Nitron Shocks for ExigeS2 - worth it ?
Discussion
Further to my post yesterday, I have been advised my a reputable Lotus tuner not to bother setting up all the geo etc on the standard Bilstein's that come with the sport pack as he said it will still be too soft on track. I have no reason to doubt him but has anyone done the upgrade to 46mm Nitron shocks and is the difference over the standard set up worth the £2k outlay ?
Thanks
Thanks
AlistairCoker said:
Further to my post yesterday, I have been advised my a reputable Lotus tuner not to bother setting up all the geo etc on the standard Bilstein's that come with the sport pack as he said it will still be too soft on track. I have no reason to doubt him but has anyone done the upgrade to 46mm Nitron shocks and is the difference over the standard set up worth the £2k outlay ?
Thanks
YesThanks
AlistairCoker said:
Thanks but please can you elaborate on that a bit - have you done this upgrade or know somweone that has ? Any more info much appreciated.
Thanks
I did it to mine from standard Bilstiens as i use mine for trackdays, & it certainly helps with cornering, & the ride quality is so much better. It was seeing a photo of mine really leaning around a corner that prompted the move.Thanks
Money well spent
I want something track biased, I believe the nitron 40mm are fast road and 1 way adjustable so is that really going to be much better than the bilsteins, not sure ? I guess these are still about 1400inc vat so is it not better to go the full hog and get the 3 way 46mm race pro's ? Confused.
AlistairCoker said:
I want something track biased, I believe the nitron 40mm are fast road and 1 way adjustable so is that really going to be much better than the bilsteins, not sure ? I guess these are still about 1400inc vat so is it not better to go the full hog and get the 3 way 46mm race pro's ? Confused.
Not correct, Nitron do different variants of the 40 and 46mm 1 way dampers, fast road, track and (46)trackday pro.Theres a single adjustment knob that adjusts bump and rebound.
Unless you know exactly what you're doing(or know someone that does)then 3 ways are massively complicated to set up and frankly are total overkill.
You need to decide whether you exactly what you want of the car, track biased says to me that you'll use the car on the road too so personally speaking I'd go for the fast road or track 40mm. Either one will be a huge improvement over the Bilsteins.
http://www.nitron.co.uk/shop/browsecategory/185/lo...
Edited by The Bandit on Wednesday 3rd April 22:43
Nitron 40mm NTR one ways will be just fine. 3 ways are more trouble than they're worth unless you've got the time and knowledge to set them up... and unless you're racing there's no need. The one ways will cover off all but a team-run dedicated racecar.
I'm on the NTR one-ways and with fairly modest power, my Exige is quicker around all the tracks I've driven than any other Elise/Exige in NZ... they're great shocks.
I'm on the NTR one-ways and with fairly modest power, my Exige is quicker around all the tracks I've driven than any other Elise/Exige in NZ... they're great shocks.
Thanks for all the info. I went on the Nitron website again and yes it seems the 46mm I am being offered are clearly 1 way adjustabel and not 3 way. It looks like either the 40mm or 46mm are going to be a vast improvement. it seems the 40mm are about £1k and 46mm are £1.3k + VAT so that's the decision. Thanks for all you positive comments, seems like a no brainer. Bit annoyed I have just spent a lot on what I thought would be a "great" track car out of the box to find out it has more body roll than my mini AND my brothers old E46 M3 on standard shocks,,,,,not good Lotus :-((
Don't be fooled into thinking that body roll is a terrible thing. The Lotus feels like it rolls a lot more than it does. To stop a car rolling you need to make it terrible to drive on the road. Cars that are stiff enough to be great on the track are generally s
te on the road. The whole thing with an Exige is it's a track-ready road car. If you'd got a 240R/Cup etc it'd have had the Ohlins shocks and motorsport rollbar, but would have been a much more compromised road car.
te on the road. The whole thing with an Exige is it's a track-ready road car. If you'd got a 240R/Cup etc it'd have had the Ohlins shocks and motorsport rollbar, but would have been a much more compromised road car.I've done a fair few trackdays in my exige and I don't think the roll is too bad. I would echo Esprit's comment above, its a pretty good compromise between a road and track set up. The other point to remember is that increasing the stiffness of the front of the car may do nothing more than increase understeer. If you are chasing lap times (and shouldn't you be racing in that case) that's not really the way to go. Also, why don't you just adjust the standard ARB and see if that reduces the roll sufficiently for your purposes? No point spending money if you don't have to, especially if you've only done 1 trackday in it.
ETA: If you haven't had the car that long, I would seriously recommend you do a Walshy day at North Weald (Carlimits), it's the best value way of making the car go faster and lots of fun too.
ETA: If you haven't had the car that long, I would seriously recommend you do a Walshy day at North Weald (Carlimits), it's the best value way of making the car go faster and lots of fun too.
Edited by gashead1105 on Thursday 4th April 16:22
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