Tyre wear & wheel alignment

[Rambo]

.
If u could have a word with BigErch to enquire about those S2 wheels and PM me back that would be great mate

Done - I've PM'd Archie. He'll reply direct to you as I'll be sitting on a beach in Southern Greece for a week eying up the totty !!

[Monty]

.
If u could have a word with BigErch to enquire about those S2 wheels and PM me back that would be great mate

Done - I've PM'd Archie. He'll reply direct to you as I'll be sitting on a beach in Southern Greece for a week eying up the totty !!

You lucky sod, only been to Dublin this year Thanks for the help

[JIMBO]

I know i need to get Pinky wheel alignment sorted, but still messing with the suspension setup. But was wondering what is a normal front tyre wear on the M100? as mine are worn more on the outter edge

I don't want to be paying £200 for wheel algnment at Lotus/specialist, so can this be done by myself? or can a local garage do it?

Hi Monty,
Its not easy to tell from a picture, but the second photo appears to show a "sharp" edge to the tread grooves. If this is the case it's more likely to
be tracking (toe in) than camber. Why not take it in to a good local tyre
shop and ask for an opinion before spending any money ?
Regards
Jim

[Ultimatt]

Monty,

Don't know if it is of any help, but a friend of my father's, who is a trained race driver and M100 owner, got his specially set up by a company in Spalding, Linconshire who specialise in Lotus.

Company is called Kelvedo.

The leaflet sales pitch goes as follows:

"Is your Lotus rickety like a 3 leged chair? Imagine a chair with one leg shorter than the other three - it will rock back and forth, with two legs supporting nearly all the weight. Well it's the same for your car, and if you have 'one leg short' as it were, then you are going to get poor traction, inefficient braking and generally unpredictable handling as you only have two corners doing the job of four...

... The Cure:- Have your car set up on our cornerweight scales. These allow us to accurately set up your car to give optimum performance and safety under braking in all weather conditions, suitable for both road and racing cars."

The friend was very impressed by them and said it transformed the handling of his Elan. Price was from £99+Vat... but that was about 5 years ago. I was / still am planning to use them, but it's one hell of a trek from Swindon.

Number is(was) 01775 725457. Contact was Pat Thomas.

Let me know if you go for it and how your get on.

Matt

[Monty]

Hi Monty,
Its not easy to tell from a picture, but the second photo appears to show a "sharp" edge to the tread grooves. If this is the case it's more likely to
be tracking (toe in) than camber. Why not take it in to a good local tyre
shop and ask for an opinion before spending any money ?
Regards
Jim

Jim, Thanks for the advice. Think 1st thing is to get new tyres then print of the Wheel alignment section from the manual and order the camber adjustment plates then give Kwick fit a try and just stay with the car to if things are done correctly.

Matt,
That would be the way to go but thats to far for me, it`s dam hard work trying to find somewhere to work/set up u`r car and trust them. If u do go to that place let me know how u got on.

[Monty]

Ended up getting Yokohama A539 for £115 including fitting and balancing that was for a pair from WheelBase, which i think is a good price. They also said the Parada`s are a little difficult to get hold of at the mo and that there no good in the wet.

Also called to a local kiwk Fit and they only do the the tracking but there Altrincham depot does the full wheel alignment, so i`ll give them a ring and let u know how things go.

Edit:-

Just rang and it`s about £50 for setting the machine up that includes 1 adjustment then £14+ for each adjustment there after. It`s the laser technology which is all computerised and its the computer that tells the operator which adjustments are needed.

The thing is if i changed my wheels to S2 wheels will i have to have it done again?

[Ultimatt]

I've had mine done on that laser alighnment several times. As far as I can tell, there would be no difference from the way they set up the S2 16s or the 17s you have now.

They tell the computer what car it is and, as you rightly say, it tells them what adjustments to make and where. In other words, it's set to the car, not the wheels.

Whether this is ideal or not when they are effectively not working with the original wheels and suspension setup is questionable. Might be worth asking them before forking out money. I don't know enough about gemetry setup to know how much our add-ons will affect the original parameters.

Matt

[M100 TWO]

Monty don't forget 1/2 tank of fuel, if there is usually one in the car 75kg weight for the driver, if you also have a regular passenger then 75kg weight on pasenger side, they will not be able to set the camber without shims
john

[JIMBO]

Pat at Kelvedon Motors carried out all of the work on my last Elan.
They are "business" when it comes to setting up suspension. Pat has raced Lotus cars for many years, and rumor has it that Noah gave him his first driving lesson. They are not cheap. but the best rarely is.
Jim

[Monty]

Before i take Pinky to Kwik S**t i know i need the Camber adjustment plate but i don`t quite understand how many i need, is it 2 per side? so that would mean i would need 4 of each size and the parts manual has 4 different size off plates which would be 16 in total and won`t be cheap.
SJ`s has 3 sizes available

CAMBER ADJ PLATE12.5mm A100C0110F EACH 2.67

CAMBER ADJ PLATE 11.5 mm A100C0125F EACH 2.74

CAMBER ADJUST PLATE 10.5 mm A100C0109F EACH 2.67

Has anyone else done this before?

[Enright]

...Has anyone else done this before?

Only by accident, it caused an accident, and I blame YOU!!!

When I took my suspension apart to repaint it last year (after seeing your rather impressive before-and-after pics), this shim fell out.

On re-assembly, I put it back in with the little semi-circle pointing upwards instead of outwards - it was the only way it would fit due to the fresh paint having got in there!

And although the nuts were tightened, the assembly flexed back and forth until it worked them loose again, and in consequence the wobbly suspension famously chucked me off into a ditch on Christmas Day.

Um, in conclusion, I would recommend fresh bolts and nice new nylocs upon reassembly. Oh, and possibly reading the instructions...

[Monty]

LMAO,

Can`t believe u did that and u`r camber would off been way out too.

But thats still no use to me LOL

[Paul.P]

If Quick s**t can do this properly, i'll be absolutely amazed !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[M100 TWO]

It is best to get the camber values first,go home, then work out the 4 shims the n/s o/s might be different it is advisable to change the bolts as the old ones are very likley to be coroded and use the K nuts which take a greater load hence the larger torque setting copper slip the shanks of the bolts to stop corrosion in the future re test after changes
john

[Monty]

It is best to get the camber values first,go home, then work out the 4 shims the n/s o/s might be different it is advisable to change the bolts as the old ones are very likley to be coroded and use the K nuts which take a greater load hence the larger torque setting copper slip the shanks of the bolts to stop corrosion in the future re test after changes
john

How can i get the Camber values unless i have the alignment checked?

Bolts etc was changed by the previous owner but i will double check that everything can be freed easly

[M100 TWO]

Monty have the alignment checked they can reset every thing but the camber but you will know if it need changing or not

[Monty]

Monty have the alignment checked they can reset every thing but the camber but you will know if it need changing or not

John,

Forgive me as i`ve not done this before just don`t quite understand that, if i have the camber plates surely they can set it up correctly. or are u saying that they will tell me what adjustment is needed on the Camber and then do it myself?

[M100 TWO]

Monty if you have all the shims then of course get the tyre center to do the changes to make it easy for them change the bolts before you go and have the work done tell them + OR-- 1.1/2 mm of shim = 1/2 degree of change
john

[Monty]

Monty if you have all the shims then of course get the tyre center to do the changes to make it easy for them change the bolts before you go and have the work done tell them + OR-- 1.1/2 mm of shim = 1/2 degree of change
john

Thanks for u`r help John, just want to make sure when u say shim u`r not talking about the castor adjustment (between the ball joint) as the camber ones are known as plates.

ps might be dam easyer to take to Lotus LOL

[M100 TWO]

Sorry Monty they are all shims to me but yes I am talking about the camber plates, it is easy to do the adjustments once you have a referance point
john