Back in a Lotus - 2006 Exige S
Discussion
I was supposed to be at Anglesey on Sunday last week for my final trackday of the year, but obviously the Welsh lockdown killed that so Lotus On Track brilliantly got things shuffled around and before I knew it was booked onto Oulton today.
I drove over Monday night for a Premier Inn, good call really as the M62 was treacherous in the dark and I really wouldn't have fancied it at 5-6 am.
Weather was only ever going to be minging for this trackday, but I did have hopes of spending some time on a wet track to learn a bit more about the car at lower speeds. Minging was an understatement though and Oulton just turned into an ice rink, at least on ZZR tyres. Traction actually felt pretty good and the car was stable at full throttle on the straights but under braking and initial turn-in there was just nothing there. Had all four tyres locked up regularly into the back chicane and turning in at anything over a snails pace just rotated the car.
I don't want to make too many "bad workman blames his tools" type comments but this is the first time I've really looked on at the S3 V6 Exiges with a real jealousy powered lust. It could be that every V6 in attendance just had a really handy driver, but it seemed like they could handle the conditions SO much better. I later learned that the particularly quick ones (including a gorgeous 420 Cup) were shod in Avon full wets, not to take anything away from the driver(s) skill and commitment but it really did give a good impression of the full wet tyres.
Mid morning I got a phone call from home, baby wasn't feeling too good and had a fever ramping up so I did the honourable thing and used it as the least emasculating way to chicken out of doing any more laps and went home instead :lol:
As a result, I've barely got any pictures and no video to share - so pretty much a write-off of a day.
The Motorway drive home was really not pleasant, to be fair to the ZZRs they didn't chuck me off the road or anything like that - but I know and understand their limits and the M62 was really struggling for drainage. It gave me a couple of hours to think about options, I think it's about time I got sorted with a set of all-weather tyres so that any similar days in the future aren't a total waste.
I don't expect to be breaking wet-lap records, but something that just feels a bit safer under braking and turn-in would be nice. The car today was rotating at ease on turn-in, quite unsettling at any real speed. I still love ZZRs and will be keeping them for most summer usage, but on days like today with nigh 100% chance of rain from 8 till 5 - I need some alternatives.
In other news, I did break something on the car. I noticed when driving from the hotel this morning that the idle was really struggling and it stalled a couple of times on me. On the way home I was playing with my BT app and noticed my AFR reading was flatlining at full-lean. Checking my logs at home it looks like the wideband sensor died sometime on the 25th and since then it has only reported a full-lean AFR of 25.5. The ECU is programmed to try and correct fuelling based on the wideband up to a maximum correction of 10% either way, so as the sensor is reading full lean the car has effectively been overfuelling by 10% under some conditions which I'm guessing was causing the idle issues.
I've raised this with RRR, they're going to send the logs off to ECUMaster to see if there were any clues as to the nature of the failure but also they commented that the Bosch 4.9 sensors are not particularly resilient compared to the 4.2's with as slightly lower resolution. In parallel I spoke to a friend who does a lot of tuning work and he said exactly the same, he doesn't fit 4.9's for any customers due to their failure rate. More on this later when I know more, we'll see what ECUMaster says... incidentally a friend of mine has an S3 Elise Cup with a Bosch 4.9 and that failed recently too.
I drove over Monday night for a Premier Inn, good call really as the M62 was treacherous in the dark and I really wouldn't have fancied it at 5-6 am.
Weather was only ever going to be minging for this trackday, but I did have hopes of spending some time on a wet track to learn a bit more about the car at lower speeds. Minging was an understatement though and Oulton just turned into an ice rink, at least on ZZR tyres. Traction actually felt pretty good and the car was stable at full throttle on the straights but under braking and initial turn-in there was just nothing there. Had all four tyres locked up regularly into the back chicane and turning in at anything over a snails pace just rotated the car.
I don't want to make too many "bad workman blames his tools" type comments but this is the first time I've really looked on at the S3 V6 Exiges with a real jealousy powered lust. It could be that every V6 in attendance just had a really handy driver, but it seemed like they could handle the conditions SO much better. I later learned that the particularly quick ones (including a gorgeous 420 Cup) were shod in Avon full wets, not to take anything away from the driver(s) skill and commitment but it really did give a good impression of the full wet tyres.
Mid morning I got a phone call from home, baby wasn't feeling too good and had a fever ramping up so I did the honourable thing and used it as the least emasculating way to chicken out of doing any more laps and went home instead :lol:
As a result, I've barely got any pictures and no video to share - so pretty much a write-off of a day.
The Motorway drive home was really not pleasant, to be fair to the ZZRs they didn't chuck me off the road or anything like that - but I know and understand their limits and the M62 was really struggling for drainage. It gave me a couple of hours to think about options, I think it's about time I got sorted with a set of all-weather tyres so that any similar days in the future aren't a total waste.
I don't expect to be breaking wet-lap records, but something that just feels a bit safer under braking and turn-in would be nice. The car today was rotating at ease on turn-in, quite unsettling at any real speed. I still love ZZRs and will be keeping them for most summer usage, but on days like today with nigh 100% chance of rain from 8 till 5 - I need some alternatives.
In other news, I did break something on the car. I noticed when driving from the hotel this morning that the idle was really struggling and it stalled a couple of times on me. On the way home I was playing with my BT app and noticed my AFR reading was flatlining at full-lean. Checking my logs at home it looks like the wideband sensor died sometime on the 25th and since then it has only reported a full-lean AFR of 25.5. The ECU is programmed to try and correct fuelling based on the wideband up to a maximum correction of 10% either way, so as the sensor is reading full lean the car has effectively been overfuelling by 10% under some conditions which I'm guessing was causing the idle issues.
I've raised this with RRR, they're going to send the logs off to ECUMaster to see if there were any clues as to the nature of the failure but also they commented that the Bosch 4.9 sensors are not particularly resilient compared to the 4.2's with as slightly lower resolution. In parallel I spoke to a friend who does a lot of tuning work and he said exactly the same, he doesn't fit 4.9's for any customers due to their failure rate. More on this later when I know more, we'll see what ECUMaster says... incidentally a friend of mine has an S3 Elise Cup with a Bosch 4.9 and that failed recently too.
Cheers I appreciate the recommendations.
The recommendations so far have been:
AD08RS (the AD08R no longer available it seems)
Toyo R1R
Avon ZZS
If I went for Avon ZZS, I would probably just run a single set and ditch the ZZRs completely because I'm not convinced that they're "different enough" to warrant keeping a set of each. I've had mixed feedback on ZZS for Lotus use, I know they work well and get great results on the Caterhams but I've had them described as "barely a wet weather upgrade, and compromised in the dry" for an Exige. Perhaps I just need to try them though and make my own mind up.
If I went for the Toyo's or the AD08RS, I'd run them on a second set of wheels and keep ZZR as my core "summer" trackday. I actually think they're very good on a damp track where you can get heat into them - but starting from clap cold on an 8 degrees day on a soaking track was just a dead end for me.
The recommendations so far have been:
AD08RS (the AD08R no longer available it seems)
Toyo R1R
Avon ZZS
If I went for Avon ZZS, I would probably just run a single set and ditch the ZZRs completely because I'm not convinced that they're "different enough" to warrant keeping a set of each. I've had mixed feedback on ZZS for Lotus use, I know they work well and get great results on the Caterhams but I've had them described as "barely a wet weather upgrade, and compromised in the dry" for an Exige. Perhaps I just need to try them though and make my own mind up.
If I went for the Toyo's or the AD08RS, I'd run them on a second set of wheels and keep ZZR as my core "summer" trackday. I actually think they're very good on a damp track where you can get heat into them - but starting from clap cold on an 8 degrees day on a soaking track was just a dead end for me.
It's the RS I have, excellent in proper wet conditions:
However, I do find they have a bit of a 'cliff edge' when hot, one lap they'll grip, then by the end of the next the rear is loose and I have to come in. It takes a while to get to that point, but it's very much there and noticable how quickly they change.
However, I do find they have a bit of a 'cliff edge' when hot, one lap they'll grip, then by the end of the next the rear is loose and I have to come in. It takes a while to get to that point, but it's very much there and noticable how quickly they change.
Mark Benson said:
It's the RS I have, excellent in proper wet conditions:
However, I do find they have a bit of a 'cliff edge' when hot, one lap they'll grip, then by the end of the next the rear is loose and I have to come in. It takes a while to get to that point, but it's very much there and noticable how quickly they change.
Cheers Mark, good feedback. If I went with AD08RS or similar I would probably only bolt them on for questionable forecast days, so if it did dry up part through the day I could settle with the fact I need to let them cool off occasionally. However, I do find they have a bit of a 'cliff edge' when hot, one lap they'll grip, then by the end of the next the rear is loose and I have to come in. It takes a while to get to that point, but it's very much there and noticable how quickly they change.
I have just done a very wet Goodwood and run the MPS4 tyres as my wet set and they were amazing so might be worth taking a look as many people rate them in the wet .
https://youtu.be/bsgL18vyXtw
https://youtu.be/bsgL18vyXtw
Kaveney said:
I have just done a very wet Goodwood and run the MPS4 tyres as my wet set and they were amazing so might be worth taking a look as many people rate them in the wet .
https://youtu.be/bsgL18vyXtw
I think the S3 Exige guys swear by these.... but believe they're not available in S2 sizes https://youtu.be/bsgL18vyXtw
Fonzey said:
If I went for Avon ZZS, I would probably just run a single set and ditch the ZZRs completely because I'm not convinced that they're "different enough" to warrant keeping a set of each.
I'd agree with that. I had a long chat with development guys at Avon when they were testing the ZZS and ZZR tyres (they used a disused airfield that I was tasked to manage some years back) so got quite a lot of info from them. They told me the ZZS will generate 70-80% the grip of ZZR in the dry but with much better ability to clear water due to the different tread pattern.I can't speak for the differences between Lotus and Caterham with ZZS but on the last track day I did at Abingdon in the summer (which was 28 degrees and sunny all day), they were really good; loads of grip, progressive on the limit and didn't wear too badly at all.
I've wanted some forged alloys for the Exige since the beginning but I always struggle to justify the spend on aesthetic changes (yes yes I know lighter wheels should perform better, but I'm skeptical that I'd notice it ).
I think Lotus sourced some brilliant wheel options for the S2 cars over they years, I don't actively dislike a single set but my favourite was the team dynamic 1.4 which the 09 260 Cup came with. Unfortunately these have proved unobtainable over the last couple of years. The odd single wheel comes up for sale, but have only seen a full set once - and it was in the US.
A close runner up was the 240R 5-spokes, actually probably would call it a tie - I think they're gorgeous with a subtle bit of dish and nice chunky (easy to clean!) spokes and these do seem to be less-rare. I'd passed on a couple of sets over the years but thought it was about time to treat the car to something that wouldn't be buried in the engine bay
They've recently been repainted in satin black which is a shame really... as I plan to get them repainted before I use them properly. They also came with a set of ZZRs, similar wear levels to my current ones.
My initial plan was to flog my OEM wheels/tyres and just swap to these but after my Oulton/M62 adventure I've decided to keep my original wheels and use them for an all-weather option, then put my track/sticky tyres on the 5-spokes.
Might be spring before they make it onto the car in anger, but will get a trial fit arranged soon for photos if nothing else!
Oh, and they're REALLY light. I underestimated the difference and thought the difference would be swamped by the weight of the tyre+wheel combo but it's significant when hauling them around the garage.
I think Lotus sourced some brilliant wheel options for the S2 cars over they years, I don't actively dislike a single set but my favourite was the team dynamic 1.4 which the 09 260 Cup came with. Unfortunately these have proved unobtainable over the last couple of years. The odd single wheel comes up for sale, but have only seen a full set once - and it was in the US.
A close runner up was the 240R 5-spokes, actually probably would call it a tie - I think they're gorgeous with a subtle bit of dish and nice chunky (easy to clean!) spokes and these do seem to be less-rare. I'd passed on a couple of sets over the years but thought it was about time to treat the car to something that wouldn't be buried in the engine bay
They've recently been repainted in satin black which is a shame really... as I plan to get them repainted before I use them properly. They also came with a set of ZZRs, similar wear levels to my current ones.
My initial plan was to flog my OEM wheels/tyres and just swap to these but after my Oulton/M62 adventure I've decided to keep my original wheels and use them for an all-weather option, then put my track/sticky tyres on the 5-spokes.
Might be spring before they make it onto the car in anger, but will get a trial fit arranged soon for photos if nothing else!
Oh, and they're REALLY light. I underestimated the difference and thought the difference would be swamped by the weight of the tyre+wheel combo but it's significant when hauling them around the garage.
Ben Lowden said:
They look ace! What colour are you thinking of going for? I quite like them in black.
Thanks! I've not decided yet, I'd decided before even buying that they wouldn't stay black but I have to be honest they look stunning in the flesh, so I'm now wavering. They're a very good looking wheel with some nice details that you just lose in black, that's my main reason for wanting to swap. Originally they came either satin black or in a "high power silver" colour.
The high power silver is a tough one to make my mind on, from some angles and in some light it just looks like a plain silver which I'm not after, but from other angles it has a dark tone to it which I think is great:
Searching around got me onto BMW Shadow Chrome which is a darker version of the same, so I'm leaning somewhere in that direction.
Something I noticed recently in my ECU logs was that my OEM oil pressure switch wasn't working. As soon as the car got power, the switch was reporting in the "pressure" position, even before the car was cranked.
I initially assumed duff sensor or a cock up in the ECU configuration, I knew oil pressure was good because I've got an external SPA gauge fitted to my dash.
After thinking on it for a bit, I came to suspect the remote t-piece that I used to hijack the 1/8npt port on the engine for my SPA gauge. I'd used PTFE tape when refitting it which I thought may have been insulating the ground to the block so last week I removed it all and stripped off all the tape for a test.
No such luck, but I did take the opportunity to tap the OEM switch on the chassis a few times and sure enough each time I did the oil light pinged on and the ECU logs showed spikes of "no pressure". So although it wasn't the PTFE tape to blame, it was clear my braided/aluminium remote t-piece was not conducting the signal to ground. Doh.
I could have just left it, I intend to add a proper oil pressure sensor to the ECU soon anyway to give me proper logging on oil pressures rather than relying on me visually watching a gauge - but I had another improvement I wanted to make, so an opportunity to kill two birds with one sandwich plate arose.
My car has always run very cool, both water and oil temps are pretty scary when the car is cruising. On my way to Oulton last week, after 70 miles or so of motorway cruising (in miserable conditions) the oil temp was barely above 50 degrees. Admittingly this is measured in the sump which is the coolest place, but still far too low according to both 2zz and oil manufacturer specs.
The OEM sandwich plate is thermostatic, but as with all good sandwich plates it does let a dribble of flow through at all times to stop any temperature shocking with it opens. The OEM one seems to dribble through far too much though, and as a result the thermostat is almost redundant. I can observe this with an IR camera in the garage while the car is running. The hope is that a new sandwich plate will give me an additional 1/8NPT port AND will have a better control over temperature. It has an 85 degree stat' in it, but this can be changed if it needs tweaking up or down.
The plan was to retain the remote t-piece, but only for the proper "powered" sensors that I'd be adding for the SPA gauge and/or ECU. The OE oil pressure switch could go back home to its 1/8NPT port on the engine.
Slight challenge came with attaching the oil cooler lines, they had 5/8 BSP fittings and the Mishimoto plate had M20, and I couldn't find an adaptor off the shelf so had a local hydraulics place knock some up in a bit of a daisy chain.
They're a bit long, and reduce clearance a bit - so I'm still on the hunt for a proper solution, but it'll do for now.
I've only done a leak test in the garage so far, got a few other bits to tinker with before a road test.
I initially assumed duff sensor or a cock up in the ECU configuration, I knew oil pressure was good because I've got an external SPA gauge fitted to my dash.
After thinking on it for a bit, I came to suspect the remote t-piece that I used to hijack the 1/8npt port on the engine for my SPA gauge. I'd used PTFE tape when refitting it which I thought may have been insulating the ground to the block so last week I removed it all and stripped off all the tape for a test.
No such luck, but I did take the opportunity to tap the OEM switch on the chassis a few times and sure enough each time I did the oil light pinged on and the ECU logs showed spikes of "no pressure". So although it wasn't the PTFE tape to blame, it was clear my braided/aluminium remote t-piece was not conducting the signal to ground. Doh.
I could have just left it, I intend to add a proper oil pressure sensor to the ECU soon anyway to give me proper logging on oil pressures rather than relying on me visually watching a gauge - but I had another improvement I wanted to make, so an opportunity to kill two birds with one sandwich plate arose.
My car has always run very cool, both water and oil temps are pretty scary when the car is cruising. On my way to Oulton last week, after 70 miles or so of motorway cruising (in miserable conditions) the oil temp was barely above 50 degrees. Admittingly this is measured in the sump which is the coolest place, but still far too low according to both 2zz and oil manufacturer specs.
The OEM sandwich plate is thermostatic, but as with all good sandwich plates it does let a dribble of flow through at all times to stop any temperature shocking with it opens. The OEM one seems to dribble through far too much though, and as a result the thermostat is almost redundant. I can observe this with an IR camera in the garage while the car is running. The hope is that a new sandwich plate will give me an additional 1/8NPT port AND will have a better control over temperature. It has an 85 degree stat' in it, but this can be changed if it needs tweaking up or down.
The plan was to retain the remote t-piece, but only for the proper "powered" sensors that I'd be adding for the SPA gauge and/or ECU. The OE oil pressure switch could go back home to its 1/8NPT port on the engine.
Slight challenge came with attaching the oil cooler lines, they had 5/8 BSP fittings and the Mishimoto plate had M20, and I couldn't find an adaptor off the shelf so had a local hydraulics place knock some up in a bit of a daisy chain.
They're a bit long, and reduce clearance a bit - so I'm still on the hunt for a proper solution, but it'll do for now.
I've only done a leak test in the garage so far, got a few other bits to tinker with before a road test.
Early signs are looking decent for the new sandwich plate. Went out for supplies in freezing fog and the oil temps were around 10 degrees higher (once settled at 'cruise speed') than my last time out. Anecdotally they also seemed to rise quicker from cold too.
Finally got the car outside in (sort of) daylight for a picture of the new wheels.
I've had my 'original' ZZRs from my y-spoke wheels put onto these, and left the y-spokes naked for now, I'll probably stick some all-round tyres on them so I've got options for monsoon trackdays.
It does however mean I've got a growing pile of ZZRs that I need a home for...
Finally got the car outside in (sort of) daylight for a picture of the new wheels.
I've had my 'original' ZZRs from my y-spoke wheels put onto these, and left the y-spokes naked for now, I'll probably stick some all-round tyres on them so I've got options for monsoon trackdays.
It does however mean I've got a growing pile of ZZRs that I need a home for...
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