Lotus Elise Brakes
Discussion
Hi,
I have fallen in love with a car I would like to buy however I am concerned about the brakes.
3-5 mile test drive at speeds up to 80 but I was only passenger.
when I looked around the car after the test drive I noticed that the discs were not all shiny.
there was also a sound of scraping occasionally when braking at slow speeds.
all four discs showed signs of very light rust on the surface, the sort of rust that my car would scrape off while reversing out the drive.
the car has only done 100 miles in last two years , it was MOT in may 14, no advisory on brakes.
The owner said he would take it to Kwickfit (did the MOT) and ask them to re run the MOT brake test.
he says that lotus brakes need to be warmed up
he says that the pads take a long time to dry and they washed the car 2 weeks ago.
do I buy or walk away ?
(Lotus Elise S2 2002 £10 000 72000 miles)
I have fallen in love with a car I would like to buy however I am concerned about the brakes.
3-5 mile test drive at speeds up to 80 but I was only passenger.
when I looked around the car after the test drive I noticed that the discs were not all shiny.
there was also a sound of scraping occasionally when braking at slow speeds.
all four discs showed signs of very light rust on the surface, the sort of rust that my car would scrape off while reversing out the drive.
the car has only done 100 miles in last two years , it was MOT in may 14, no advisory on brakes.
The owner said he would take it to Kwickfit (did the MOT) and ask them to re run the MOT brake test.
he says that lotus brakes need to be warmed up
he says that the pads take a long time to dry and they washed the car 2 weeks ago.
do I buy or walk away ?
(Lotus Elise S2 2002 £10 000 72000 miles)
The brakes on an Elise are no different to a "normal" car, apart from the fact that it doesn't have a servo so you need more apply pedal pressure. They do not need warming up.
A scraping noise could mean metal on metal.
The rust should disappear after a few miles. If it doesn't it could mean siezed calipers or pitted or worn discs.
Edited to say washing the car will make no difference to the barkes that would be noticed after two minutes let alone two weeks.
A scraping noise could mean metal on metal.
The rust should disappear after a few miles. If it doesn't it could mean siezed calipers or pitted or worn discs.
Edited to say washing the car will make no difference to the barkes that would be noticed after two minutes let alone two weeks.
Edited by grumpy on Wednesday 10th September 19:18
grumpy said:
The brakes on an Elise are no different to a "normal" car, apart from the fact that it doesn't have a servo so you need more apply pedal pressure. They do not need warming up.
A scraping noise could mean metal on metal.
The rust should disappear after a few miles. If it doesn't it could mean siezed calipers or pitted or worn discs.
Edited to say washing the car will make no difference to the barkes that would be noticed after two minutes let alone two weeks.
Thanks Grumpy.A scraping noise could mean metal on metal.
The rust should disappear after a few miles. If it doesn't it could mean siezed calipers or pitted or worn discs.
Edited to say washing the car will make no difference to the barkes that would be noticed after two minutes let alone two weeks.
Edited by grumpy on Wednesday 10th September 19:18
Im pleased I asked.
If it's only done 100 miles in the past 2 years I'm not surprised the discs are a bit rusty - probably need a few good hard stops to clean 'em up properly. Although the rust might look the same as the sort your car would scrape off reversing off the drive, if the car's been used that little it could take a bit more brake use to shift. A search on pistonheads for rusty discs will turn up threads on a variety of owners of different makes/models of cars having rust that takes a little more effort to shift (the advice is universally "brake hard from higher speeds a few times") e.g.:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=799...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=2&a...
Oh and rusty discs would give you a scraping noise too.
Regarding cold bite - sometimes elise owners fit pads which can have poorer bite from cold (generally the more track-oriented pads). I'm not sure what relevance that has to rusty discs though!
So I'm not sure there's anything sinister here, esp if it's made it through the MOT, but the owner could try cleaning up the brake discs by doing some longer harder braking to reassure you and other prospective buyers.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=799...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=2&a...
Oh and rusty discs would give you a scraping noise too.
Regarding cold bite - sometimes elise owners fit pads which can have poorer bite from cold (generally the more track-oriented pads). I'm not sure what relevance that has to rusty discs though!
So I'm not sure there's anything sinister here, esp if it's made it through the MOT, but the owner could try cleaning up the brake discs by doing some longer harder braking to reassure you and other prospective buyers.
BTW even if the brake thing is a non-issue and just down to rusty discs from lack of use, I'd suggest if you're new to Elises it might be worth considering having a local Lotus specialist inspect the car (which they'll often do for a modest fee). Or ask about the car on SELOC see if anyone knows it 
.
.My ten pence... If the car has done very little mileage in two years, the light surface rust that would normally get worn off the next time the car is used can build up and build up until it is so bad that it will not come off at all with driving the car, It seems the rust is harder than the disc itself. Best way i found is to clean the discs up with a wire wheel before use.
Also the discs can be as rusty as a horse shoe but, as long as they pass efficiency there is no reason for an mot test failure.
Also the discs can be as rusty as a horse shoe but, as long as they pass efficiency there is no reason for an mot test failure.
My Elise doesn't get used for a month at a time quite often as I work offshore - the brakes are normally very rusty and sound like they are scraping until I have done a couple of low speed emergency stops and one or two reasonably rapid stops from higher speed (60ish). The brake pedal normally needs properly stamping on the first couple of stops as well & the first stop will be a bit worrying (hence I normally do a couple of stops very shortly after leaving the house. Once cleaned up with a little use the brakes are fine, though even a track day hasn't managed to leave the discs completely rust free!
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