The Lotus Cars Community banner
  • Hi there! Why not register as a user to enjoy all of the benefits of the site? You may register here. When you register, please pick a username that is non-commercial. If you use a name that appears on any search engine commercially, you must pick another name, whether it applies to you or not. Commercial usernames are for supporting vendor use only. If you want to become a supporting vendor and grow your business, please follow this link. Thanks!

Crosswinds and the Elise

2K views 22 replies 12 participants last post by  Joetz 
#1 ·
I encountered my first decent cross wind today.

It's been pretty windy here in Ventura County today, probably gusting up to 30 - 40 mph at times. I was driving down a long straight section of road that was bordered on both sides by a large expanse of flat and open space (Las Posas to PCH for those local to Ventura County). I had a 45 - 60 degree cross wind (my 2 o'clock) coming in off the ocean. When I hit 80 - 85 mph, the crosswind was definitely affecting the Elise, and I was having to continuously make steering adjustments.

It never reached the point where I felt too uncomfortable, but at the same time it was no longer a relaxing or enjoyable drive. Also, I noticed the front end definitely felt 'lighter' during the strongest gusts.

I guess this is one of the downsides of a lightweight car. Anyone else had a similar experience ?
 
#2 ·
biobaggie said:
I encountered my first decent cross wind today.

It's been pretty windy here in Ventura County today, probably gusting up to 30 - 40 mph at times. I was driving down a long straight section of road that was bordered on both sides by a large expanse of flat and open space (Las Posas to PCH for those local to Ventura County). I had a 45 - 60 degree cross wind (my 2 o'clock) coming in off the ocean. When I hit 80 - 85 mph, the crosswind was definitely affecting the Elise, and I was having to continuously make steering adjustments.

It never reached the point where I felt too uncomfortable, but at the same time it was no longer a relaxing or enjoyable drive. Also, I noticed the front end definitely felt 'lighter' during the strongest gusts.

I guess this is one of the downsides of a lightweight car. Anyone else had a similar experience ?
Happens in heavy mid engined cars too. I had the same thing happen to me in a Diablo.

Craigy
 
#3 ·
I did a top speed run yesterday and it was a windy day. I saw about 147 and it felt great. There were no cars on a 4 lane highway out in the middle of no where. I did feel a cross wind gusting at one point but the car felt solid. Im sure it wasn't the 30-40mph winds that you felt though.
 
#4 ·
eliseowner2b said:
I did a top speed run yesterday and it was a windy day. I saw about 147 and it felt great. There were no cars on a 4 lane highway out in the middle of no where. I did feel a cross wind gusting at one point but the car felt solid. Im sure it wasn't the 30-40mph winds that you felt though.
Your car must feel better than mine or you've got much bigger ah..bravery.

Minestarts to feel unstable when I hit around 100-110.
 
#5 ·
During both test drives of the Fed Elise, I could feel the front of the Elise getting noticeable lighter at freeway speeds. It never felt alarming but it was noticeable. On the second test drive, I got the Elise up to around 100 mph on a straight, slightly downward sloping freeway.

As for the crosswinds, my understanding is the Elise is not an very areo-dynamic car. So, I would assume cross winds hitting the front vents and rear of the roll bar would be "snag" places for the wind.
 
#10 ·
eliseowner2b said:
Do you have LSS? I wonder if that has something to do with it. (I don't have LSS) I remember Randy mentioning an odd feeling at high speeds.
The demo car I test drove also had LSS.
 
#12 ·
We had this discussion many years ago on the MR2 forums and one conclusion was that a lot of the "floaty" feeling at over 100 was due to wind and the front tires.... the fix being wind deflectors in front of the front tires.

I wonder if the LSS tires being wider are causing the difference in reports?
 
#13 · (Edited)
Strange I get my car to over 100 MPH on a regular basis and have never experienced the "floaty" feeling. Not even at over 120 Mph... It has always felt perfectly planted... Better get your geo checked!

PS: Come to think of it the original poster is even experiencing problems at 80 - 85 MPH. I had a problem with instability early on. It just started out of the blue. I took it to the dealer and it turned out to be caused by a weight that had fallen off the wheel. This missing weight made the wheel unbalanced. He re-balanced the wheels and the problem went away. Still that problem was only noticeable at speeds in excess of 94 MPH.
 
#15 ·
eliseowner2b said:
Randy, if it's the larger wheel/tire size that makes the difference, Ill know in about 20-30 minutes. I just installed a set of SSR's and LSS type Yoks so Im going to warm them up.
I thought that Lotus said that putting the A048 and wider fronts on the regular suspension was not a good idea...
 
#17 ·
Derek said:
Strange I get my car to over 100 MPH on a regular basis and have never experienced the "floaty" feeling. Not even at over 120 Mph... It has always felt perfectly planted... Better get your geo checked!

PS: Come to think of it the original poster is even experiencing problems at 80 - 85 MPH. I had a problem with instability early on. It just started out of the blue. I took it to the dealer and it turned out to be caused by a weight that had fallen off the wheel. This missing weight made the wheel unbalanced. He re-balanced the wheels and the problem went away. Still that problem was only noticeable at speeds in excess of 94 MPH.
Mine gets sketchy at around 85-88 mph, then evens out and starts getting bad again around 100.
 
#21 ·
meat said:
My Exige begins to "wander" on the track at about 120mph.

Alignment also plays a part with this. Some cars come aligned well from the factory and others are off a bit.
My elise had a geo setup put on not long ago and is running on newly balanced rubber. It still wanders in crosswinds. Couldn't this just be because there's no big heavy lump of metal out there in front of the car to follow as there would be in a front engined car?

Craigy
 
#22 ·
Most of the guys iin the UK will testify to the cross wind wandering. This also happens when you overtake large lorries (trucks:) ). The car is lightbut you could always buy a larger front splitter if you need more downforce or have the geo set even lower at the front.

Mine is particulary bad at wondering at high speed but my geo is set up with a LOT of camber so I get a lot of bump steer too.

Each car is different and Lotus seem to put different settings on each new car:eek:

'When' I get another Liz I'll get the geo set up independently the way i like it. - with loads of camber:D
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top