Why does suspension wear out so quickly?

[SonicHedgeHog]

As the title says really. In the 135R thread it was mentioned that the suspension needs changing around the 50,000 mile mark. Why is this on such a light car when big heavy barges can sail past 100k miles on the same suspension?

[bogie]

just because it still works at 70-100K miles on regular cars, dosent mean the performance is any good

...and Elise is a precision tool, if the suspension or geo is out just a tiny bit you can tell

I dont know that it definately needs replacing at 50K miles ....just that it may be past its best

think yourself lucky you are not running expensive stuff like Ohlins or Nitrons and have to take them off and rebuild them every couple of years ...like <30K miles for many people .....

[TIPPER]

Pretty well as bogie says IMO.
You'll not notice the deterioration in a flabby handling barge but the Elise is razor sharp.
I renewed all my bushes, ball joints, etc, etc earlier this year and the difference is night and day. Nothing replaced looked worn or had any noticeable play either - would have passed an MOT fine.
Peeps worry about the K engines but its the suspension that'll really cost if you use the car on track and road.

[dom180]

I think the suspension on the Elise holds up quite well compared to most other cars.

Most Elise/Exige are owned by enthusiasts and get driven quite hard/tracked regularly (otherwise why buy a 135R....) and that wears stuff out really quickly - people don't tend to track barges as that wouldn't be much fun. The suspension on my Ford is deteriorating with age and if I did track days regularly in that, it would wear out very quickly.....

[Scuffers]

SonicHedgeHog said:

As the title says really. In the 135R thread it was mentioned that the suspension needs changing around the 50,000 mile mark. Why is this on such a light car when big heavy barges can sail past 100k miles on the same suspension?

all dampers will wear, however, in a heavy barge as you put it, your less likely to notice the difference over the life of the damper till it's totally shot, with the Elise, it's very apparent when they go even slightly off.

[aceofspades]

when you say suspension - do you mean just the dampers, or is it also the bushings ?

lotus seem to go with this light spring setup that gives the dampers a lot of work to do. when a damper starts to go, it creates more work for everything else as well.

bushings have a fairly set lifetime, depending on usage, but they're cheap and not a lot of work to replace anyway.

i thrashed a set of ohlins in a year, and following a rebuild one of them let go after less than six months. i've since swapped them for a set of nitrons with much stiffer eibach springs. the car goes much better on road and track, and with the stiffer springs the dampers should not have as much work forced on them so i'm hoping they'll last longer too.

[SonicHedgeHog]

Thanks for the replies. Makes sense although it is surprising how much of a difference new suspension makes, particularly given the deterioration will be gradual as the miles pile up rather than going from good to bad over night. I wonder how many second hand Elise's are bought with "worn out" suspension that the owner is blissfuly unaware of?

[bogie]

SonicHedgeHog said:

Thanks for the replies. Makes sense although it is surprising how much of a difference new suspension makes, particularly given the deterioration will be gradual as the miles pile up rather than going from good to bad over night. I wonder how many second hand Elise's are bought with "worn out" suspension that the owner is blissfuly unaware of?

loads ...also with incorrect geo - that can be out from new ...as the guys on the line dont get a lot of time to get them "near enough" and its left for the dealer to pick up on PDI ...but not many do

so often you read how someone has bought an Elise, driven it for a couple of years thinking its great....then "got the the geo done" i.e. put to factory settings, or known good settings for a particular set-up and all of a sudden its like a new car ....in reality, its just how it should have been from the start, if set-up properly