augiedriver

Hi Bibs, I had one session on my own which my wife described as 'Mr Sedate!' I only had one session with the instructor which lasted about half an hour and no, I don't think I rode the brakes. At the start of my instructor session I was being overtaken constantly by the Caterham Academy guys, but after 15 minutes or so none of them passed me again. The guys that checked the brakes also checked the brake fluid to make sure it hadn't boiled. Would the brakes 'getting hot' have caused the high pitched vibration? I'm now wary of doing another track day unless as someone suggested, I upgrade the brakes.

I did a tack day a while ago in my Elise 220 Sport and towards the end of my session with an instructor there was a high-pitched vibration which the instructor said not to worry about, "it was just the brakes overheating!!" But then it wasn’t his car! I should point out that after half an hour with the instructor my speed had increased substantially from my initial outings. As other competitors on the same day didn’t have any problems, though none went out with the instructor, I just wondered if other people had had similar issues? I always thought a Lotus was designed for track days. The brakes were later checked out and confirmed nothing wrong.

If this has only just started firstly check tyre pressures, if they're OK could be tracking or wheel balance.

Hi Chris, I live just outside Ottery and have a 2018 S3 Elise 220 Sport if you are interested. Be pleased to take you out and chat about my experience with it, had it for just over a year now. Jim

Hi Chris, I bought one a couple of months ago as my S3 didn't come with a cover either. The 4 grommets fit into the 4 holes in the underside of the cover and if you look at the engine, you will see 4 lugs sticking up that match up with the 4 holes in the cover. The rubber grommets then just slot onto the 4 lugs. Line up the oil filler cap with the hole in the cover to get it lined up. Hope that’s useful. Where are you based?

Good news about Hendy Lotus opening in Exeter.

Just heard from Snows Hedge End that they're giving up their Lotus franchise, quoting the pandemic and small volume of sales as the reasons. Shame.

Hi Kubera, If you are just talking about the blade, the Bosch AeroTwin AR26U was a great upgrade for my Elise S3. Works much better than the original. Good luck.

Hi Paul, I use an Optimate4 which comes with both crocodile and wired connection leads. This device monitors, tests and charges the battery as required. Have a look on Google. Jim

I'm picking up this thread which is similar to my own post entitled 'Alarming lack of initial breaking in the wet'. What pads have you changed too? I've now spoken to both A P Racing (Elise and Evora front calipers) and Circuit Supplies who distribute pads for A P Racing. Neither company had heard of this problem. A P Racing do not manufacturer pads but buy them in but thought it could only be the pads as a disc will dissipate water immediately. However, Circuit Supplies didn't think it could be the pads and questioned whether the servo was the problem. But I only have this problem in the wet. Apparently the calipers on the Elise and Evora, although different, are specific to both cars and not supplied to any other car manufacturer.

Thanks for the replies everyone. However, a £50,000 car that doesn't stop very well in the rain doesn't sound like a good design feature to me! Funnily enough there is a ford in Sidmouth, our local town, and yes there is a sign telling you to test your brakes, but I thought that was for cars built 50 years ago with drum brakes! I don't know what pads are on the car, but that is probably my first area of looking for a remedy. I shall call A P Racing on Monday to see what their take is. I'll try your suggestion of lifting off and then re-applying to see if that makes a difference. A bit like cadence braking which I have done in the past, but that's not good when trying to come to a quick stop from a low speed.

Had to do an emergency stop on the A 303 today in wet conditions and was alarmed to find a severe lack of initial braking. The amount of pressure I had to apply to the brakes just seemed out of all proportion to get the car stopped in time, which it nearly didn't. I was only travelling about 40 mph but the brakes just didn't seem to want to bite. I had this before after cleaning the car and driving down our driveway only to find there were no brakes for the first 20 feet or so. I understand the servo on these cars is a lot less than say an Audi TT, but this was scary and always seems to be in wet conditions. Just wondered if anybody had any ideas or could suggest a remedy.

I'm interested in seeing posts for anything in the 'Elise / Exige Chat' section. How can I get email alerts for this or is there another method of getting alerts?

I'm quite happy to have a look at my S3, but you seem to be a lot more practical than I am. Not sure how I would get to see it. Any suggestions? Looks like you've removed the wheel. I don't even have a jack!

Now that looks pretty smart. At first I couldn't understand what the wood was for, but now realise it's for holding the footrest in place rather than bolting or screwing it to the alloy. That's going to be a lot more comfortable on long runs. I don't understand why Lotus don't fit a left foot rest as standard. In our 2007 Elise there was a foot brace in the passenger footwell, which seemed a bit unnecessary to me, so why not a drivers foot rest? I bet it wasn't easy working in the footwell.