Bad handling

[Exploded]

Normally I have the OZ Futuras on my Esprit SE High Wing, but at the moment I’m having the OZ’s from the S4/GT3 on my car, with whom my car was delivered new from Lotus. If I put on the Futura’s the steering is a lot more heavier, which is understandable as they are wider. And with the Futura's it feels like the steering wheels is wringing the whole time, compared to the S4 wheels. Going round a corner with the Futura’s is hell compared to the S4 wheels, as the steer starts to shake when taking corners at serious speeds. Wheels from the Futura's are well balanced, that it not the problem. Any one has an idea how I can make the poor handling better, a GEO setup?, or is a new suspension required or...

With the S4 wheels the car drives so much better, but I think the looks from the Futura's could kill... ;-)

Just 2 pics to show the difference, why I prefer the looks form the futura's although they drive bad.

[rogerch]

Tires will scrub to a geometry, so they will not immediately offer the same characteristics when swapped from another car.

[Paul C]

Am so with you on this.

My Esprits always had stock alloys, but the Bosch came with these fitted:

They were 17" rims 7.5" front and 9" back. The front of the car was very heavy, they scrubbed and they tramlined like nobodies business.

I quickly got some original 16" rims 6" front and 7" back.

Transformed the car.

The owner who put the big wheels on (8 years ago) was either a total cock or he simply did not care how bad his car drove as long as it looked nice. I just can't believe that one day he drove it into a garage on original rims, drove out with big wheels and thought "this is great". With the originals on it's Sooooooo like the Esprit in terms of front end feel.

I think you have to be Honest and think like this: Porsche (or especially Lotus) are sportscar makers who made an iconic car and have the choice of what ever wheel was best, and they made that choice. What do i do for a living? (in my case an electrician) why would i know better? if that were the case they would not bother with road tests and designers, they would just call up some cotswold bumkin, get him to flick through a wheel catalogue and say 'they look mean'. Then, just to make sure the entire feel of the car is lost they would ask me to find some aftermarket shocks 'that will fit' and lower the thing to the point it's a showcar first and a sportscar last. And finally, to put the cherry on the cake i'd fit a smaller steering wheel, just so the very essence of the original car is entirely gone. Then, the evening before it's launch at geneva, i'd poo under the bonnet.

[Vulcan Grey]

Yes, the alignment has to be re-done when going to the later V8 wheel sizes!

The steering rack and ball joints should be checked too.

I changed my alignment settings to a mix of SE and V8 settings, plus some of my own. Along with adjustable suspension, I feel the V8 handle much better, and the car is less jiggly.

[Exploded]

I'm happy you share the experience Paul C.

Vulcan Grey, could you provide me with better GEO settings? What should I check at the rack of te joints? Just make sure they are in good conditiion? If so I can re-assure your they are ok. Many thanks!

[Mark Blanchard]

Looks awesome with the OZ Futuras .

[Vulcan Grey]

These are the alignment settings I went with. Note the front toe-out. I prefer front toe-out, but many people may not. It's one of the parameters that helped me get rid of the front under-steer.

Keep in mind that I had stiffer adjustable suspension (set the fronts slightly softer than the rear).

Now I have JRZ double adjustable race suspension with Eibach springs, so I'll have to do this all over again.

[fsrowsell]

I love the look of the OZ Futuras on an SE.. I changed all my bushing to polys , AWB bushings, and changed all four ball joints in front. Plus i added adjustable upper links in the back and like the way the car fells. It is much better then when I had the old wheels on the car. I also changed my dampers out for AVOs all around. Sure it is heavy steering when trying to park, but once she is moving, all is will.

Cheers

Felix

[steve930]

Paul your bang on about the porsche wheels, there was a phaze when everyone thought putting cup wheels on their impact bumper 911 made it look like the latest version!! W***ers! The biggest problem is that the offsets of the wheels were wrong, by about 50mm! coupled to that most of the sets sold were replicas, which weighed about twice as much as the fuchs wheels & they quite often deformed due to poor quality materials. The impact bumper cars are happiest with either 16 or 17" wheels and no bigger. I changed the wheels on my 911 to azev types a's 17" but with the correct offset and the handling was just as good, if not slightly sharper.

The message being, if you change offsets on wheels from what lotus had designed for that car, then there will differences and probably not for the better of handling and feel.

[Exploded]

Felix, any chance you could send me a parts list from all those needed?

[fsrowsell]

Gert, i' m in Mons Belgium at the moment. I will be returning to the UK Friday evening