Emira Standard Wheel Alignment Settings?

[Honcho]

I'd appreciate and feedback on a handling 'issue' which may or may not be resolved by a geo setup.

I've had the car 4 weeks and am enjoying it immensely. The ride (touring chassis) is great but I have the feeling that the steering is a bit 'wayward'. It is particularly apparent on bumpy roads which we are blessed with in the UK. It feels like the car is constantly being deflected off line and needs a lot of input to correct.

I test drove an Emira on the sport chassis with Cup2s and can't remember the same issue although it did tramline quite a bit. I've had the geo checked at Lotus Silverstone and it is on standard settings. Anyone noticed this particular characteristic of the Emira? Any recommendations about dialling it out with a non-standard geo setup?

I've had an Elise S2 for 11 years and also had an Exige S2 for a few years so am used to a lot of feedback and a lively drive. I seem to remember the Exige being a bit of a handful on a bumpy road but greatly improved after a geo.

Haven't noticed this. The front wheels will want to steer when going over bumps with feedback going through the hydraulic rack, but only a problem if not holding the steering wheel - so not an issue for me.

 

[action_turtle]

I'd appreciate and feedback on a handling 'issue' which may or may not be resolved by a geo setup.

I've had the car 4 weeks and am enjoying it immensely. The ride (touring chassis) is great but I have the feeling that the steering is a bit 'wayward'. It is particularly apparent on bumpy roads which we are blessed with in the UK. It feels like the car is constantly being deflected off line and needs a lot of input to correct.

I test drove an Emira on the sport chassis with Cup2s and can't remember the same issue although it did tramline quite a bit. I've had the geo checked at Lotus Silverstone and it is on standard settings. Anyone noticed this particular characteristic of the Emira? Any recommendations about dialling it out with a non-standard geo setup?

I've had an Elise S2 for 11 years and also had an Exige S2 for a few years so am used to a lot of feedback and a lively drive. I seem to remember the Exige being a bit of a handful on a bumpy road but greatly improved after a geo.

Sounds like my car tbh, as was the test drive. You feel every angle of the road in the wheel, I thought that was the point of the hydraulics? Maybe it’s not. It’s my first car with this set up, so nothing to compare it with

 

[Elise111s]

Yes, I'm starting to think it's just me getting used the particular nature of the Emira. It's just a bit different from the Elise which gives loads of feedback but seems a bit more directionally stable on a bumpy road. Very different cars but both a joy to drive.

 

[MiamiBlue]

Trying to solve a slight right pull under hard acceleration I was going to get the alignment checked. I don't have a dealer nearby so tried a garage with a 'hunter' alignment system. However the Emira was not on their database of cars. They said they would 'have a go' but I respectfully passed.

Do we really have to go to Lotus to get a wheel alignment?

 

[action_turtle]

Trying to solve a slight right pull under hard acceleration I was going to get the alignment checked. I don't have a dealer nearby so tried a garage with a 'hunter' alignment system. However the Emira was not on their database of cars. They said they would 'have a go' but I respectfully passed.

Do we really have to go to Lotus to get a wheel alignment?

I got mine done at a local garage, lotus wanted too much money to do it. Give these settings on this thread to the tech, it will do the job.

 

[Elise111s]

Trying to solve a slight right pull under hard acceleration I was going to get the alignment checked. I don't have a dealer nearby so tried a garage with a 'hunter' alignment system. However the Emira was not on their database of cars. They said they would 'have a go' but I respectfully passed.

Do we really have to go to Lotus to get a wheel alignment?

Had mine done recently at Lotus Silverstone who outsource the job to a nearby tyre business. They had the Emira settings but it didn't show as Emira on the print out as the car wasn't in the database.

 

[MiamiBlue]

I've just seen some settings have been posted earlier in the thread. Printing these off and taking them with me seems the solution.

A word of caution here. It seems some third party garages have acquired Emira settings (but they still don't appear on the official alignment machines databases -Lotus haven't shared them?). But the settings differ between suspension type AND tyre type. So it's quite possible they will use an incorrect set of settings if they're not aware of this and have all the combination settings. So I would ask anywhere doing an alignment that they're aware of this.

 

[action_turtle]

I've just seen some settings have been posted earlier in the thread. Printing these off and taking them with me seems the solution.

A word of caution here. It seems some third party garages have acquired Emira settings (but they still don't appear on the official alignment machines databases -Lotus haven't shared them?). But the settings differ between suspension type AND tyre type. So it's quite possible they will use an incorrect set of settings if they're not aware of this and have all the combination settings. So I would ask anywhere doing an alignment that they're aware of this.

I gave the settings to my local garage, he saved them into his system, others may have done the same

 

[Brokenblinker]

Maxed out front camber, zero tow up front. Wow the front end is so much better

 

[MiamiBlue]

Maxed out front camber, zero tow up front. Wow the front end is so much better

Eagle F1's or the Cup 2?

The Eagles are negative at factory for maximum response and feedback, and the Cup 2's are set positive at factory for high speed stability and less wandering?

 

[Brokenblinker]

I'm on eagles but will go cup 2 on replacement most likely.

I've liked 0 toe up front ranging to slightly negative toe on all my fun mountain/track cars.

 

[MiamiBlue]

I'm on eagles but will go cup 2 on replacement most likely.

I've liked 0 toe up front ranging to slightly negative toe on all my fun mountain/track cars.

Interested to know your experiences. If you're on Eagles now you should have negative toe already. But if you change to Cup2's Lotus would recommend you go through zero and on to a positive toe in.
I'm going to assume Lotus know what they're doing and put in a lot of time to come up with two sets of alignment for each tyre type.

 

[Brokenblinker]

Interested to know your experiences. If you're on Eagles now you should have negative toe already. But if you change to Cup2's Lotus would recommend you go through zero and on to a positive toe in.
I'm going to assume Lotus know what they're doing and put in a lot of time to come up with two sets of alignment for each tyre type.

2007 C6 Corvette
2019 GT350
2023 GR86

Only had significant track time on the GT350 and GR86.

I agree that Lotus know what they are doing! Just remember that they are trying to find a one size fits all solution trying to fit the lowest common denominator of their users. I don't have a huge ego, but my use case (almost exclusively hard mountain driving and occasional track) is a more turning focused use case than 98% of buyers.

I also agree that a little bit of toe out up front improves that feel of "responsiveness" right off center (and it makes sense they'd try to do that since the Goodyears feel less responsive than the Cup 2s), but usually reduces overall front grip.

I also agree that a Cup 2 has a tendency to tramline and be overly-responsive. Which makes sense that dialing some toe in would usually help reduce (again for the lowest common denominator of most people who spend the most time on the highway).

For me, I think 0 toe up front is a happy middle ground that should suit well for both tire options - at the cost of some on center responsiveness on the good years and the cost of a tiny bit more tramlining for the cup 2s. More accurately, I should say that those costs apply to both tires, but we emphasize the impacts on the tire mentioned because that is already the "weak" point of those respective tires (all tires are compromises)