[evomind]

well i have had my car for 2 days and 300 miles now.
even though ive driven the demo car on several occasions, the feeling i get from driving mine and spending real time behind the wheel is even better than anticipated. the whole driving experience is indescribable....the look, the sound, the feel, the attention, everything....
ive driven the car fairly aggressively. how else can u break in the second cam? ill get into the high cam to about 7500 rpm then bring it right back down. (yes i know abt the ecu dump). i think the car does abt 130mph at 5k in top gear.. basically ive been just driving the car....
a few issues i have are a lot of "thumps" when going over bumps. (i have lss) the suspension sometimes lends itself to "skipping" through corners if the pavement isnt glass smooth.
also, there doesent seem to be as big of a rush when i hit the second cam as there was in the demo car. and the sound difference isnt as dramatic. at least to my seat of the pants meter and my ears...

my one question is i hit a bump last night, didnt look too bad, but the car didnt like it....i heard something that i can only describe as a loud "snap." sounded like metal on metal. left front tire. however i noticed no ill effects afterwards....just abit weird. anyone have that happen b4?

anyway, as u all know, the car is just awesome. ive had some cool cars b4 but none like this....
thanks for listening....or reading

 

[designer]

my one question is i hit a bump last night, didnt look too bad, but the car didnt like it....i heard something that i can only describe as a loud "snap." sounded like metal on metal. left front tire. however i noticed no ill effects afterwards....just abit weird. anyone have that happen b4?

Same thing happened to me. I was told this is normal due to the stiff suspension. Maybe someone can give us a more tech explanation.

 

[shinoo]

Congrats! Check your tire pressures to insure they are at recommended settings.

 

[fitfan]

technically you are driving a big aluminum bath tub thats not insulated... so any bump stop / road vibration, noise will resonate and be much louder than in a regular car.

Lotus opted not to spray 50 pounds of tar all over the chassis to deaden the sound.

 

[shay2nak]

Lotus opted not to spray 50 pounds of tar all over the chassis to deaden the sound.

yuk

 

[Randy Chase]

I have gotten used to that aluminum snapping noise when hitting bumps. TADTS.

 

[babak]

I have gotten used to that aluminum snapping noise when hitting bumps. TADTS.

If anybody is a cyclist and remembers the Cannondale 3.0 series bikes you'd know all about the aluminum crackle. The bike frame was built from fat tubes of AL and under riders wt it crackled and settled constantly. It was unnerving, specially when you're riding a century and have been listening to it for a few hours.

 

[evomind]

it was loud and ugly...and it was too cold for me to crawl my ass under there and look....i figured i would know if something broke soon enough.....but i didnt notice any difference....
does the "skipping" around corners over bumps mean anything? should i let it bother me from a handling aspect, or just ignore it?
i know the car will grab, ive ridden sportbikes where the suspension was too stiff and it would kinda skip over bumps in a corner, but it still hooks...

 

[raggedy1]

sounds like you just hit the bump stops pretty hard - ya ran out of wheel travel!

i have LSS and mine skips around corners too if I hit a bump mid-turn. The car sticks regardless!

 

[008]

as other's have said the noise was probably just bottoming out of the shocks. The car is light enough where this won't cause much damage if it's a rare occurance. There is very little travel. As far as the skipping, this is a low speed phenomenon, yes? At higher speed you genreate more force and the car stays firmly planted. If you're skipping around fast corners, i.e. 50-60+, you might want to check if the shipping blocks were left in because that is way too stiff.

 

[evomind]

yes, it will skip around fast sweeps, exit ramps too if pavement is rippled or not real smooth....
i would think the dealer or someone would say, "hey man...the shipping blocks are still in.."
i doubt that, as the dealer has driven the car and stuff and put stripes on it, etc....
i dont know....where should i look, and what do shipping blocks look like?
thanks

 

[008]

I was just kidding. I seriously doubt your shipping blocks are still in, but it wouldn't be the first time it happened. The factory puts form fitting "blocks" in the springs to keep them from compressing during the boat ride, etc. Just look at your coilover if there is something between the coils yank it out. The car will also sit much higher. I think if you are having this big of a problem at speed you are pushing the car too much on too bad of a surface. To give you an idea the race track at sebring is a transformed airstrip with horribly cracked pavement in certain areas. Turn 17 which is a high speed 3rd/4th gear corner has gap joints every 20 feet or so and can throw a car out of balance and send it spinning if it is not set up right. At that 70-80 mph turn this car is overly compliant compared to most cars I've driven there and is no way too stiff for anything you should encounter on the street at that speed. In short, SLOW DOWN!

 

[Patricko]

yes, it will skip around fast sweeps, exit ramps too if pavement is rippled or not real smooth....
i would think the dealer or someone would say, "hey man...the shipping blocks are still in.."
i doubt that, as the dealer has driven the car and stuff and put stripes on it, etc....
i dont know....where should i look, and what do shipping blocks look like?
thanks

I am guessing that it is cold in Chicago this time of year

That could be a factor...cold tires…cold road.

 

[evomind]

008, how can i be pushing the car too much? my evo didnt have any problems on the same ramps etc at the same speeds...uses similar tires too...and we all know the elise handles far better than an evo.....dont we?

if i was pushing too much, i think the car would slide a bit more being it was 25 degrees out...maybe the cold contributes?

 

[Stan]

>>>>008, how can i be pushing the car too much? my evo didnt have any problems on the same ramps etc at the same speeds...uses similar tires too...and we all know the elise handles far better than an evo.....dont we? if i was pushing too much, i think the car would slide a bit more being it was 25 degrees out...maybe the cold contributes?<<<<

* Don't expose the AO48s to 14F or below! Or the rubber freezes and is changed by this experience. Normal tires have a lower absolute limit. I know you know this but others may not.

* The EVO is the KING of going into turns too hot rally style and then using the AWD and all the fancy diffs to sort things out as you apply power. The versions with a front diff are especially adept at this scenario. The Elise does not like that corner entry technique or style. It loves to be driven more normally but with lots of trail braking into the apex to wind up faster.

 

[evomind]

stan, i think ive been spoiled by awd ability to overlook driver mistakes if u will....not so much mistakes but perhaps a more user friendly platform....
ill give u a call, i have a few basic questions about setting up a corner with mid engine configuration....
the evo seemed a bit more composed and forgiving.....of course the tires were warmer too.....
im sure the elise will stick much better once i see warmer temps in about, ohhhh......6 months.

 

[Ground Loop]

Into the cams at 300 miles......sheeeesh!

Sooo... that's bad then? Oops.

 

[evomind]

tell me how ur gonna break in the upper cam if u never touch it?
any engine builder will tell u to rev the motor out and bring it right back down again....
i dont know what to tell ya.....we'll see what happens.

 

[z06fun]

Evo you have discovered one of the trade offs that has to be made when wanting to make a car handle well (as Lotus did). Any car tends to need stiff dampening to perform well (handling wise) on a track, becasue most tracks are smoother than roads in the north part of the contry
If you got different shocks with less rebound dampening the car will not tend to skip over bumps as much. But then it wouldn't handle as well on smooth surfaces so its a trade off.
This is when adjustable shocks can be very handy

 

[Adam P]

How did the hard top work out?

Adam P