Lotus Elise / Lotus Exige. Manual - part 24

Page 4

 

 

Lotus Service Notes   

 

 

    Section DH

Alignment

Wheel alignment refers to the parallelism of the wheels when viewed from above and is crucial to vehicle 

stability, handling and tyre wear.  It is measured either by the angle a wheel makes with the vehicle centre 

line, or the difference in dimension between the wheel rim to wheel rim measurement at the front and rear of 

the wheel at hub centre height.  The wheels are said to 'toe-in' when the wheel paths converge ahead of the 

vehicle, and 'toe-out' when they diverge.  Rear wheel alignment should be measured only using equipment 

which measures 

individual rear wheel alignment reletive to the car centreline.  Wheel alignment is designed 

to vary with suspension travel ('bump steer') and the base setting should be measured only at the specified 

mid laden ride height.

It is possible to accurately measure individual wheel alignment using a pair of long straight bars or round 

section elastic in conjunction with 4 axle stands or similar.  Any bars used must be longer than the length of the 

car, and be suitably stiff and straight.

Set up the bars or elastic on each side of the car at wheel centre height as shown an the diagram, so that 

A = A, B = B and C = C.

Measure the distance from the bar to the rim of the wheel concerned at the front and rear of the centre line 

of the wheel (D

1

, D

2

).  If the front dimension, D

1

, is greater than the rear dimension, D

2

, the wheel has TOE-IN.  

If the rear dimension is greater than the front dimension, the wheel has TOE-OUT.  The difference between the 

two measurements is the amount the wheel has toe-in or toe-out.

Wheel alignment is adjusted via the toe control link which is equipped with a left hand threaded ball joint at 

the inboard end, and a right hand threaded ball joint at the outboard end.  Slacken both ball joint locknuts, and 

turn the link rod as necessary to increase or decrease the effective length of the link.  As a guide, lengthening 

the link rod by a turn of one 'flat' (one sixth of a turn) will increase toe-in by approximately 1mm.

After adjustment, tighten the two locknuts to 55 Nm taking care to ensure that the ball joint sockets are 

aligned at 90° to each other to allow some free articulation.

Straight

edge                                                            FRONT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                         

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Page 5

 

 

Lotus Service Notes   

 

 

    Section DH

Camber Adjustment

Camber is the angle from vertical of the wheel when viewed from the rear, and is said to be negative when 

the wheel leans inwards at the top (positive when leaning outwards).

The primary purpose of camber is to achieve the maximum efficiency of the tyre under cornering loads and 

body roll, with the specification closely allied to a particular wheel/tyre combination.  The camber angle changes 

with suspension travel, becoming more negative on bump, and should be measured only at the specified ride 

height.  Incorrect camber can result in handling deficiencies and excessive tyre wear.

- 

Camber adjustment shim plates are fitted between the top wishbone ball joint plinth and the hub carrier.  

- 

Shims are available in 1 mm thickness.  Note that on the left hand side, the shimplate fitted against the hub 

carrier must always incorporate the mounting bracket for the wheel speed sensor harness connector.

- 

Reducing the shim pack thickness will increase negative camber.  Adding shims will reduce negative 

camber.

- 

A 1mm shim plate will alter camber by approximately 0.3°.

- 

In March '04 the caphead bolts securing the ball joint plinth to the hub carrier were upgraded from 8.8 to 

10.9 grade, with a corresponding increase in torque from 45 to 68 Nm.  Before fitting these bolts, inspect 

the cap head for the grade marking, apply Permabond A130 (A912E7033) to the threads, and torque 

tighten to the appropriate figure.

                                                        Top wishbone

      Camber adjustment 

      shimplate

Hub carrier

                                                    Ball joint plinth

                                Shimplate with wheelspeed

                                sensor harness bracket

                                 

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

d24a

                                                      Camber angle

                                             Vertical                Wheel centreline

                                 

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Page 6

 

 

Lotus Service Notes   

 

 

    Section DH

DH.3 - SUSPENSION DISASSEMBLY/ASSEMBLY

The suspension may be disassembled without the use of any special tools other than a 'Torx' socket for 

the hub bearing carrier bolts, a spring compressor required only if the spring is to be removed from the damper 

unit, and a ball joint splitter.  If the hub carrier is to be removed, necessitating withdrawal of the driveshaft, it is 

recommended first to release the driveshaft nut before dismantling the brakes. 

With the car on a wheel free lift and with the rear wheels removed:

1.  Remove the split pin securing the driveshaft nut, and with the brakes firmly applied, remove the driveshaft 

nut.

2.  Remove the engine bay undertray to provide access to the lower wishbone front pivot.

3.  Disconnect the parking brake cable from the caliper.  Release the 'P' clip securing the brake hose to the 

top wishbone and remove the two bolts securing the brake caliper to the hub carrier.  Support the caliper 

aside without straining the brake hose.  Release the single retaining screw, and remove the brake disc 

from the hub.

4.  Disconnect the wheel speed sensor cable from each hub unit, and release from routing clips.

5.  Release the nut securing the outer end of the toe link to the hub carrier, and use a ball joint separator to 

release the joint from the carrier.

6.  Remove the nut securing the ball pin of the lower ball joint to the hub carrier, and use a ball joint separator 

to release the joint from the carrier.

7.  Remove the two bolts securing the top swivel joint plinth to the hub carrier, noting and retaining the camber 

adjustment shim pack.

8.  Withdraw the hub carrier assembly from the driveshaft, using a suitable puller tool if necessary to release 

the shaft from the hub.  Do not allow any pulling force to be applied through the driveshaft C.V. joints, or 

damage to the joints will be caused.

9.  Remove the top and bottom mounting bolts for the spring/damper unit, and withdraw.

10.  Remove the top wishbone pivot bolts, and withdraw the wishbone from the rear subframe.

      Top wishbone front pivot                    Top wishbone rear pivot

Tab washer                           Plastic interleaf

     FRONT   Bush inserted    Tab         Tab washer         Bush inserted      Tab

          from front      washer                      from rear        washer

                                 

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Page 7

 

 

Lotus Service Notes   

 

 

    Section DH

      Rear wishbone front pivot                Rear wishbone rear pivot

    FRONT             Pivot mounting          Plastic        Rear        Toe

                    bracket                interleaf       subframe    link

                          Tab                                  ball 

                          washer                                joint

                                                       

                                                      Anti-rotation 

Weldnut           Short pivot     Flange nut    Long pivot bush       insert           

  bushes                                inserted from front   

 d19b/d

                                                   

                                 

        

11.  Remove the heatshield over the toe-link inboard ball joint, release the toe-link stud, remove the lower 

wishbone front pivot bolt and withdraw the lower wishbone and toe link.

12.  If necessary, remove the top swivel joint ball pin nut, and use a ball joint splitter tool to separate the joint 

from its plinth.  Either swivel joint may be replaced using suitable press tool dollies.

13.  The wishbone pivot bushes are bonded rubber type with a plastic flanged outer sleeve, a plain steel inner 

sleeve, and a plastic interleaf sleeve within the rubber bush to control the flexing characteristic.  

 

The bushes may be pressed out of the wishbone eyes, and new bushes fitted using suitable press tool 

dollies.  Smear the outer surface of the new bush with IPC 'P-80' rubber lubricant emulsion (A082C6042V) 

to ease fitment, and assemble as follows:

 

Top wishbone - insert a single 30mm long bush into each pivot eye from the outside end (front of front 

eye, and rear of rear eye).

 

Lower wishbone rear pivot - insert a single 30mm long bush from the front end of the eye.

 

Lower wishbone front pivot - insert a 16mm long bush into each end of the front eye.

14.  The road spring may be removed from the damper using a suitable spring compressor to allow the spring 

lower slotted seat to be withdrawn.  Note that the spring upper seat is retained by a square section circlip 

in a groove in the damper body:

 

- Standard Elise & USA from VIN 3013:  Use centre of 3 grooves for mid-laden ride height of 130mm.

- USA Elise prior VIN 3013:  Use lower of 3 grooves for mid-laden ride height of 135mm.

 

- Elise with Roadsports suspension package and non-USA Exige:  Use the upper of 2 grooves for mid-

laden ride height of 130mm.

 

15.  To remove the hub bearing unit from the hub carrier, release the three Torx head bolts and withdraw the 

complete unit.  The hub unit is not serviceable, and is replaced complete if faulty.

Reassembly

 

Re-assemble the suspension in reverse order to disassembly with the following notes:

- 

Take care to assemble each pivot bolt with the correct washers/snubbers/spacers as shown in the dia-

grams.

- 

Smear the shank of each pivot bolt with PBC grease, but do not allow contamination of the threads.

- 

Take care to refit the original camber adjustment shimpack.