also traction - since the contact patches stay better loaded by the faster acting suspension.

 

Martin, it would be worth playing around with tyre pressures - did Mike mention this to you? He suggested to me running 22F/24R on 195/225 Advans, when WARM - softer even than the handbook suggests for cold settings. Be worth experimenting - Elise is very sensitive to tyre pressure: more in the front might make it lighter again and turn-in better, but you'd be sacrificing grip for balance.

[Martin R]

Mike did mention running 22 / 24. Im only a poor man i have to make do with Toyo T1, R. I do prefer a bit of oversteer. As i said to start with im a bit of a novice but the way it handles at the moment is nothing short of a revelation In my novice opinion this is bang on for the road. If you are a track day man a bit more oversteer is required. Im sure Mike could dial it in if you asked. I also think the tyre,s you use have a large inflence on it.

[Steve J]

Why do you need oversteer for a track, I thought a neutral balance would be best. All race cars seem to be trying to get a neutral balance, even filtering to road cars now.

 

[GCCK]

Why do you need oversteer for a track, I thought a neutral balance would be best.  All race cars seem to be trying to get a neutral balance, even filtering to road cars now.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Precisely! Neutral is what you want, to maximise grip front & rear.

 

At the moment it's set up for too much understeer, so to get BACK to neutral, you have to "add" oversteery characteristics.

[malbon]

and of course...sometimes you want to go past neutral for some fun

 

going past the neutral point and squeeling on your front tyres is not fun.

 

going past the neutral point and squeeling on your rears are !