S1 elise ceramic brakes...
Discussion
picture a motorway on a wet rainy day ,doing 70 mph and nothing out of the ordinary happening....
until you need to use your brakes as someone pulls out in front of you or there is a que ahead.....
At that point you find they are absolutly none existent and you re in for a bit of a shock.....
why...???
the water on them renders them inopperative and the secret to motorway driving in the wet.... dab them to clear the water as often as you can in order to feel safe !!!
Lotus showed no interest in this design fault , wouldnt even upgrade the useless cluch pipe they originally fitted the car with ...
and i for one would never want to own one again without a change at the top !!!!!
Lotus... you re elise sucks !!!
sorry, but that fault nearly ended my life....
and having run one as a daily for 4 years from 9000 to 45000 miles... emptied much of my wallet as it cost more to run than its initial cost, on repairs alone ....
got to say the s1 was rushed out from start to finish and although its a hoot to drive it s list of factory faults was/is appalling......
i might add the specialists who service these who you all know,even down in norfolk...
were expensive and on one occasion gave me a call to tell me they wer nt sure they had tightened some critical bolt....the noise i heard on the way back to them was obviosly a spanner or socket wrench exitting the engine bay !!!
R769 Jpf...
PS got to let those thinking of buying the good with the bad... bit one sided normally
and having run one as a daily for 4 years from 9000 to 45000 miles... emptied much of my wallet as it cost more to run than its initial cost, on repairs alone ....
got to say the s1 was rushed out from start to finish and although its a hoot to drive it s list of factory faults was/is appalling......
i might add the specialists who service these who you all know,even down in norfolk...
were expensive and on one occasion gave me a call to tell me they wer nt sure they had tightened some critical bolt....the noise i heard on the way back to them was obviosly a spanner or socket wrench exitting the engine bay !!!
R769 Jpf...
PS got to let those thinking of buying the good with the bad... bit one sided normally
Edited by mrdexter on Wednesday 31st March 13:04
Edited by mrdexter on Wednesday 31st March 13:06
they were the ones where the disc never wears or rusts, and "typically lotus" they stopped making the pads for them and everyone changed to normal discs and pads as there was no option but to !!!
i discovered this fault very early in ownership ( along with the cluch, the leaky roof,the window winders,the bolts that drop off the front and rear engine/boot lid( i have a special spanner for those and can fit them back in minutes,specialists take note!)the worn ball joints at 20,000 and rear tyres every 3000 despite never spinning the wheels)
come to think of it it was more appalling than i remembered earlier !!!
not to mention the snapped cambelt at 37000 or the worry of the kk head gasket !!!!
i discovered this fault very early in ownership ( along with the cluch, the leaky roof,the window winders,the bolts that drop off the front and rear engine/boot lid( i have a special spanner for those and can fit them back in minutes,specialists take note!)the worn ball joints at 20,000 and rear tyres every 3000 despite never spinning the wheels)
come to think of it it was more appalling than i remembered earlier !!!
not to mention the snapped cambelt at 37000 or the worry of the kk head gasket !!!!
Edited by mrdexter on Wednesday 31st March 13:36
I think the Elise is the best car I have ever seen, on the track there is no better car!
At the weekend, I did a track day in it and then went in a friends M3 E46. The M3 couldn't handle the braking after 6 laps. The trackday cost me £100, it cost him another set of tyres at 800 euros! plus he stopped early as his rear brakes were make excessive noises.
Get a grip, and please sell your Lotus cars, Lotus doesn't need you. Knowing your car would be a good start.
At the weekend, I did a track day in it and then went in a friends M3 E46. The M3 couldn't handle the braking after 6 laps. The trackday cost me £100, it cost him another set of tyres at 800 euros! plus he stopped early as his rear brakes were make excessive noises.
Get a grip, and please sell your Lotus cars, Lotus doesn't need you. Knowing your car would be a good start.
mrdexter said:
Lotus showed no interest in this design fault , wouldnt even upgrade the useless cluch pipe they originally fitted the car with ...
Manufacturer in won't change parts on 12yr old car shocker.....are you for real??mrdexter said:
they were the ones where the disc never wears or rusts, and "typically lotus" they stopped making the pads for them and everyone changed to normal discs and pads as there was no option but to !!!
Here you go if you want some pads....http://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/22/18/mmc-...
mrdexter said:
come to think of it it was more appalling than i remembered earlier !!!
Seems for such an awful car you have kept it for rather a long time & used daily too! If it was so awful I'd have got shot of it very quickly....mrdexter said:
not to mention the snapped cambelt at 37000 or the worry of the kk head gasket !!!!
How old was it? The cambelt I mean? Should be changed at maximum of 4 years.Actually I'm not sure why I'm responding as this thread must be the work of a troll!
Thats poor form if that was a known fault.
However my initial thought was why? Why would you need ceramic brakes on an elise? maybe if they where old cooper style 7.5" discs, with some retro 10.5x8" wheels... I am just confused, shirly the car has not enough weight, momentum, and tyre surface area to make them useful.
none the less i did hear of the SLR constantly pulsing on the discs as a design feature.....
However my initial thought was why? Why would you need ceramic brakes on an elise? maybe if they where old cooper style 7.5" discs, with some retro 10.5x8" wheels... I am just confused, shirly the car has not enough weight, momentum, and tyre surface area to make them useful.
none the less i did hear of the SLR constantly pulsing on the discs as a design feature.....
sold it in 2003 so it was as new when i bought it..that might explain it was nt a 12 year old car at the time...
bought a 10,500 fiat 20vt t0 replace it having had a child and to be honest the fiat was faster and as much fun but not on the twisty s....more reliable too (shock) !!!
and i dont mind taking flack as i ve been thoroughly honest,and statistics show few of you will own an elise 4 years !!
Dont get me wrong , the driving experience was only second to a few and i did enjoy things when all was well....
mine was a 160 bell & covil conversion, originally on pirrelli s but i swapped to advans which gripped better and spoilt some of the fun and always felt it was under powered on these....
the obvious replacement is the far better ultima gtr...soon
bought a 10,500 fiat 20vt t0 replace it having had a child and to be honest the fiat was faster and as much fun but not on the twisty s....more reliable too (shock) !!!
and i dont mind taking flack as i ve been thoroughly honest,and statistics show few of you will own an elise 4 years !!
Dont get me wrong , the driving experience was only second to a few and i did enjoy things when all was well....
mine was a 160 bell & covil conversion, originally on pirrelli s but i swapped to advans which gripped better and spoilt some of the fun and always felt it was under powered on these....
the obvious replacement is the far better ultima gtr...soon
mrdexter said:
picture a motorway on a wet rainy day ,doing 70 mph and nothing out of the ordinary happening....
until you need to use your brakes as someone pulls out in front of you or there is a que ahead.....
At that point you find they are absolutly none existent and you re in for a bit of a shock.....
why...???
the water on them renders them inopperative and the secret to motorway driving in the wet.... dab them to clear the water as often as you can in order to feel safe !!!
Lotus showed no interest in this design fault , wouldnt even upgrade the useless cluch pipe they originally fitted the car with ...
and i for one would never want to own one again without a change at the top !!!!!
Lotus... you re elise sucks !!!
Are you the sort of driver who, when their throttle jams under the carpet, phones for help rather than stick the car in neutral?until you need to use your brakes as someone pulls out in front of you or there is a que ahead.....
At that point you find they are absolutly none existent and you re in for a bit of a shock.....
why...???
the water on them renders them inopperative and the secret to motorway driving in the wet.... dab them to clear the water as often as you can in order to feel safe !!!
Lotus showed no interest in this design fault , wouldnt even upgrade the useless cluch pipe they originally fitted the car with ...
and i for one would never want to own one again without a change at the top !!!!!
Lotus... you re elise sucks !!!
You can't seriously expect any car manufacturer to take you seriously can you? Did you ask for a free upgrade to Bilstein dampers whilst you were at it and maybe a foc VVC engine as they obviously fitted that as the boggo unit wasn't good enough? FFS
Don't forget the cast uprights rather than the original aloy extrusions, boot box instead of bag, somehow retro fit an S2 short roof (as surely changing the design of the roof was an admission that the origianl wasn't up to scratch)etc, etc, etc.
Better still, flog the Elise and buy a car you can drive. Toyota seem an easy touch at the moment.
mrdexter said:
Lotus... you re elise sucks !!!
Oh God, I wish I known that years ago _ I would have been scared stiff to have owned any Lotus's over the last six years had I realised there was a fundamental flaw with their cars. I will instantly put my current car up for sale, although I expect it will probably only fetch a few thousand pounds now that you have crushed Lotus's ambition with your sccathing commentary.
Do you have any links to anecdotes from other pathetic drivers like yourself, so I can make myself fully conversant with the level of numpty out there who really should stick to driving Nissan Micra.
Zebby
ps. I notice you also made some very worthwhile comments in the Ultima forum too. Keep up the good work.
not a stockbroker...
nor a child..
i deal nicely from home for myself and i considder no brakes at 70 mph on a wet motorway a very scary proposition for a new owner as it was for myself...
i ve simply listed my faults and critisisms of lotus and with a football fans deluded support you seem to feel i should be critisized for pointing this out...
strange ..
nor a child..
i deal nicely from home for myself and i considder no brakes at 70 mph on a wet motorway a very scary proposition for a new owner as it was for myself...
i ve simply listed my faults and critisisms of lotus and with a football fans deluded support you seem to feel i should be critisized for pointing this out...
strange ..
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