Roadster brake upgrade

[ML Auto]

Evora rotors and calipers are similar (same?) to the Exige V6 ones, however wheel offsets are all different. (I know as a fellow V6 owner chopped in his Exige for an Evora and had a spare set we looked at doing a deal on ). I also know however the wishbones on the Elise/4 Cylinder Exige, are the same as the Exige V6.

I do know there's a specialist Lotus firm in the UK working with one Roadster owner to try and work through which parts make sense as upgrades / swaps (and they've worked on and know every variant of Lotus ever made). My Lotus spannering skills are purely DIY on my own cars so they would be able to offer far more guidance than me. (You can PM me for the details, I don't want to be seen as advertising, even though I'm not connected)

I'd be happy to meet up with any of the UK owners with my car, at least they could have a nosey around which bits from Lotus's latest line up could be made to fit. As ever though it would take some experimental work to determine what was practicable. Will say I'm happy to test fit a wheel swap though as that resolves one of the biggest potential drawbacks I can see.

The Evora uses a 114.3mm bolt pattern for the wheel hubs. The Roadster uses 110mm. The rotors might fit if the center hub diameter is the same. My guess is nothing will work without modification.

 

[smac]

The Evora uses a 114.3mm bolt pattern for the wheel hubs. The Roadster uses 110mm. The rotors might fit if the center hub diameter is the same. My guess is nothing will work without modification.

Good spot. Interestingly the Exige V6 is 114.3 at the rear too, but fronts are the old Elise 110 spacing. Not surprising as basically the front half is Elise, the rear Evora! This rather than offset might be why the guy offered to sell me his spare set of track wheels :wink:

Like everything from Hethel it's all parts bin specials. Part of the fun is tracking down who's parts bin they raided for which car (and it's not exactly a superstar list, lot's of boring GM/Renault diesel stuff!). Hubs were originally from this thing of beauty:

1987 Vauxhall Astra Mk2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The VX220 (and I'm guessing Roadster too) just used the hubs from the Diesel variant of the same car

 

[dpeilow]

My AP Racing upgrade will have following parts involved:

• AP Racing PR 5000 4 pot calipers: https://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/20/24/ap-pro-5000-4-pot-brake-calipers/
• Carbon Lorraine brake pads for 4 pot calipers: https://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/22/1067/carbone-lorraine-rc5-4-pot-brake-pads/
• Rear radial caliper mounts (to use the OEM 2 pot front calipers in the rear and keep the e-brake): http://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/20/1500/rear-radial-caliper-mounts/
• Big bore master brake cylinder (necessary for this setup): http://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/20/1834/big-bore-master-cylinder/

Total price of the above parts is GBP 1295 (~ $ 1950), but I reuse some parts as my 4 brake discs (from groupbuy) and the front brake calipers + pads that move to the rear.

If you do choose to buy everything new, then add following:

• Brake discs 308mm: https://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/21/1248/vx220europa-308mm-ap-racing-discs/
• Brake discs 290mm: http://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/21/1249/vx220europa-290mm-ap-racing-discs/
• AP Twin pot brake calipers: http://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/20/589/ap-twin-pot-calipers/
• Carbon Lorraine brake pads for twin pot calipers: http://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/22/998/carbone-lorraine-rc5-brake-pads/

This adds another GBP 1636 (~ $ 2450) to the bill, so total of $ 4400 without customs and shipping.

Just found this thread from the 3.0 thread.

Sounds like your upgrade is exactly what I have been eyeing up.

 

[smac]

Just found this thread from the 3.0 thread.

Sounds like your upgrade is exactly what I have been eyeing up.

Dave, sounds good, but for UK use I'm not convinced with the CL pads. I had them on the old Elise, and they were good when hot, but seemingly full of iron/steel bits, and somewhat unpredictable cold.

They give off a very rusty orange brake dust that is a b!tch to clean. Some reports of the friction material rusting at the friction material / backing plate boundary and crumbling away and causing failure. More common when used as road pads. Track cars seemed to suffer much less. IOW they are designed to be happy hot.

Personally I'd go for Mintex 1144s if available in 4 pots. Really good initial grab from cold (which is exactly what you want in a Roadster)

 

[dpeilow]

I do know there's a specialist Lotus firm in the UK working with one Roadster owner to try and work through which parts make sense as upgrades / swaps (and they've worked on and know every variant of Lotus ever made).

Just bouncing this thread.

Who is the firm and who is the owner, @smac ?