Suspension Upgrades

[Gedi]

I did 5000 miles in mine without hardly marking the tyres.

Did 1 trackday and nearly killed them ........ lol.

If your not gonna do track days, I would imagine 15000 miles is possible.

[MyElise]

How do these tyres compare to the Azenis?

[jtanner]

Yokohamas in general aren't known for high-mileage tires. On two separate occasions, I wore out AVS Sports in less than 5000 miles on the street in my Toyota Supra Turbo with moderate driving. On the other hand, I got more than 10,000 miles out of a set of BFG KDW's before I killed them at a lapping day at TGPR. They still had 50% tread left when I arrived at the track.

Jim

[stijne]

ohlins.. best for a bike.. best for a car.. and the lotus exige s2 runs very good on it.. its very adjustable and it leaves room to fiddle when you go from a smooth track to a track with a lot of camber need...

[mcs22004]

So if you're going to modify the suspension there's no point in getting the sport package. Correct?

[jtanner]

Well, there's still the lighter wheels and tires...

Jim

[mcs22004]

So the real question is whether the sport package is worth $2,480.00. I don't even like the wheels, so I'd probably want something else. Then there's the whole warranty issue with changing out the corners.

[JRZ]

JRZ is very strong in making Lotus Elise suspension kits. Mainly in Europe, but we would like to get into the U.S. market as well. JRZ has a lot of experience in racing but for the Lotus Elise a special single adjustable street set up is developed.

The suspension will make a difference, even when the original set up is a good one. The JRZ could be used as a street/track suspension. A big advantage is the big adjustment range of the JRZ damper.

[Patricko]

Originally posted by JRZ
JRZ is very strong in making Lotus Elise suspension kits. Mainly in Europe, but we would like to get into the U.S. market as well. JRZ has a lot of experience in racing but for the Lotus Elise a special single adjustable street set up is developed.

The suspension will make a difference, even when the original set up is a good one. The JRZ could be used as a street/track suspension. A big advantage is the big adjustment range of the JRZ damper.

You should talk to Shinoo at www.sector111.com they are the best Elise guys in the USA.

[LastToy]

Good to see that a manufacturer of an exceptional suspension solutions is on this board. Perhaps you can take the time to compare and contrast the difference between your setup (JRZ) versus your offsprings like Moton and ProTrac??? It would be very informative for all the forum members. Furthermore, and more interesting to me, it would be great if you can compare (argue) why one may argue that JRZ suspension technology is superior to Ohlins, which has great reputation in the racing scene as well.

Will a solution be available for the Elise that utilizes rubber bushings rather than spherical barings... given that it's a street/track setup? My experience and complaint with the spherical setup is that they make too much damn noise.

Thanks.

[JRZ]

As you may know, JRZ started first. The owners of Protrac and Moton used to work with JRZ. When the owner left JRZ and started Moton, the product JRZ was copied by Moton. Protrac also used the technology from JRZ.

JRZ has been looking to get more affordable kits on the market and that is why the single adjustable damper has been developed. Good news is that we will produce the aftermarket suspensions for Dinan BMW and Callaway Corvette.

The difference between an Ohlins and a JRZ is the difference in damping philosofy. JRZ uses the big diameter pistonrod to create large fluid displacements at small movements of the suspension in compression. A very accurate adjustable blow off valve controls the compression displacement of the fluid. Also, a big advantage, specially for racing purposes, is the lifting force of the damper. Because the diameter of the pistonrod is big, the damper creates a lifting force of 150 pounds at 250 Psi nitrogen gas pressure. This helps the car so much in corners, a lot of stability is managed.
Further, the rebound is controlled by very precise drilled orifices. These orifices can be closed or opened by the adjuster.

If more information is required, you can always contact JRZ.

[max.slade]

Edgar,

how do you get -1.5 in front and -2.0 in the rear? If you remove all of the shims you don't get that much negative camber.

thanks,
-ms

Originally posted by edgar


Hello everyone,

Greetings from Hong Kong.

In order to bring out the best of your S2 Elise

I would first recommend that you should change your front tyes to 195/50 and rear tyres to 225/45 and there is only one tyre: Yokohama 048 LTS compound which is about M-S compound

As regards to suspension, I have tested standard, LSS, Nitrons and Dynamics kits with different spring rates and damper rates and alignment settings.

As a general rule, for road use S2's, it would be best to leave everything standard ( that means checking after delivery all the alignment settings and ride height are at standard ) I have tested the S2 quite extensively on track and the factory settings provide a stable and good fun car to drive. The rear would break away progressively with lots of signals until it spins if you don't try to correct it.

The ultimate is to change back to 6.5Jx15" fronts and 8Jx 16" rears for really good and soft compounds and the handling will be transformed.

It is not recommended to lower the ride height to below 120mm front/130mm rear without steering rack plates to align the steering arms.

The LSS is a good track-road compromise with increased spring rates but works best with ride height at 110/120mm and increased front camber to -1.5 degrees and -2 degrees at the rear.

If you drive long trips on motorways, the front toe out may be adjusted to zero toe to tame the wayward straight line stability at the expense of a less eager front to turn in which makes it less tiring.

Nitrons NTX I have on my Silver S1 and is more track biased which has ceased production and now they come up with the new NTR series, rebuildable as well. I go upto 450/500lbs springs on track.

Dynamics are 2 ways adjustables running in excess of 500lb springs and is for track use.

AVO is rubbish and so are Spax.

One more tip is to use Nylatron wishbone bushings for best response and directness.

Will post on brakes separately.

If you get a chance to test the S1, you must do so and see the difference between the original S1 and S2.

[Autofy]

Has Anyone had any experience with the Spax Fully Adjustable suspension from England?

[LastToy]

but Spax is generally viewed as a cheap alternative. It may be a "downgrade."

[MyElise]

Spax shocks work amazingly well considering that they use "old" technology.

The problem is that the expected life of the equipment is about 6 months and there is no support from the company.