Nothing much to report on the hands-on front, other than I swapped my spoiler fixings over.
Looks like they had been molegripped last time the spoilers was removed/refitted and I had to follow in those footsteps to remove them once more. I removed the spoiler because it was full of water, yes it appears that’s a thing.
Aside from that I’ve just been getting some driving done, no big distances yet just a few ‘long way round’ essential trips around the local area. I am starting to get a bit more familiar with the new setup of the car and I am starting to build up some feedback.
- Brakes - I commented that the RS14s were squeal free but it doesn’t seem to be that black and white. Anecdotally it seems that when I’ve been “on it” for a while, then later do some low intensity braking that they chirp up a bit. Nothing too bad yet, and it may just be part of the early lifecycle of the pads. I’ll try not to judge them properly until they’ve done a trackday.
Aside from that the pedal feel and consistency (as far as it can be tested on road) is excellent, it’s probably one of the more significant drive-ability changes I’ve made to the car so far.
- Suspension - I think I’m getting excessive bump steer with the new rideheight/geo. I say ‘think’ because I’m not really what you would consider a “car whisperer” and although I (now) understand the concepts of it, I’m not sure that I know exactly what it feels like.
To give the best description I would say that the car feels a bit like it’s hunting out undulations and bumps in the road. Typically I would attribute tram lining like this to a change of tyres (usually going wider/stiffer) but I’ve run the same brand/type of tyres across both my Elise/Exiges). I wouldn’t say that it’s severe, but the car certainly feels a bit more sensitive to it. Secondary to that, on a longer sweeping bend where the suspension can get ‘loaded up’ a bit, I feel the wheel is darting a little bit in my hands, again nothing severe - this is a very minor trait.
Ultimately this doesn’t seem to be hurting the road holding or handling of the car, so I’m reluctant to make any further changes until I can explore it a bit more first. Get the (brand new) front tyres scrubbed in and see how it feels on a snooker table race track, but in the meantime I may evaluate my options which seem to be:
a) Steering rack riser plates, cheap change which will just raise the rack 10mm, so no adjustability as such but might get the bump steer curve back towards centre a bit.
b) New rack and/or steering arms. A few options exist on the market, the Spitfire ones being adjustable via shims. A bit more money, but ultimately would give the most control.
The other issue that I have is being able to measure changes, I’ve worked with loads of ‘geo’ people over the years and not once have I discussed the measurement or adjustment of bump steer… but maybe that’s because I’ve simply not asked.
I do welcome the opinion of the forums though, I don’t feel my ride height is too extreme but I do need to measure it again to see where I’m at.
