Ohlin retrospective

[Piasa]

People who installed the Ohlin track shocks were very positive in their initial evaluation.

For those of you who have had them for some time and multiple track sessions, can you provide your longer-term evaluations?

Thanks.

[CalBears92]

Prior to getting the Ohlins, I converted my Yoko 048 on LSS to track use only and got Goodyears for street use. I was happy with this set up. The Goodyears soaked up a lot of the harshness of the LSS suspension -- those banging noises the car made when it hit a bump was gone.

My 'good' friends (you guys know who you are ) twisted my arm (I'm not kidding, they really did ) and convinced me the LSS is crap and I should get the Ohlins... blah blah you've spent this much, gotta get it right blah blah... will not drive my car w/o Ohlins blah blah...

In short, I got the Ohlins.

Riding on Ohlins, the Yoko 048's now ride like Goodyears. The Goodyears I didn't really notice much improvement. In fact, I have a harder time telling the difference when I switch from Yoko's (coming home from track) to the Goodyears -- before you can't help but notice.

But here's the problem. The LSS understeers slightly. I may have corrected that by taking out the front shims. The Ohlins... well, it oversteers. I've played with different recommended settings:
1. The Sector 111 settings
2. The Ohlins booklet recommends street settings, but not track settings -- I went with Sector's recommendation of 4 clicks stiffer than street

Both of these settings still result in oversteer. I notice most on Streets of Willow where if I go too fast into a corner, the tail really wants to step out (it wasn't like this with the LSS) So I have to be deliberately slower in corners (last time I check, I got the Lotus to go fast around corners, so having to be deliberately slower on turns??? ).

I recently went with the Lotus Sport recommendation (mentioned more than a couple times on this board). It still oversteers, but less than the other two settings previously mentioned.

Also, unless I severely reduce tire pressure (I checked the day after -- and the cold tire pressure is down to 21 front and 23 rear), the rear end can't stay planted at all (we all know this -- 048's are greasy when hot pressure is above 30 -- generally, 30 seconds after my 'greasy, slippy' run, I find hot rear pressure of around 34-35, so it must be higher than that while I'm slipping and sliding).

Bottom line -- I've had the Ohlins for about 3 months. My track driving style is still more suitable for the LSS than any of the Ohlins settings I've experimented with. I still haven't given up hope though, I'll be taking it to Lucent to have Tom set it in the near future (been wanting to do this, but scheduling hasn't allow me to do so). The adjustability of the Ohlins HAS to be able to dial out the oversteer. I just haven't been on the track enough to play with it.

In the meantime, here's to my two 'good' friends on this board who shall remain nameless

PS. I'll request yet one more time for the kind people on this board to share your Ohlins track settings that is DIFFERENT from the Lotus settings, Sector 111's recommendation or Ohlins booklet settings. I never hear anyone say they don't like their Ohlins, so what track settings do you use? Or do you all use it for street use only?

[Stephen]

Interesting feedback; thank you. Anybody have long term feedback on the Nitrons w/o the remote res? I have been leaning towards the Nitron single adjustable just to make things easier; I don't like too much complexity/choices in suspension settings.

[lundgren]

I think some people with a serious setup with Ohlins, have a front bar installed, and run it stiff, that helps elimintate that oversteer quite a bit.

[bli8]

Originally Posted by CalBears92

In the meantime, here's to my two 'good' friends on this board who shall remain nameless

to you too, for lifting mid-corner.

[CalBears92]

there was no mid-corner lift.

[xtn]

If the car was balanced prior to the Ohlins, and the Ohlin swap-in resulted in oversteer, try stiffening up the front shocks and/or softening up the rear ones.

xtn

[rwarden]

Originally Posted by CalBears92

...
Both of these settings still result in oversteer. I notice most on Streets of Willow where if I go too fast into a corner, the tail really wants to step out (it wasn't like this with the LSS) So I have to be deliberately slower in corners (last time I check, I got the Lotus to go fast around corners, so having to be deliberately slower on turns??? ).

....
PS. I'll request yet one more time for the kind people on this board to share your Ohlins track settings that is DIFFERENT from the Lotus settings, Sector 111's recommendation or Ohlins booklet settings. I never hear anyone say they don't like their Ohlins, so what track settings do you use? Or do you all use it for street use only?

CalBears92,

You have a few options. As lundgren said, the best way to dial out oversteer is to stiffen the front anti-roll bar (or soften the rear, but we don't have one!). This requires an adjustable bar (or a thicker non-adjustable bar).

If you want to try to tune using the shocks, you need to know if you are encountering corner-entry oversteer or corner-exit oversteer. From your description, it sounds like the former. To tune out corner-entry oversteer you can decrease the front compression and rear rebound settings. To tune out corner-exit oversteer you decrease front rebound and rear compression settings. Note, decrease here means the P-setting number goes UP.

I recently had Ohlins installed and yet to have the car corner weighted, but right now it handles great with the following settings:

Street:
Front -- P7 compression (full hard is P1 clockwise and full soft is P22 counterclockwise) and P5 rebound (full hard is P1 CW and full soft is P60 CCW)

Rear -- P4 compression and P19 rebound


For Track:
Front -- P6 compression and P3 rebound
Rear -- P4 compression and P17 rebound

These came from Jack from this board, and so far so good.

-RWarden

[FlyLo]

Originally Posted by CalBears92

Also, unless I severely reduce tire pressure (I checked the day after -- and the cold tire pressure is down to 21 front and 23 rear), the rear end can't stay planted at all (we all know this -- 048's are greasy when hot pressure is above 30 -- generally, 30 seconds after my 'greasy, slippy' run, I find hot rear pressure of around 34-35, so it must be higher than that while I'm slipping and sliding).

Um, there's your problem. Your tire pressures are WAY WAY WAY too high. I don't understand how your tires are jumping 12-15 lbs on the track, but if you're reading 35 hot, you're still too high.

[CalBears92]

generally, i go to the track using the recommended pressure. 26F, 29R.
When I get there, I drop the pressure 2-3 lbs, and I keep dropping throughout the day.

All in all, I very easily can see an 8lb pressure increase during the run.

RWarden do you happen to remember your cold tire pressure? I basically bleed my front to 24 and my rear to 27-28 right after my run group (so I guess those would be warm/hot pressures).

I do need to tweak mine. I am experiencing corner entry oversteer. The car is corner balanced, though unfortunately done with only one bar of fuel instead of the recommended 3 bars (half full). I don't have a level garage floor, so I can't get an accurate read of my ride height.

[rwarden]

Originally Posted by CalBears92

generally, i go to the track using the recommended pressure. 26F, 29R.
...
RWarden do you happen to remember your cold tire pressure? I basically bleed my front to 24 and my rear to 27-28 right after my run group (so I guess those would be warm/hot pressures).

My HOT tire pressure goal is 26F, 28R. Where you start cold greatly depends on the ambient temperature. In the summar in PA, I start at 22F, 24R and check them immediately after each run. In the fall (or cooler mornings at the track), I'll start them at 24F, 26R as they heat up less.

Hope this helps...

-RWarden

[rwarden]

As I've said above, I recently installed a set of double adjustable Ohlin coilovers and have been trying to figure out the best setup as well. I just came across this Lotus document from a friend who recently purchase a Sport Elise which has the same Ohlin's installed. This seems like the best place to post this, and as I've not seen this file available elsewhere, it may be of interest to anyone that has the double adjustable ohlins installed. As it appears to be too big to upload here, you can download it from:

http://mysite.verizon.net/rwarden/Lo...tall_setup.pdf

This document includes the install instructions, but of more interest are the setup recommendation for the Exige S2, 111R, and Elise S2. It also contains a nice cheat sheet for what to adjust when you encounter oversteer or understeer. I plan on using the Exige S2/111R recommendations from page 6, and NOT the Elise S2 recommendations on Page 7 as the spring rates on the Ohlins I purchased from Sector111 match those of the Exige/111R and not the Elise S2.

Hope you find this helpful.

-RWarden

[Piasa]

MyElise,

No, why did Lotus spec Ohlins instead of Nitrons?

[andykeck]

Originally Posted by MyElise

Sorry, just a teaser. Can't tell tales out of school.

What if we beg?

[sleepless]

I'm with MyElise, seems the Ohlin's come soft springs for heavy duty track use. I have the single-adjustable Nitrons (for simplicity; adjusting compression and rebound makes my head hurt) and love them!

[Jack]

Originally Posted by sleepless

I'm with MyElise, seems the Ohlin's come soft springs for heavy duty track use. I have the single-adjustable Nitrons (for simplicity; adjusting compression and rebound makes my head hurt) and love them!

See if you can get the Cup 240 version of the Ohlin setup from Lotus (I believe that dealers can order these parts now) -- spring rates are quite a bit higher than the standard Ohlin/Lotus offering. Front springs are 458 lbs and rear are 571 lbs versus the 325/425. Supposedly, the shock valving and springs for the Cup 240 were specifically designed to work with the Yoko slicks that Lotus "speced" for the car.

[sleepless]

Jack - Now that sounds much more like it!

[sleepless]

Hoosiers and Nitrons - Yummy

[Piasa]

Does anyone know how to determine the spring rates on Ohlins springs from the code stenciled on the spring?

[codymac]

Originally Posted by Piasa

Does anyone know how to determine the spring rates on Ohlins springs from the code stenciled on the spring?

From my motorcycle days... may or may not be applicable here.