Heavy braking on bumpy roads

[Frimley111R]

I've noticed that, when 'giving it the beans' on some of the local rural roads, under hard braking the car weaves and follows bumps a lot. It takes me a fair bit of work to keep it under control. When in the Elise I never had this. Is it an issue with the geo or am I just getting used to a heavier car?

[Thorburn]

I think Liam mentioned he had this and tracked it down to a geo issue.

[The Wookie]

Geo or worn front tyres

[Brendan G]

It's also worth checking for wear in the suspension. All four of my anti-rollbar drop-links were quite worn.

[XTR2Turbo]

Something must not be quite right. Stability under braking is something that all the road testers say is astounding on the Evora.

[Frimley111R]

Tyres are ok and the car has only 10k on the clock so I'll have a look at geo. Not sure who would do this?

[jazzyjeff]

Hi Frimley,

Both backontrackmotorsport.co.uk and www.plansmotorsport.com have good reps in doing this work and should be fairly close to you

[Frimley111R]

Thanks. Do they just check manufacturer settings and make sure that my car still conforms to them then?

[Thorburn]

Frimley111R said:

Thanks. Do they just check manufacturer settings and make sure that my car still conforms to them then?

Think Back on Track have done some tweaks from standard in the past - possibly to Bruss's car?

Standard settings are in the Service Notes you can grab from vsi.lotuscars.com and I filled them in on the TechWiki too, so checking their within tolerances on those would be a good start.

[jazzyjeff]

Thorburn said:

Frimley111R said:

Thanks. Do they just check manufacturer settings and make sure that my car still conforms to them then?

Think Back on Track have done some tweaks from standard in the past - possibly to Bruss's car?

Standard settings are in the Service Notes you can grab from vsi.lotuscars.com and I filled them in on the TechWiki too, so checking their within tolerances on those would be a good start.

Frimley, they should be able to tailor settings to your requirements. Might be worth PM'ing Woza - I went to see his (lovely) burnt orange car before he sold it (wrong timing for me, sadly, ironically it's been languishing on JCT600's forecourt for the past six weeks!) and he told me he had it looked after by Back On Track in Guildford, and they might well have done a geo at some point.

[Toaster]

I am sure your tyre pressures are correct, but I notice a difference if they are not correct even by a couple of pounds so if you havent checked in the past week or so may be worth doing......lot cheaper than set ups etc

[CTE]

When I first got my car it tram lined a bit but I was not too bothered...I thought it was due to the very direct set up etc. Anyhow, the tyres had to be replaced and the tracking was out....so new tyres and tracking sorted it is transformed.

[alex_gray255]

Not a problem I have on the country roads around where I live. Always feels very stable, even when pushing it.

And I use it all the time - including winter.

[SWhitey]

Does it knock at all from the front -mine did and it was the arb bushes that had been fitted "dry" at the factory. They were replaced under warranty at 6k miles! Mine, however, is very stable when hard braking on uneven B roads.

[Frimley111R]

Thanks All. Was talking to another owner here who noticed some wheel weights had fallen off his Evora and fixing that made a big difference. I think I'll try the geo route though.

[Brendan G]

I've had my front ARB drop links replaced today, and the car is transformed!

[Nightmare]

I've noticed mine is tram lining a fair bit - was about to start a thread.
One of my tyre valves is leaking a bit though so got a new one just sent from lotus - thought it might be down to that but my guess is the geo could do with a look then.
Very handily timed thread - thanks all

[Boogs]

Mine does this as well. I have had the Geo done, which improved a little, but still not ideal.

It's in tomorrow for the Clutch master cylinder replacement, so will ask them to see what they think on the road test.

I am aware my front tyres are about 4mm, but why would worn tyres (if evenly worn) induce this kind of effect?

[EVORAV6PM]

I don't know if this might help any of you but I had noticed the same 'wrestling the steering wheel' under heavy braking too.

I checked the tyre pressures, and tried again. It was slightly better but it did still pull to both sides under heavy braking slightly.

I took the car over to my local Lotus Dealer to be checked over before my trip out to Monza (two weeks to go!). The technician had a drive and said that more than likely the pulling is down to the road surface (camber and condition of the road etc). Now, this does sort of explain it as mine wasn't misbehaving on some roads where it was on others.

However, it was suggested that we serviced the brakes (clean pads, check pistons etc) and since this was done yesterday the car is completely 100% spot on.

The car does not pull to either side whatsoever even under hard braking, so it seems (in my case atleast) a check of the tyre pressures and a clean up of the brakes has sorted it completely.

I hope this helps.

Cheers

PM

[C43]

mine does the same thing on a bumpy road, if you are braking hard better to do it in a straight line. To tell the truth I just thought it was the difference between a well sorted Europa on A048s and AP 4 pots and the heavier Evora on road tyres. I have just had my front anti roll bar bushes changed under warantee due to a squeak so will give it a go to see if they have made any difference.

If it is a geo problem them most likely is not enought toe in at the rear or too much toe out at the front, both of which can be checked at any decent tyre center if they have the Lotus figures (which mine did not when I asked).

Does anyone here know what the setup toe figures should be front and rear?

ta

C43