Ride Height..... hence wheel gap....official answer

[lion shf]

Watch Harry's video number 5 of his trip in his Emira, where he talks about how perfect the factory ride height is to avoid bottoming out on speed bumps or scraping the front on driveways going into and out of places like hotels, etc. He even shows a short video segment of him pulling out of a hotel driveway onto the street, and you can see how it looks like the front almost scrapes but just clears. It's at the 13:47 point:



Visually you may like the looks, but practically in real world driving you wouldn't like the sound of the front end crunching or the underside bottoming and scrapping over a speed bump. It's your car so you can do what you want with it, but it looks like some thought was put into the factory ride height, and the chassis has been tuned accordingly. I've modded many cars over the years, and it gets real easy to do something you think is going to be cool or look great, and you quickly realize you've just messed up the ride or usability of the car. If I do anything to my Emira, it's only going to be after I've carefully thought it out, and after I've passed the wear-in mark so I can drive it fully broken in. I may not want to do anything to it at all.

So they put deep thought into fugazi ride height but no thought into the wipers. Got it

 

[Toomanyloti]

So they put deep thought into fugazi ride height but no thought into the wipers. Got it

welcome to Lotus newbies 👍

 

[Green]

Watch Harry's video number 5 of his trip in his Emira, where he talks about how perfect the factory ride height is to avoid bottoming out on speed bumps or scraping the front on driveways going into and out of places like hotels, etc. He even shows a short video segment of him pulling out of a hotel driveway onto the street, and you can see how it looks like the front almost scrapes but just clears. It's at the 13:47 point:



Visually you may like the looks, but practically in real world driving you wouldn't like the sound of the front end crunching or the underside bottoming and scrapping over a speed bump. It's your car so you can do what you want with it, but it looks like some thought was put into the factory ride height, and the chassis has been tuned accordingly. I've modded many cars over the years, and it gets real easy to do something you think is going to be cool or look great, and you quickly realize you've just messed up the ride or usability of the car. If I do anything to my Emira, it's only going to be after I've carefully thought it out, and after I've passed the wear-in mark so I can drive it fully broken in. I may not want to do anything to it at all.

I agree and after thinking it out I will lower immediately!!! If available it will be done before I receive the car.

 

[Eagle7]

So they put deep thought into fugazi ride height but no thought into the wipers. Got it

They didn't make the wipers, those are from Geely. They DID however make the chassis. Got it now?

 

[Eagle7]

welcome to Lotus newbies 👍

LOL, yep. Except I'm not. Owned a 1972 twincam Europa, which is why I know about Lotus handling.

 

[Eagle7]

I agree and after thinking it out I will lower immediately!!! If available it will be done before I receive the car.

Good for you! It's always refreshing to see certain people willing to so quickly identify themselves for the rest of us. I salute you!

 

[lion shf]

o SNAP!!

 

[Foxy87]

You're the second person to confirm this on the forum, so I think it's safe to say there is a difference in ride height. Glad I ordered sports. 👍

Safe to say?😂😂

 

[Magicman]

I agree and after thinking it out I will lower immediately!!! If available it will be done before I receive the car.p

It would ne nice if it sat a little lower but tbh it's not particularly obviously high and nobody has ever commented on it and I've got used to seeing it. I'd also be massively worried about loosing some of its sublime composure on rougher surfaces

 

[Green]

It would ne nice if it sat a little lower but tbh it's not particularly obviously high and nobody has ever commented on it and I've got used to seeing it. I'd also be massively worried about loosing some of its sublime composure on rougher surfaces

Lowering cups do not effect how the car handles. Based on the pictures of your roads our roads are in substantially better condition. Speed bumps are very rare unless you are at a motel or a golf course. I have never had any issues with lowered cars and they handle even better. Hug the road as they say.

 

[kitkat]

Lowering cups do not effect how the car handles. Based on the pictures of your roads our roads are in substantially better condition. Speed bumps are very rare unless you are at a motel or a golf course. I have never had any issues with lowered cars and they handle even better. Hug the road as they say.

Lowering cups don't affect the handling? You sure about that?

Lowering your car lowers your center of gravity but at the same time lengthens the roll moment between your center of gravity and your roll center. That roll moment becomes a lever around which your car rolls. Effectively, lowering your car with no other changes to spring rate, damper or antiroll bar actually makes your car roll more.

Plenty of material on the subject out there if you don't want to take my word for it. HPA also recently had a podcast that touched on the subject with KW's head of motorsports:

 

[kitkat]

Seeing the car in person, I didn't think the car needed to be lowered any. Sure there's a gap, but the car's proportions and ride height when you're standing next to it don't really stand out as needing any lowering to me.

 

[lion shf]

See post 107

 

[Green]

Lowering cups don't affect the handling? You sure about that?

Lowering your car lowers your center of gravity but at the same time lengthens the roll moment between your center of gravity and your roll center. That roll moment becomes a lever around which your car rolls. Effectively, lowering your car with no other changes to spring rate, damper or antiroll bar actually makes your car roll more.

Plenty of material on the subject out there if you don't want to take my word for it. HPA also recently had a podcast that touched on the subject with KW's head of motorsports:

Here you go. I guess your right it may improve the handling.

Evora Suspension Lowering Cups by BOE

Evora suspension is pretty good right out of the gate. If there's one common complaint, it's the ride height. These lowering cups are designed in-house and will lower the car about 3/4 of an inch. After suboptimal experiences with aftermarket "lowering springs", which were both of inferior...

www.gregsraceparts.com

 

[kitkat]

Here you go. I guess your right it may improve the handling.

Evora Suspension Lowering Cups by BOE

Evora suspension is pretty good right out of the gate. If there's one common complaint, it's the ride height. These lowering cups are designed in-house and will lower the car about 3/4 of an inch. After suboptimal experiences with aftermarket "lowering springs", which were both of inferior...

www.gregsraceparts.com

I guess it doesn't matter what I post, you're going to believe whatever you want to believe 🤷‍♂️

 

[Magicman]

Lowering cups do not effect how the car handles. Based on the pictures of your roads our roads are in substantially better condition. Speed bumps are very rare unless you are at a motel or a golf course. I have never had any issues with lowered cars and they handle even better. Hug the road as they say.

My experience of lowering cars is somewhat different but then I've not bothered for years so maybe things have well moved on.

The idea some bloke in a unit on an industrial estate will make a better job of setting my Lotus up than lotus (I get it for track work) is also alien to me.

 

[Green]

My experience of lowering cars is somewhat different but then I've not bothered for years so maybe things have well moved on.

The idea some bloke in a unit on an industrial estate will make a better job of setting my Lotus up than lotus (I get it for track work) is also alien to me.

It’s really not that complex if you think about it. Lotus is handcuffed by cost and making a car that works for mass appeal. The Emira is designed for people that are concerned about speed bumps and having a smooth ride. The car is not at max design for handling it is designed the best they can to meet mass appeal. I personally do not care about a supple ride and the roads I drive are very well maintained. I would say the Exige would be more what I like but they are not available over here. To each there own. I will do a track day before and after lowering and compare lap times.

 

[Green]

I guess it doesn't matter what I post, you're going to believe whatever you want to believe 🤷‍♂️

LOL yeah not looking to set lap records. My experience in many years racing cars and motorcycles tells me I will be just fine.

 

[KAR120C]

It’s really not that complex if you think about it. Lotus is handcuffed by cost and making a car that works for mass appeal. The Emira is designed for people that are concerned about speed bumps and having a smooth ride. The car is not at max design for handling it is designed the best they can to meet mass appeal. I personally do not care about a supple ride and the roads I drive are very well maintained. I would say the Exige would be more what I like but they are not available over here. To each there own. I will do a track day before and after lowering and compare lap times.

Lotus suspension and steering have been a benchmark for years, and their engineering teams have designed for other marques. Their design philosophy has been that a properly designed suspension can be compliant. A harsh suspension may just be compensating for a poorly designed suspension. I have had multiple Lotus and none were ever bone-jarring from the factory and exhibited some roll. The only time I ever tightened up my set-up was for my Elise, which morphed into a hard-core track car over time.

I feel confident, especially after driving the sport tuned Emira that went on the dealer rounds last fall, that Lotus once again got it right. It can be smooth over bumps because it's designed correctly from day one.

 

[Concept24]

The 2020 Evora GT I test-drove was quite a bit lower than the Emira photo posted on the previous page.
Perhaps that had "cups"?
My MX5 was lowered on aftermarket springs and Koni adjustable shocks. It look much better than OEM and its ride quality was not compromised at all. I thought I read at one time that car manufacturers had to comply with some type of rule about ride height. In 2001 when I bought a new Corvette, all I had to do was turn 4 bolts (one at each corner) to lower the ride height. The ride did not degrade, especially after swapping out the runflat tires with non-runflat tires. Ohlin coilovers are very popular because (based upon what I've read) you can lower the ride height without sacrificing the ride to an extent where it adversely affects handling.