Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

A friend is having problems with low rear disc clearance to the wishbone [ the bit of wishbone that joins the fore and aft outer arms] It appears that there is 6mm clearance on some cars but this one is nearer 1mm and touches when the suspension is under compression [ sorry , I meant under droop], any thoughts? Does anyone else have a disc to wishbone measurement? cheers, John.

Hi John,
I have around 6mm with the suspension at normal running height.
Are the discs new ? If there is a problem with the offset of the disc it will show up when the caliper is fitted - or if the disc is too thick the caliper won't fit over it. Are the A frame outer bushes OK ? - any slop there and the hub could move outwards reducing the clearance between the disc and A frame.

Thanks Roger, I am going down to see the problem; sometimes a fresh pair of eyes may help, cheers, John.

Hi John, Did you ever resolve this ?

Hi Roger, We measured everything and tried 6 different wishbones; only one had decent clearance to the disc so my friend had the wishbones modified [ removed crosspiece and rewelded about 6mm further over towards the wheel]. It seems that the gap between disc to wishbone varies from car to car; it must be mainly due to wishbone differences but as these ones had been on the car to begin with I don't really understand how it worked. One disc seemed to have a different thickness which was all off the side which allowed a bit of space so possibly a modified disc was on one side. Sometimes these things are not fully explainable but are sent to try us, cheers, John.