£1000ish to spend, but what on? Performance or bling?
Discussion
Hi,
Conundrum - do I spend £1000 of hard saved cash on:
1) Performance upgrade - thinking nitrons or ohlins
2) bling - lower front clam respray + armourfend (or alternative), two bits of grp damage fixed, sills resprayed + armourfended.
I ask because my vx220 mate thinks I'm mad contemplating spending all this cash on cosmetics when we've heard such good things about suspension upgrades. I counter that I don't track the car (at the moment) and tbh I don't think I'm a good enough driver to appreciate replacement suspension for road-use. Also, the stone chips on the front and ragged sills are really annoying me because they mar and otherwise good-condition S2. So the question is, do suspension upgrades make such a big improvement over the bilsteins and are they worthwhile for a road-user such as myself? The last thing to add is that I live and work on an RAF base so get opportunities to take the car onto the airfield for a blat - it's such good fun that I think I'd like to try getting into track days next year but this will depend on quite a few circumstances next year.
Thoughts?
Conundrum - do I spend £1000 of hard saved cash on:
1) Performance upgrade - thinking nitrons or ohlins
2) bling - lower front clam respray + armourfend (or alternative), two bits of grp damage fixed, sills resprayed + armourfended.
I ask because my vx220 mate thinks I'm mad contemplating spending all this cash on cosmetics when we've heard such good things about suspension upgrades. I counter that I don't track the car (at the moment) and tbh I don't think I'm a good enough driver to appreciate replacement suspension for road-use. Also, the stone chips on the front and ragged sills are really annoying me because they mar and otherwise good-condition S2. So the question is, do suspension upgrades make such a big improvement over the bilsteins and are they worthwhile for a road-user such as myself? The last thing to add is that I live and work on an RAF base so get opportunities to take the car onto the airfield for a blat - it's such good fun that I think I'd like to try getting into track days next year but this will depend on quite a few circumstances next year.
Thoughts?
I think you should go 'bling'. Sounds like you'll get a grand's worth of satisfaction knowing that your P&J is tip-top. Also, it's good to keep on top of the niggly cosmetic stuff when funds allow, these are just the sort of jobs that get forgotten about when something more pressing happens.
Re suspension upgrades, I wouldn't just for road use. If you do track your car, track it in standard form first, get used to it, then decide if it's too soft or that you'd like something adjustable.
Re suspension upgrades, I wouldn't just for road use. If you do track your car, track it in standard form first, get used to it, then decide if it's too soft or that you'd like something adjustable.
It's a fair way you put things.
Like you, I tend to want my car to look good and I do not track it. Someone hit-and-runned the clam, leaving a few scratches and a nasty chip, and that bothered me big time.
Economics wise, if you do an 'B' service yourself, you have pretty much paid for the respray. Prices range from £400-£1200...I ended up getting mine done for £300 all in, but the bloke is a rebel who only works when he wants and enjoys pi**ing off the bodyshops who quote at least twice as much. ( Yes, a real hero!! )
On the performance side, I think you are right that if we use public roads then we don't need ultra-trick suspension ( and certainly not the lower ride heights which come with the above, I think ) BUT we would really feel the benefit of top tyres and a full geo.
So that would be how I'd spend the money. New tyres + geo, clam respray - car should look brilliant and the new tyres and geo should make one hell of a difference to the 'amateur' driver.
Like you, I tend to want my car to look good and I do not track it. Someone hit-and-runned the clam, leaving a few scratches and a nasty chip, and that bothered me big time.
Economics wise, if you do an 'B' service yourself, you have pretty much paid for the respray. Prices range from £400-£1200...I ended up getting mine done for £300 all in, but the bloke is a rebel who only works when he wants and enjoys pi**ing off the bodyshops who quote at least twice as much. ( Yes, a real hero!! )
On the performance side, I think you are right that if we use public roads then we don't need ultra-trick suspension ( and certainly not the lower ride heights which come with the above, I think ) BUT we would really feel the benefit of top tyres and a full geo.
So that would be how I'd spend the money. New tyres + geo, clam respray - car should look brilliant and the new tyres and geo should make one hell of a difference to the 'amateur' driver.
Thanks for the replies.
I've already spent some cash on Tires and Geo - A virtually new set of Bridgestones along with some excellent black 6 spokes were obtained for £350 a few months ago from a guy who'd upgraded to a set of Exige wheels. Similarly, I had Horizon do a road geo when the car went for it's B service last December. I'll probably get the same done again when it goes for the next service (C I believe for a 4 yr 29k car? - can't check the service guide atm) as the difference in handling was superb.
I've already spent some cash on Tires and Geo - A virtually new set of Bridgestones along with some excellent black 6 spokes were obtained for £350 a few months ago from a guy who'd upgraded to a set of Exige wheels. Similarly, I had Horizon do a road geo when the car went for it's B service last December. I'll probably get the same done again when it goes for the next service (C I believe for a 4 yr 29k car? - can't check the service guide atm) as the difference in handling was superb.
If you want to learn to drive the thing (and with access to an aifield why not!) I wouldn't worry about appearance, you'll be getting a lot more stone chips and scuffs once you practice! Spend a couple of hundred on a Carlimits day, practice what you've learnt on the airfield then perhaps do another one 6 months later and so on. Put most of the grand away for Nitrons once you've got what you can out of the tyres and you've decided whether you want to go along the trackday route. The upgrade order tends to be:
Driver
Handling
Power
Driver
Handling
Power
kevin ritson said:
If you want to learn to drive the thing (and with access to an aifield why not!) I wouldn't worry about appearance, you'll be getting a lot more stone chips and scuffs once you practice! Spend a couple of hundred on a Carlimits day, practice what you've learnt on the airfield then perhaps do another one 6 months later and so on. Put most of the grand away for Nitrons once you've got what you can out of the tyres and you've decided whether you want to go along the trackday route. The upgrade order tends to be:
Driver
Handling
Power
Driver
Handling
Power
Again, thanks for the replies. It's interesting to see and mix of thoughts on what the spend the cash on.
Regarding driver training - this is definitely on my agenda but will not have to come from the kitty as I'll budget for it where and when I can. For a 4 person day I dare say my vx220 chum and I can stump up for it as required.
Regarding track days - despite me saying I'd like to get into it, it's unlikely it'll become a regular hobby as I just don't have the time to commit to it. Furthermore, my main hobby interests (caving and climbing) take the majority of my cash and I can't see me giving over time in the mountains for regular track work.
Holidays - good suggestion, but despite having tons of leave available the Nazis at work wont let me take it often enough. Again, if I can take holiday it will likely be on the continent with a sack full of canyoning or mountaineering kit which the Elise just isn't conducive to.
Future plans - I'm seriously thinking of buying a house next year. I'd like to keep the Liz but it may have to go to help fund the bigger purchase. With this in mind I must keep one eye on the market - to the enthusiast buyer I think better shocks would be a goer however this will be a small market and the general punter wanting to buy his first Elise will likely go for one in tip top bodywork condition with paint protection.
So, it would appear that I'm talking myself round to the 'bling' however I still keep thinking about the other options too!
Regarding driver training - this is definitely on my agenda but will not have to come from the kitty as I'll budget for it where and when I can. For a 4 person day I dare say my vx220 chum and I can stump up for it as required.
Regarding track days - despite me saying I'd like to get into it, it's unlikely it'll become a regular hobby as I just don't have the time to commit to it. Furthermore, my main hobby interests (caving and climbing) take the majority of my cash and I can't see me giving over time in the mountains for regular track work.
Holidays - good suggestion, but despite having tons of leave available the Nazis at work wont let me take it often enough. Again, if I can take holiday it will likely be on the continent with a sack full of canyoning or mountaineering kit which the Elise just isn't conducive to.
Future plans - I'm seriously thinking of buying a house next year. I'd like to keep the Liz but it may have to go to help fund the bigger purchase. With this in mind I must keep one eye on the market - to the enthusiast buyer I think better shocks would be a goer however this will be a small market and the general punter wanting to buy his first Elise will likely go for one in tip top bodywork condition with paint protection.
So, it would appear that I'm talking myself round to the 'bling' however I still keep thinking about the other options too!
Trixster said:
Future plans - I'm seriously thinking of buying a house next year. I'd like to keep the Liz but it may have to go to help fund the bigger purchase.
In which case you'll be wasting most of your thousand. Honestly, you might as well take a thousand hit and save yourself all that work.But I should add - once your into mortgages, who knows whats next, marraige, kids etc? But either way, once you've gone down that route a solo run to the french alps are a solid 20 years away.
I'm telling - some of the best roads in the world (forget anything you've seen in the uk) are just 8 hours from Calais.
I know where my money would be going.
PS. I had to weait til I was 47 before I could discover those wonderful roads for myself.
Edited by Heebeegeetee on Monday 27th August 09:58
Gassing Station | Elise/Exige/Europa/340R | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff