Suspension Refresh Questions

[Alex 111s]

I'm considering doing a refresh on the suspension before my car goes back on the road in the spring and hoping some of you guys can advise.
Plan is to upgrade to adjustable dampers for a more 'fast road/track' focus but wondering if it is worthwhile doing the bushes and ball joints too. My car is an 03 reg & has done 45k - is it about time to do this or am I creating more work than necessary??

If I do go & do the bushes, is there a benifit of going to polyurethane bushes over Lotus OEM units? (I don't want to end up with too harsh a ride so Nyltron ones are not on the list.)

With respect to ball joints, after having read sme horror stories on quality & fit, where do people recommend buying these from? (Lotus only??)

cheers in advance for the advice.

Alex

[Shug]

Ball Joints - tend to be Eliseparts or Elise Shop - or Lotus themselves. There's a part number for generic alternative, but as you say, the fit is variable. EP, ES and Lotus will deffo fit.

Bushes - unless it's a race car, stick with the normal rubber. Wears brilliantly and has more than enough control for most applications (the LOT race cars have to use them and nobody moans)

As for the suspension, everyone has an opinion, but I'd not look past the Hofmans Nitron setup - compared to my standard Nitrons, it's night and day (drove Hambos car back to back with mine) and costs no more. If you don't want to spend Nitron money, I can't really advise from personal experience (as the Ledas I used to run are no longer made and were gash anyway, in hindsight)

[Alex 111s]

Thanks Shug.

As for the suspension, everyone has an opinion, but I'd not look past the Hofmans Nitron setup - compared to my standard Nitrons, it's night and day (drove Hambos car back to back with mine) and costs no more. If you don't want to spend Nitron money, I can't really advise from personal experience (as the Ledas I used to run are no longer made and were gash anyway, in hindsight)

not had any direct experience of a car with Nitrons (Hofman or otherwise) but I've been getting the info on them from Brian and he's convinced me to do it right/do it once rather than the cheaper options going about.

[Gourlay83]

Buy the the Correct Ball joints as above .......

I fitted 2 way Nitrons and love them as long as they are adjusted properly they don't have to be like concrete blocks. I was really surprised how firm but comfotable they were. Heard nothing but good things about Hofman's Nitrons.

I have had Billies but they weren't for me, way too soft. Didn't like the way the car felt at high speed and kept bottoming out under braking

M2P

Alan

[ABZ-Elise]

I've got hofmans nitrons and they are really good. With the bushes stay with standard. I've tried polyurethane and now I'm on nylatron, while both are good for the track they are high maintanance. Mine need stripped and regreased every now and again or they squeek and creek like hell, very temped just to put standard bushes back in.