2024 V6 6MT Nitron review

[Totally Average]

@shinoo

Quick background about me: I own and drive cars for the satisfaction they give me when they just work. I'm not a car show guy nor do I really care how the car looks, I just want to feel the car flowing and working. I prioritize suspension over everything else and seek those set ups where you are left with a zen experience.

With that said, I felt the sport suspension was good up to 7/10's, but not great after that. I felt a couple of things were compromised. 1) I felt the front end was high and had excessive understeer and the steering was too light - in order to get the car to bite and carve to my desire, I had to be overly aggressive on the brakes entering corners and somewhat mechanical in telling myself the car will grip, but without it reassuring me it will grip 2) I felt like the car moved up/down and laterally too much during fast driving - fine for 7/10ths but above that there was too much going on spatially in many directions to have confidence to push the car hard in a non-controlled (public roads) environment where you need to be prepared for unanticipated adjustments (decreasing radius, drainage undulations, etc).

I went to InoKinetic for help. For those who do not know, Shinoo / InoKinetic is an invaluable resource. He is a driver and a purist, so if you're in Southern CA and you aren't going to InoKinetic for service, advice, or mods, you are missing out on a rare resource.

He initially took my concerns and installed a set of Nitrons with custom spring rates, ride height, and alignment settings. It was a dramatic improvement from OEM, but I had a few new pieces of feedback. He graciously invited me back to make changes, free of charge, in order to zero in on what I was after. He made a few more tweaks to ride height and clicker settings, and the car is ridiculously good now.

Gone is the high, darty steering and understeer biased front. Replaced is a firmer, direct, heavier and more carvey feeling front end that I can trust with feel and not blind faith. The rear is controlled, still breathing with the road, but more controlled and predictable.

Go see him if you seek less understeer, more direct, confident steering feel, more front end grip and a great, service oriented, driver focused experience!

 

[lynchy73]

@shinoo

Quick background about me: I own and drive cars for the satisfaction they give me when they just work. I'm not a car show guy nor do I really care how the car looks, I just want to feel the car flowing and working. I prioritize suspension over everything else and seek those set ups where you are left with a zen experience.

With that said, I felt the sport suspension was good up to 7/10's, but not great after that. I felt a couple of things were compromised. 1) I felt the front end was high and had excessive understeer and the steering was too light - in order to get the car to bite and carve to my desire, I had to be overly aggressive on the brakes entering corners and somewhat mechanical in telling myself the car will grip, but without it reassuring me it will grip 2) I felt like the car moved up/down and laterally too much during fast driving - fine for 7/10ths but above that there was too much going on spatially in many directions to have confidence to push the car hard in a non-controlled (public roads) environment where you need to be prepared for unanticipated adjustments (decreasing radius, drainage undulations, etc).

I went to InoKinetic for help. For those who do not know, Shinoo / InoKinetic is an invaluable resource. He is a driver and a purist, so if you're in Southern CA and you aren't going to InoKinetic for service, advice, or mods, you are missing out on a rare resource.

He initially took my concerns and installed a set of Nitrons with custom spring rates, ride height, and alignment settings. It was a dramatic improvement from OEM, but I had a few new pieces of feedback. He graciously invited me back to make changes, free of charge, in order to zero in on what I was after. He made a few more tweaks to ride height and clicker settings, and the car is ridiculously good now.

Gone is the high, darty steering and understeer biased front. Replaced is a firmer, direct, heavier and more carvey feeling front end that I can trust with feel and not blind faith. The rear is controlled, still breathing with the road, but more controlled and predictable.

Go see him if you seek less understeer, more direct, confident steering feel, more front end grip and a great, service oriented,

I’m curious if any additional geometry changes were made? How much lower are you running than standard?

Glad you’re happy with the Nitron’s, Im very keen on getting myself a set at some stage.

 

[OppositeLock]

I, too, have a set of Nitrons on my Emira, the Clubsport variety, since I go to the track. It's a huge handling improvement for the track, at the cost of some comfort on the street, since these are almost twice as stiff in front as the OEM touring.

You have no choice but to lower the car a little bit with Nitrons, so mine is lowered about 1cm, the minimum amount which you can lower. Otherwise, geometry is as close to OEM as possible, with camber being maximized.

 

[Nelumbo nucifera]

Mmmmm, I’m not sure how this will be received by all you purists. But my wife finds travelling any sizeable distance in my 2.0 litre T, a little uncomfortable over bumps on roads and highways. I have the touring suspension. Having come out of a Maserati and F-type 5.0 litre Jag, both with magnetic adjustable dampers (which do give best of both worlds for track and touring).
I’m just wondering whether any members know where I could obtain the same setup for the Lotus. It goes to the track about 4 times a year, so stiff dampers are a necessity on at least those occasions. But a less harder ride for long distance driving would certainly be more palatable for my wife and others.
Electronic adjustment as opposed to manual adjustment to allow resetting on the fly is what I seek.
Thank you for any help you can offer. And don’t worry, I have broad shoulders and can take any criticism to my feelings.

 

[lynchy73]

Mmmmm, I’m not sure how this will be received by all you purists. But my wife finds travelling any sizeable distance in my 2.0 litre T, a little uncomfortable over bumps on roads and highways. I have the touring suspension. Having come out of a Maserati and F-type 5.0 litre Jag, both with magnetic adjustable dampers (which do give best of both worlds for track and touring).
I’m just wondering whether any members know where I could obtain the same setup for the Lotus. It goes to the track about 4 times a year, so stiff dampers are a necessity on at least those occasions. But a less harder ride for long distance driving would certainly be more palatable for my wife and others.
Electronic adjustment as opposed to manual adjustment to allow resetting on the fly is what I seek.
Thank you for any help you can offer. And don’t worry, I have broad shoulders and can take any criticism to my feelings.

If you speak to Nitron, I’m sure they can suggest suitable springs, which combined with their Electron active dampers should give you what you are looking for (softer when you want it, but the ability to firm up instantly when you want it too). I’ve got a Sport I4, it’s firm and not fun on bad roads.

 

[OppositeLock]

IMO, the Nitron Clubsports, which are double the spring rate of OEM touring, and significantly harder than the sport setup, are still a little too soft for track duty, so to me, these are the compromise coilover You can save a lot of money and just have manually adjustable ones, however, you need to jack up each wheel to reach the knob.