Scottish Elises

I have recently acquired an Elise S2 Lotus Sport 135R.

Haven't owned an Elise before, but have owned quick cars (s2000 etc...). On a recent trip to Argyll (first proper run), I noticed the steering felt quite light around the straight ahead around 70mph. On way home, the road got a touch damp and the steering also went light at speed expect this time it was a bit more unnerving... Suspect the car was sliding but not sure?

Just wondering if these sensations are normal?

Thanks

I've had my Exige since feb and initially I felt the same. The steering on a lotus is like nothing else. Modern cars give you the same weight regardless of the state of the road tyres conditions etc. the lotus is so much more analog.

Check tyre pressures and age/tread and get a geo done if your worried about it but generally if the steering goes light grip is low e.g. Greasy wet road and if steering heavy and damped then loads of grip e.g. High traction surface.

Tyre pressures make a huge difference too as will old hard rubber especially in the wet.

Thanks, rear tyres have just been changed a couple of weeks ago. Fronts are older... Could be a factor. Tyre pressure were set at 27 rear and 25 front.

Interesting you felt the same. Appreciate the input.

G

What tyres do you have on it?

I am fairly new to elises and can't recall it feeling light at the front unless grip is reduced as ross mentioned.

Remember the Elise is a light car too so watch out for standing water when it's particularly wet as they can aquaplane - but you will feel it happening

The S2 135R suffered from a batch of tight ball joints - if yours are original you may well be feeling variable weight from the balljoints - though I think that's quite unlikely, it's worth checking out.

I would check the steering rack for wear (which might make the steering feel light in that there is some slack that will swap sides as you transition from left to right and vice versa) and also as was suggested above, check the geo.

The 135R has wider front tyres than the standard elise; which tyres do you have fitted?

Cheers,
Robin

My money is on worn rack. Experienced this a couple of times with my S1, Graham.

Great choice of variant, btw. S2 135R is almost as good as an S1

Knackered tyres can be quite unnerving. Although the fronts may look like they've got plenty of tread left, if the cars seen the track and they've been through a few heat cycles they could well have deformed and gone hard - I had this very issue on mine recently and it felt like the car was trying to throw me off the road. I assume you've got the same tyres front and back? If they're different that can affect things too.

Echo comments above regarding steering rack and tyres, but would also add that these cars are sensitive to the geo set up, so that may be another avenue to explore.

Tyres/Pressures/Geo will all have an impact. I haven't had an Elise but my S2 Exige felt very light and unnerving at the front but tracked round corners no problem @ 70mph +/- 10mph. I always felt the car was floating round rather than being planted though, even on new tyres. More often than not i'd lift off and stay neutral on the power until through the corner. I think that's more because that's what I do when out a blast on the bike than anything else. The S3 I have now feels much more planted out-the-box but I've still had Lotus Motorsport Vortex Generators fitted to the front which has improved the feel/feedback from the front quite a bit. Perhaps worth considering fitting a set on the S2.

Thanks guys,

Point noted re the rack. The only thing I'd say about that is that it all feels "tight". There is no knocking or play as such.
In terms of tyre's I had thought that. The car is on the correct OZ Racing wheels which have a wider front track. However, she's running Toyo Proxes T1R's and not the Yoko track tyres that the car was originally spec'd with. The rear's were changed by me just before my run to Argyll. The fronts, however, are slightly cracked and are next on the list I think... Maybe that's a factor? The do feel like they have gone hardish. On turn in, the car loads up well, as I said, however, there was this "light feeling", particularly when the road was damp... The car was shifting at the time though...

Noted re ball joint and tracking. I had wondered about the tracking myself.

Are any of you based in the North of Glagow? If so, I'll need to keep my eyes open?

Try a set of AD08Rs on the car. Should make the world of difference over cracked T1Rs, even uncracked T1Rs. thing is, as above, any number and combination of other elements may be sub optimum; track rod ends, ball joints, Geo, rack, upper column, universal joints. The biggest gain for me was new oem type bushes.They'll be 12 years old on that car now most likely.

My money is on the Front tyres being past their best.

If they are cracked it would suggest they're not in the best shape. Never been a fan of T1r's tbh. AD08's are relatively inexpensive at the moment and perfect for a road bias.

edit: similar to what Woody said.

As far as I'm aware, please correct me if I'm wrong but AD08 are not available in 195/50/16? My car is running AD08 rear and AD07 front, when I questioned this I was told it was because AD08 are not available in 175/55/16 so I did a quick search for 195/50/16 as an upgrade with a view to having the same all round but couldn't find a stockist. Seems a tricky size AD048 and Toyo 888R are available

I don't drive my car very often, and the one thing I struggle with initially is the lightness of the steering, so it is light compared to other cars and I certainly take a bit of time to recalibrate. All the key points have been mentioned, certainly the items I'd be checking, tyre condition / age, pressure and geometry. Pressure is the obvious one if you are noticing changes during a drive, ie if you have a high initial pressure it may be getting very high once things get heated up.