I’ll start with the basic question: do the bearing carriers have their suspension
arm attachment points aligned to each other and perfectly parallel to the axle?
I’m asking because I have a carrier that will need to be redrilled due to probably being in an accident. The manual calls for zero to .1875 toe in and if the holes are aligned and parallel perfectly, bushing deflection will certainly cause toe out. Or, from the factory, were the holes NOT in aligment so when assembled, toe in is achieved and under load (driving), zero toe is achieved?
You ask a very good question. I have no idea how Lotus managed to set toe at the factory. My conjecture is that they did so via the inner mounts positioning for the lower control arms, or via a slight difference in F/R center to center dimensions for the lower arms. I’ve had many Elans, but only really tried to adjust rear toe on 3 of them. Only 1 was close enough to leave alone. Of the two others, one received offset drilled black nylon inner bushes pressed into the stock lower control arm, and the other has Tony Thompson lower arms with inboard heim joints.
Well worth it to sort this out as, getting the rear toe set to spec really improves feel and confidence in medium to higher speed corners, and stability under braking.
They look perpendicular to the axis of the outer axle (that goes through the bearings) and that seems logical as it would IMHO make it easier to manufacture. Much simpler for Lotus to alter the arms for toe-in. So, my advice would be to proceed with that assumption, and fit turnbuckles to your A arms for toe in adjustment. There’s a thread that explains how to do this.
I agree with the manufacturing aspect. And I agree that the arms could be
built to build in the toe but I’ve never heard of them being ‘handed’, as they
would be if this were the case. We know it’s very common for our community to be modifying the arms for some sort of adjustment to achieve toe in, so I, too, would agree the mounting holes are most likely perpendicular to the axis of the axle.
I have checked a few lower rear suspension arms in my time and all of them, Lotus, Spyder Elan and +2 and the have all been parallel.
On my Elan I made the front outer bush “setable” by shimming in order to get the rear tracking about right.
YMMV.
Hi Everyone
LH and RH lower wishbones do have different part numbers according to the Lotus Parts List although I can’t see why they’d need to be handed even if they do incorporate toe-in.
Regards
Andy
I was looking at the Plus 2 Parts List. I don’t have it to hand at the moment but I’m sure Left and Right were different part numbers. I’ll double check when I get it back