Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Following on from the thread I started about a rear roll (sway) bar for a Plus 2 (bad idea as it turned out), we ended up talking about Aeon rubber bump stops. I decided to start a new thread to talk about them. So, RichardHawkins said:

RichardHawkins wrote:John,

A few months back this subject came up with my local Lotus friends, one of which had a pair of original AEON rubber buffers, which looked fine. The idea was to measure the spring rate and compare with those currently available.

As soon as the old AEON's were loaded it became obvious they were severely worn. Cracks that were not apparent in the static condition became obvious, and the two original AEON's required vastly different loads for the same deflection.

In conclusion we decided that 45 year old AEON's could not be trusted and that we were unable to decide if those currently available were of the correct spring rate.

Hope this helps,

Richard Hawkins

..and this makes me concerned that I will not be able to get appropriate replacements for mine, which I am guessing are dead after 47 years and 100,000 miles. Might also explain the excessive roll I am experiencing. I took a look at the parts diagram and I see a similar arrangement on the front suspension as well; in both cases the parts are labelled "bump stop", which seems to downplay their importance a bit.

So, my questions are:

• Where can I get a suitable replacement for the rear Aeons? Something proven to be as close to original as possible?
• My front suspension is toast according to Andy@Spydercars, though when I do a roadside test (push down on the wings, see the damping action) it seems OK. Can I get suitable bump stops for the front, if so, where from?
• Do I need front bump stops if replacing the shock absorbers? I am thinking about the TT fast road units.

Jon,
On the rear, are you using the alloy "bump limiting spacers" ? Your chassis number is before the number quoted in the manual.
Cheers
John

Unknown - I've not yet pulled the shock absorbers out - car is still on the road.

These are to bring the Aeons into play sooner, right?

Yes.
Cheers
John