Scottish Elises

Following discussions with Craig at the legs breakfast meet at murrys the other week it was noticed that I have a wee snapped spring at the rear. Springs look shot to bit and dampners are at least 6 year old so was considering buying new dampners and springs as it might be as near to refurb with new springs as buy new. Craig has suggested that the bilstiens would be a good option as the car is used predominately on the road and relatively maintenance free against the nitrous who recommend servicing each year. What's the general opinion/experience on replacement dampners and spring options available? Be good to hear what peoples experiences are of each.

For general road, Bilsteins. However, they do require some looking after in the long term as they're prone to spring platforms corroding and can leak.

I quite liked the Quantums recently, but they're more expensive than the Bilsteins and probably more like Nitrons in terms of upkeep.

What's ion your car just now? If I remember correctly it has Spax, Gaz, Avo or similar? Any of the above should be an improvement over any of these at this age.

I don't really know exactly what is on the car. I know about 4 years ago I had the rear ones refurbed and they went to protech and I played about with the settings on tut towers 2010. I think they are good for the bin though and just looking to see what would be best to throw on it just now. I can't believe you remember what's on my car and I dont even know haha!

Mine is on Bilstiens - which I had refurbed last year. I use it mostly on road, with some track use. I find them perfect for my requirements, and the refurb was not too expensive either.

You are welcome to have shot in mine to see what they are like.

Dominic wrote:Mine is on Bilstiens - which I had refurbed last year. I use it mostly on road, with some track use. I find them perfect for my requirements, and the refurb was not too expensive either.

You are welcome to have shot in mine to see what they are like.

Yours are quite a bit stiffer in terms of the damping and a bit stiffer in spring rate than the standard Bilsteins. Not sure you can get the LSS any more either?

woody wrote:

Dominic wrote:Mine is on Bilstiens - which I had refurbed last year. I use it mostly on road, with some track use. I find them perfect for my requirements, and the refurb was not too expensive either.

You are welcome to have shot in mine to see what they are like.

Yours are quite a bit stiffer in terms of the damping and a bit stiffer in spring rate than the standard Bilsteins. Not sure you can get the LSS any more either?

Ah I see. Well in that case I'll hang on to my spare set too... (was contemplating selling, but won't now)

Still welcome to a shotty of LSS billies Scott!

I've got the Gen1 Nitron Street Series on my S1 after the rears sheared after TT2010. Certainly an noticeable improvement on the originals

I have s2 bilstiens, perfect for my needs, but then I have no other comparison, other than shot konis..

I'd always suggest going down the Bilstein route for a purely road car, rather than the more low-volume options. They were originally developed for road use, are actually pretty sophisticated in operation compared to some aftermarket stuff and you don't have the issues with constant servicing - as long as you're maintaining the car generally well.

Yep, they occasionally leak and you want to keep an eye on the alloy collars, but a damper is a wear item on any car, so nothing is truly fit and forget. For my money, Billies are as close as can be, for the Elise.

Track use, different story.

Thanks for all the input guys! I think general consensus is the billies then. I'll have a look into that as in the 6 years or so ownership I've been on track 3 or 4 times so makes sense purchasing for general road use, and hopefully an improvement to what is on the car now.

Hi mate,

I had billies fitted at the end of last year, along with a ton of other work. Welcome to try if you're anywhere near Aberdeen? Had shot LSS fitted before which were pretty damn firm for the road (particularly bad on crap roads...)

there's a set of 2011 bilstein dampers on seloc for £575 the set, unused and being sold by junks. Needs the s1/s2 brackets though.

Your car was sounding sweet at Murray's. Having Nitrons, they are quite a lot harsher on the road. As Shug suggests they only really come into their own on track.

Bilsteins in std form all the way, Scott

I would suggest quantum zeros.

They are designed for road use predominantly, and are far better at this than new billy's (IMHO)

they also will easily out last the billy's