[Europa]

Sprots Suspension

I'm considering a sports suspension but want to know if anyone who has received their elise has driven it over any speed bumps. In my experience they come in two flavors. The small (width) sharp ones and the very wide (foot or two). I.m concerned the elise won't clear with or without the sports suspension. Where I work has lots of speed bumps of both varieties. Thanks ahead!

 

[Ground Loop]

I've never driven anything as low as the Elise on the street, but several others here have. After seeing the Elise in person, I brought home some new fear of speedbumps.

The clearence is really low 130 or 135mm. I'm concerned that even if the front lip and front wheels make it up and over a speedbump, the suspensions compression coming down the backside will be enough to bottom out. The first thing to make contact appears to be the cover sheet underneath. Will it shear screws off? Will it catch on the edge of a cover and just crunch the whole sheet?

I'm guessing many of the speedbumps here are unpassible at any speed -- they're simply higher than the 135mm clearance. My G35, with an extra inch of height, already rubs.

So my question isn't "will Elise bottom out on speedbumps", it's "will it do damage"?

City of North Richland Hills specs "traffic calming" speed bumps as 3.5" +/- 0.5". These are the mellow ones in the middle of a road, and it only leaves 0.5" of margin for suspension travel.

City of Austin has the same spec:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/roadworks/rwspdhmp.htm

Of course, when it comes time to put them in, they usually add a bit of asphalt, just to be safe:

 

[Pimping]

Not to worry, I have lowered my Peugeot 206cc(I know it`s not a Lotus) about 70mm and it has 90mm clearence. No problem with speedhumps if I`am concerned about a particular one just go slow on an angle one wheel at a time

Anyway with LSS isn`t it only 5-10mm lower then standard, if it is that, then there is nothing to worry about.

Only if it`s lowered 60mm or more would be an isue.

IMO it makes the car look so much better too.

 

[Pimping]

Looks great when the rubbers up in the arch. Doesn`t make the car look like a bus.

 

[offroadr35]

won't be a problem at all. Some bumps you will just have to take at an angle. I have MUCH less clearance in the GT2 than the Elise has and it can still clear any speedbump fine. Some inclines/declines are problematic though, even at extreme angles.

 

[_JD_]

Looks great when the rubbers up in the arch. Doesn`t make the car look like a bus.

FYI that's SimonG's Elise (or was as he's trying to sell it) and it has Nitrons, not LSS.

 

[eliseowner2b]

Ive driven over a couple speed bumps with my Elise. I came to a complete stop first. (so i wouldn't be posting any nightmare situations on here). The car cleared them fine. I also had to leave a gas station that had a weird angle onto the street (I guess for water runoff) and the car didn't hit then either. I do not have LSS but I don't think it would be an issue. Damn, that Elise and GT2 above looks sweet!!!

 

[DesignIt]

I don't think the ground clearance will be a problem if it's in the 130mm (5 1/8") range. When I originally lowered my Miata it had 3 1/2" of clearance to the unibody rails. After a few years the springs had sagged to 3 1/4" clearance, so I raised the Koni spring perches up to almost 4". In the 13 years I've driven the car I've never scraped the bottom. Well, there was one high-speed run on the Point Reyes pennsulia when I smacked the catylitic converter heavily on a high point in the road. And we won't talk about what it smells like if the cat doesn't clear a Texas-sized cow patty.

With a bit of discretion and care, you can negotiate most bumps even with a severely low car. My MINI is my current daily driver and has a sticker on the air dam that reads "All life forms taller than 2.5 inches should duck NOW!" (see the attached photo) Of course the air dam on a MINI is much lower than any other part of the car, or else it really would be a problem.

John

 

[Europa]

Thanks to everyone for the input/advice. I drove one with the sports supension the other day and liked it a lot. Now I'm almost positive I will order with.