Newbie question

[Andy wright]

Quite a difference in bare wheel weight. The o.e rears were 9.8kg, the 16” Konig are 6.8. At the front, the Konig are 5.5kg and the o.e ones 8.1kg. I did not weigh the tyres, but will save about a kg from each. Ride height will come down by 12-13 mm but I have the American spec Bilsteins which ride at 135mm so coming down to 123mm I hope will not cause me too many difficulties . Fair point about contact patch, though I can compensate by going up in width at some point as the wheels will take a wider tyre. Photos to follow and I will report on how it feels and any differences that I can detect. I do know that on my previous car( Golf) reducing the unsprung weight by changing brake callipers, discs and fitting Enkei wheels ( saving about 9kg per corner ) the ride and suspension response was transformed. I don’t expect anything like the same effect on the Elise and I am trying to keep an open mind . 

[DeanB]

That's a big saving. You could save even more with ally-belled discs.

Some people say that S1 Elises turn in better than S2s because of the smaller, lighter wheels. I haven't driven enough S1s in anger to form an opinion.

[Andy wright]

It is. Next plan is for the 2 piece rotors , once my bank account has recovered . I do need new front discs anyway pretty soon, so a disc and pad ( and maybe caliper ) change is on the cards .. Plan ‘b’ on the caliper is to machine , drill and tap a new 10x1 mm side feed on the o.e calliper and get rid of the top feed which causes such a nuisance when bleeding . 

 

[DeanB]

I can recommend Carbon Lorraine RC5+ pads for the front. Great retardation and feel plus they work from cold.

[Andy wright]

Thanks for the suggestion. At the moment I have Mintex 1144 . They are not bad but rather dusty ( not that I am too bothered about that ) I have the S2 Toyota with the brake servo. The actual retardation is very good, but the pedal feel is not great and, more to the point, the transition from no braking to more than I really want is abrupt. Can be awkward in traffic . I may try a larger brake master cylinder which will have the effect of giving me a bit less travel and need a bit more pedal effort . The other option is to go for a full twin master cylinder arrangement with bias bar and bin the servo. That starts to get expensive but as part of a full brake upgrade , could be interesting. 

[DeanB]

I've had the 1144s. They are OK, but CLs are in a different league.

The best set up I've had was CL RC5+ on the front axle and RC6s on the rear axle. The RC6 a greater coefficient of friction which helps the rears to do more work - I think the oem brake bias is very conservative. The RC6s do chew through discs though.

I have a Rover car so no servo, which I prefer. I had a VX220 before which had the servo and ABS set up which I didn't like because of the weight!

[Andy wright]

27 minutes ago, DeanB said:

I've had the 1144s. They are OK, but CLs are in a different league.

The best set up I've had was CL RC5+ on the front axle and RC6s on the rear axle. The RC6 a greater coefficient of friction which helps the rears to do more work - I think the oem brake bias is very conservative. The RC6s do chew through discs though.

I have a Rover car so no servo, which I prefer. I had a VX220 before which had the servo and ABS set up which I didn't like because of the weight!

Thanks . That is a very helpful suggestion. Perhaps my first step is to replace the discs and go with your pad suggestion and see how all that feels . And yes, my system is exactly the same as the vx220 . And I agree about the weight 

[Andy wright]

And here they are. Konig Decagram, bespoke hubcentric spacers with Lotus 56.5mm to Konig 73.1 , 10mm up front and 8mm at the rear. Tyres are Nankangs finest ( well, AR1 ‘s but it amazing how good they feel when that have cost nothing. )

 If anything, front could be 5mm lower as at the moment the car now sits at 125mm all round and it needs a bit of rake. Anyway, first drive up the road and impressions; the suspension is a little less ‘ jittery ‘ over poor road surfaces. Tyres are no more noisy than the AD08Rs ( but then how can we Elise drivers tell? ) and the turn -in and grip are phenomenal . Downside, is that the front end tramlines more readily , but that I think is exclusively down to tyres. 

[DeanB]

You're probably right that the tramlining is caused by the tyres - do they have stiff sidewalls?

I previously had Toyo 888s - which have stiff sidewalls - and with Nitron springs and dampers it tramlined horrifically. As soon as I changed the tyres to V105s it cured it. Night and day different.

[Andy wright]

Yup. Brick walls for sidewalls . That’s the price of great turn-in . 

[Andy wright]

24 hr road trip with my son ( MX5 ) and my Nephew ( Mk2 Golf GTI ). Nankangs weee no where near as bad in the wet as I had imagined. ( yes, it poured all morning in North Yorkshire with) In fact, they never once gave me a fright. However,, my Nephew who was following me for part of the trip did advise me that some of the led’s in the brake lights no longer work. More expense. Bugger 

[Andy wright]

MOT due in a couple of weeks so I thought I would do a few basic checks. One number plate light out. Trip to Halfords for some new bulbs. Bulbs replaced though the housings were pretty ropey. Did the bulbs fix the problem. ? Nope. Wiring check and problem revealed . I ended up removing the boot loom , tracing the faulty wire and replacing it . And then ordered a pair of new number plate lights as mine were pretty well juiced . 

[Andy wright]

Lights arrived and fitted. And a new outer lamp to fix the ailing led problem. Rear lights are not cheap.

 

[mattb130]

2 hours ago, Andy wright said:

Lights arrived and fitted. And a new outer lamp to fix the ailing led problem. Rear lights are not cheap.

 

Nope they aren’t cheap, there is a person advertising on eBay a repair service for the rear lamps. But if you think they are expensive don’t look at the headlights thats a new world of pain. 

[Andy wright]

And the next tedious update. The dash. Or rather the lcd bit . That worked rather  like the indicators; most off and then on and off. I read on the Lotus Talk site about someone who had pulled their dash apart and shown the connection pins to the LCD the hot end of a soldering iron. Removal of the dash was straight forward. Pulling the Stack dash apart to remove the PCB was a bit more tricky; the really had bit was persuading the speedo and Rev counter needles to come off. The latter was a nightmare as eventually the needle came with the drive spindle ( not supposed to happen ) and putting said spindle back in motor made it bend. Straightening it made it snap so I was now short of a 2mm diameter hardened steel pin . My wife’s sewing kit came to the rescue in the form of a darning needle. Anyway, modified needle and superglue gave me a ‘ new ‘ Rev counter needle drive shaft. For how long will be harder to say . 
And does the LCD display now work ? Yep.Will it work tomorrow. ? No idea but I will find out .