sweet car. love it how are those shocks on the street compared to stock? I find stock pretty uncomfortable and crash hard if hit even small pothole.
I don't recall the stock Bilstein shocks being too impressive, but don't remember if they were harsh or not. It's been a long time. I switched them out rather quickly to 2-Way JRZ's... then to 2-Way TTX ohlins. The TTX has alot of settings, if you do not set them correctly, they can be horrible for the street. I believe the are designed with 550/650 spring rates. I did the most comfortable settings I could and they are now OK for the street. 450/550 would be perfect.
The adjustable bilsteins that came with the exige are considdered pretty trerrible by all concerned. The stock elise shocks are sublime lotus knew what they were doing and its all in balance with the springs. The track pack non adjustable bilsteins that were an option on the track pack elise are imo really good on the car, but brittle riding below 30mph unless the road is smooth, at higher speeds they just absorb. The lotus mantra is to have suspension compliance and let the suspension do the work, keeping the wheels on the road over a wide range of road conditions. Modding the cars with stiff shocks and springs imo looses a lot in terms of compliance, but may work better on track if the car has seriously upped hp. A major criticism of the alfa is that the suspesion is too stiff, making it skitish at the limit and not great on anything other than a really smooth surface. If you have light weight, a stiff tub and great geometry, springs and shocks can be softer to let the wheels and suspension work, the downside can be body lean, but if thats managed with good shocks its not an issue.. A lotus will feel different to some used to a german car which is all big tires and stiff springs. On my elise when I was tracking it I had ohlins, lately I put the track pack bilsteins back on the car, for the road to me its just better, more harmonious, and plenty of suspension still for R compunds and the occasional track day. While Im not necssarily a nitron fan I have driven some cars with Shinoo Nitrons and setup for enough street compliance they were great, and tightened for track had that stiffer feel. Recently i tested a friends elise with an intercooled 300whp TVs upgrade, short ratio box and nitrons. It was a completly different animal, still had complaince worked on track better than a street car should, and the way it charged through the gears, nothing like it Phenominaly enjoyable.. On My exige v6 I I run TTX, springs sold motor mounts. toe out in front etc etc but that car is track only and a long way from anything that would work on road. On my elise I moved on from the pagid rs14 to ferodo 2500 which as a road pad are simply phenominal and in a light elise work fine on the occasiona track day (along with 888R tires.) I run the stock tires on road. Even with the exige I still take the elise to the track, momentum cars have their own appeal and an elise is just so sublime to drive.
I drove Shinoo's Elise on the street as he was showing me his new suspension setup (not Nitrons) that he is releasing. I believe the spring rate setup is 200/300. Very smooth and precise. Went over bumps and holes like nothing. I was also trying out his shifter setup too
driving my elise today and concentrating on the ride, its really not so bad. problem is the seats have no padding and body makes crashing noises on even slightest bump. better seats and sound deadening would go a long way on the street
