2024 V6 6MT Nitron review

[NicolasB]

Good to hear. I'll have to give Nitron a shout on Monday. It's quite annoying having to refit so many times! Last time they said it was incorrect pressure. Now that I think of it, this is the third time I'll have to send them back.

This was found to be incorrect diameter bushing on one end of the coilover, and Nitron has a fix for it I believe.

 

[Honcho]

This was found to be incorrect diameter bushing on one end of the coilover, and Nitron has a fix for it I believe.

Not in my case. Nitron just sent out new hardware and they are exactly the same.

 

[Porter]

@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!

Great review! What spring rates did you end up with for your custom setup?

 

[Porter]

Not in my case. Nitron just sent out new hardware and they are exactly the same.

Did you verify you got the fixed version by measuring with a caliper?

 

[kitkat]

We’ve had someone get the right hardware replaced — and there was still clunking after.

Specifically R3, I haven’t heard the clunking noise issue from anyone R1 yet unless someone can confirm.

 

[leofin]

I will fit the Nitron elec-Tron with DCU soon. They were dispatched. Will report once my mechanic installs those.

 

[Honcho]

Did you verify you got the fixed version by measuring with a caliper?

I've checked the size with a calliper but no way to know what size is correct. Nitron are taking their time getting back to me. Anyway, pretty sure it's the internals as I upped the nitrogen pressure while waiting on them and it fixed it for a while, but back to the same as before now. Seems to be a design problem as I've had 3x returns from them now with same issue.

 

[seoexige]

Unfortunately the rear R1 shocks failed on my Yaris GR on their 2nd track day outing. Nitron replaced them under warranty but it has left me questioning their build quality. I've been wondering what to fit to my Emira so will be watching this thread with interest.

 

[jp129]

To help counter balance some of the negative chatter, we currently have 3 Emira's equipped with R1s in Houston with no issues, myself included. I've done about 700 street miles and 1 track day without issues. I am very happy with their OTS valving and hardware.

As a separate data point, I've had R3s on my s2000 race car since 2023, also very happy with the setup.

I agree that Nitron needs to tighten up their QA/QC for the known R3 mounting bushing issues. Based on other chatter, they have also been grossly missing delivery deadlines, but that's a separate issue.

I think the better question is, how is Nitron support? Have they righted their wrongs and do they provide adqueate support? So far, it seems like they are responsive and taking care of folks.

 

[kitkat]

fully agree with @jp129 nitron makes great coilovers, likely these issues are temporary or limited in scope

 

[jp129]

In either case, we should continue to keep them (every vendor/mfg not just Nitron) accountable for quality. I really appreciate the information exchange we have here. Goes a long way to help diagnose some of these problems for current and future owners.

 

[Honcho]

how is Nitron support? Have they righted their wrongs and do they provide adqueate support? So far, it seems like they are responsive and taking care of folks.

Nitron support has been very responsive. Unfortunately it's from their sales team who do not have any technical knowledge. I'm waiting for a call from someone technical so hopefully they can finally help solve and diagnose the issue.

 

[jp129]

Nitron support has been very responsive. Unfortunately it's from their sales team who do not have any technical knowledge. I'm waiting for a call from someone technical so hopefully they can finally help solve and diagnose the issue.

Are they willing to connect you to an engineer or someone from their rebuild staff?

I see you are in the UK, are there independent shops that service Nitrons that you might have a relationship with or can leverage their comms pipeline? I'm assuming you bought direct?

 

[leofin]

To help counter balance some of the negative chatter, we currently have 3 Emira's equipped with R1s in Houston with no issues, myself included. I've done about 700 street miles and 1 track day without issues. I am very happy with their OTS valving and hardware.

As a separate data point, I've had R3s on my s2000 race car since 2023, also very happy with the setup.

I agree that Nitron needs to tighten up their QA/QC for the known R3 mounting bushing issues. Based on other chatter, they have also been grossly missing delivery deadlines, but that's a separate issue.

I think the better question is, how is Nitron support? Have they righted their wrongs and do they provide adqueate support? So far, it seems like they are responsive and taking care of folks.

Getting back to this post. We installed the electron Nitron's to my V6 and it sits very low at the moment. How many centimeters lower than stock is the optimal height?

 

[geoffbland]

How many centimeters lower than stock is the optimal height?

That'll be up to personal taste. It would depend on what you like and how you intend to use the car.
Stock height might be "optimal"; you may have speed bumps to worry about or a steep drive way or rough roads but you may want lower if; you like the look of a lowered car, track the car often, have added aero etc etc.

 

[leofin]

Thanks for the reply! It's a valid point. Intention to use on b-roads not that often on track. Does anyone know the original height or with Nitrons? We installed the system but didn't think to measure the car height before installation.

Is it 1225mm car height (original) and 1215mm with Nitrons I wonder?

 

[geoffbland]

Thanks for the reply! It's a valid point. Intention to use on b-roads not that often on track. Does anyone know the original height or with Nitrons? We installed the system but didn't think to measure the car height before installation.

Is it 1225mm car height (original) and 1215mm with Nitrons I wonder?

 

[Honcho]

It’s personal preference and depends on what roads you drive on. Go too low and you can change the roll centre and make the car roll more.

Thanks for the reply! It's a valid point. Intention to use on b-roads not that often on track. Does anyone know the original height or with Nitrons? We installed the system but didn't think to measure the car height before installation.

Is it 1225mm car height (original) and 1215mm with Nitrons I wonder?

You can easily go 20mm lower for B-roads with no problems. Maybe not the best way to measure it but my touring V6 standard ride height from ground to wheel arch with no people was:
Factory height in mm
Front left 720
Front right 716
Rear left 707
Rear right 711
Left and right as you're sitting in car.

Would be interested to hear what other peoples meaurements are. Mine are consistently uneven measured that way at all ride heights

 

[shinoo]

In either case, we should continue to keep them (every vendor/mfg not just Nitron) accountable for quality. I really appreciate the information exchange we have here. Goes a long way to help diagnose some of these problems for current and future owners.

We have been selling Nitron for Lotus and other applications for nearly 20yrs. We brought the brand here. Nitron's owner is a friend of mine and set up their North American operation 5 miles up the road from us based on my recommendation. Their facility (previous KTM's) is really fitted to support our market and has already helped us on several applications, including a Ferrari F348 that needed some specialized help. We fit their first FAL onto an Emira.

Nitron asked us to help get an Emira i4 for them to fit. See below. This was the first in the world that they had completed. This was done here in CA. The dampers are still assembled in England but the local R&D helps sort out quality/firment issues. They remain a small company and these Emiras are low volume car that many manufacturers won't support as the financial return is not always certain.

My advice to all forum members is to work with a Nitron Dealer when you can. Especially those of us who regularily work directly with Nitron and have fitted the dampers. The English auto industry is notoriously poor at communications - but your US Dealer should be able to help!

I shot this pic of Guy, the owner, and Mike, their main US tech. Good folk with a serious focus on supporting clients like us all!

 

[TimLotus1980]

Sounds like a similar/same set up to the Litchfield install - bottom half of this page. https://www.litchfieldmotors.com/lotus/lotus-emira/

Anyone had this upgrade from litchfield in the uk?