Thoughts with Nitron suspension please

[m100sandra]

Im tempted to buy a set of Nitrons for the Elan, But the cost its working out at £1500 with Vat etc, a bit lost with the price, On the Nitron site they list a street series (for other cars) much cheaper, when i asked them by email which shoks they are, the reply was:
Hello Sandra,
We make a Lotus Elan Fast Road Kit the Part Number is NTCLO024_FR, but looking at some other sites, they list the fast road NTR40's around £995 for such as the VX220 etc, our lad cant see much diference in the two kits, just wondering why theres a price hike? or am i missing somthing.......more then likly
What peoples experience with the Nitrons re: comfort, handling etc.

Thanks
Sandra

[Gazza]

When there was a group buy they worked out at £1300 a set, which included a discount. I paid an extra £120 to have Eibach springs instead of nitrons own.

Bought them mainly because you couldn't get hold of S2 suspension. Liked the idea of lowering the car and the fact all adjustments can be done with having to get under the car.

Can't really remember my old suspension to be honest as I had Avo adjustable before the nitrons.
Glad I didn't it though as I can get it all reconditioned if need be. Happy with the ride height but need to soften it up a little because as it is set a bit stiff.

[rip]

Mine was the first to be fitted with Nitrons. I have the setup which was designed to be slightly firmer than original.
I think this replaced the suspension which was fitted in the factory & 80,000 miles old...so it was well worn & this will have coloured the below comparison.

I went for a set to replace my tired old suspension & did not initially realise it was an upgrade package

The Nitrons are firmer so help to keep the car flatter when cornering. Somehow they are also able to absorb smaller bumps more comfortably. You can adjust the ride height by turning the spring mount around the strut. They provide a tool for this although Nitron's engineer preferred a drill bit!
You can also adjust the damper's firmness. As Gazza pointed out, the adjustment is at the top of the strut so it is kept well out of the way of any road dirt. I did not touch my damper adjustment for well over 2 years but it adjusted very freely with nice positive clicks when I did so. I had the whole car adjusted within about 2 minutes.

I think it is a nice kit, but I thought it was expensive until I heard mention of an Impreza owner spending about £4k on suspension!

[Gazza]

If they were still available from lotus, I bet they would cost £300+ per corner for a shock & spring

[m100sandra]

Thanks for the replys, im just thinking if i should go for the standard spring rates or the uprated option? maybe 400 and 200lbs rear? Wanting comfort and a improvment in road holding i really need to keep my daughter well behind me on the twistys

[Steve A]

Rip's and Paul 69 have Nitrons and they handle nice, so find out what set up they have

[rip]

Rip's and Paul 69 have Nitrons and they handle nice, so find out what set up they have

I'm not too sure. I think they are 300lb at the front.

[Gazza]

Mine are 450 front, 225 rear

[m100sandra]

Mine are 450 front, 225 rear

Would you say that these spring rates are more track orientated

[rip]

Have you tried phoning Nitron? They should be able to tell you what options they offer.
Bob did a lot of the background work for this & I've heard him say that the stiffer setup does not alter the ride quality as much as you would expect.

[Gazza]

I will post some of the info Bob sent me via e-mail when I get 5 mins.

[m100sandra]

Have you tried phoning Nitron? They should be able to tell you what options they offer.
Bob did a lot of the background work for this & I've heard him say that the stiffer setup does not alter the ride quality as much as you would expect.

Think i looked at that post.... suppose its hard to draw a direct comparison with the diferent spring rates without jumping in two cars fitted with the diferent springs Suppose what im looking for is for somone who as the harder springs fitted to say yes they are fairly comfy and things like pot-holes are not trying to break the car or the drivers bones Ill have to try & make my mind up Today though

[m100sandra]

I will post some of the info Bob sent me via e-mail when I get 5 mins.

Thanks for that Gazza, any info really appreciated......Have you any regrets going for the harder springs

[Gazza]

No regrets at all. My wife would like it slightly softer but I have not bothered to adjust it yet.
Lowering it probably hasn't helped though.

From Bob;
As far as the damper settings are concerned that is really down to personal choice, the thing to remember is that adjusting the dampers is a step process and should be carried out in stages working from full soft and going up in increments till you get to a point the front or rear starts to move around then which ever end is moving just back that end of a couple of clicks and carry on with the other end as they will not be the same. Once this point is found you can make a note of how many clicks you have moved the adjusters and then if it feels to uncomfortable on the road then just back it off, both ends the same amount until you are happy. This is nothing to do with the comfort levels the springs are giving you and is totally the speed at which bumps are absorbed by the springs, OK stiffer springs will seem less comfortable but not as much as you think and setting the dampers full hard will make even soft springs seem uncomfortable. Body roll is controlled by the springs and anti roll bars and NOT the dampers they only control the springs and will control the speed the car rolls in a corner but they do not control the amount the car rolls.

As a compromise setting the 400/200 setup is probably not that bad but I think for a full track day set up the 550 is not aggressive enough and we may have been a bit conservative when making this choice and it may have been better to go to 600/300. None of the spring rates front to rear are exact as a compromise is needed to keep them within the standard range Working from a 300/144 they would actually look like this Ideal Actual % front/rear
actual 300/144 68% 32%
350/170 67% 33%
400/200 67% 33%
550/250 69% 31%
600/300 66% 34%

Dampers set to hard are not allowing the wheel to follow the road surface. A stiffer spring should allow the wheel to return quicker but if it is being delayed by the damper then it won't just as the converse is true. To say our cars are light they are not that light, ours weigh in at just under 1100kg, an Elise just over 700kg and the MGF around the 1100kg Taking the race(LOT)/track boys run the Elise on something around 450/550 (note rear engine RWD so higher on the rear as there is more weight) on a car that is 65% lighter, OK for a road car that may be a little stiff but still goes to show how far you have to go to get the car to win races.

As a point of interest Monty who has AVO's on 450 fronts has his dampers running softer than he did on the standard road springs.

Probably still does not answer the question of which to go for but as you only use it on the road personally I would probably opt for 450 fronts and 225 rears but the choice is yours.

[Gazza]

eibach spring ratings do 350/400/450/500/550/600 fronts and 185/200/225/250/275 rears. I had picked out the 450/225 as somewhere in the middle between the 400 set-up and the 550 race.

Nitrons do there own but not so many rates

[m100sandra]

Great info, Thanks

[JonT]

AIUI Nitron now do all their own springs. I went for 350/170 on mine and am very happy. I suspect ours cost more than the Elise/VX as they aren't making so many of them and the mounts are slightly different. Previously had rather tired OE setup - when the dampers came off, there was barely any damping left in them and it had definitely sagged a bit.

FWIW I bit the bullet after Rip took me out in his at the Castle Combe lotus day. I wanted to hate the Nitrons, but decided they were actually worth the money.

Handling/ride - noticeably firmer, but less wallowy. Still superbly good on crappy B-roads, and I run the dampers slightly on the soft side of the mid setting. Don't really see the need to go any harder. Lotus are known for their ride/handling expertise, why would I want to second guess them and change things too much?

A friend who is a ride/handling/chassis engineer thinks far too many people talk too much bollocks about suspension. While many people fit firmer springs thinking it feels "sportier", they end up with a car that actually handles and rides significantly worse (and when tested for example on the Millbrook outer handling circuit also end up lapping slower)

/2p

Jon

[m100sandra]

Received my Nitrons just before Cristmas i was going to ask earlier, but what with somone trying to have a free drive in the Elan (see other post) things have got a bit side tracked.
Looking at some of the pictures on the nitron group buy, it seems like the kit should inc helper springs? is this correct or was they a option? Nitron are closed until after the New year, so if they should be included ill have to wait.
Sandra

[rip]

Hi Sandra,

Mine was the prototype & when they fitted the rears, they found that their springs were too short. Pete (who has since left) made some calculations & re-appeared with some extra springs & a collar then had to spend 15 minutes convincing me that helper springs were a sensible solution not a bodge-fix.
It may well be that the correct spring values have not been available until recently???

I would definitely wait & talk to Nitron. They make the kits so will know. All we can do is guess.

[ccb056]

These Nitrons have adjustable dampers, yes? If so, can someone take a picture of them installed showing where the knob is? Also, are there separate rebound and compression knobs or is it done with 1 knob?