Source: The Lotus Forums post
NORFOLK, U.K. – Lotus Aftersales has revised its pricing for brake and clutch components to be more competitive with third-party offerings following a review of its pricing structure.
Lotus cars received feedback from its dealers resulting in a decision to find ways of “improving” retail prices across brake friction parts and clutch range.
Brake discs will now be sold in pairs with the retail prices being realigned to become more competitive in the marketplace, with a reduction of 27 percent against current brake pad RRP. The Elise cross drill brake discs have been reduced by up to 48 percent.
Related post:
Carbon Performance Innovates 3D Printed Calipers
Brake pad prices have also been realigned. This allows the retail prices to become more competitive in the marketplace, with a reduction of 20 percent against current brake pad RRP. Therefore, the retail price of Elise brake pads has been reduced by an average of 22 percent for the front and 28 percent for the rear.
According to the company, “Lotus Cars go to enormous lengths to approve its brake products for our high-performance vehicles. The Lotus vehicle dynamics team is widely known as the benchmark that all other manufacturers base their performance against.”
Development of the original-equipment (OEM) braking system is an analytical and practical process with the practical element including rig (environmental dynamometer) and vehicle testing.
Lotus products are road cars with an emphasis towards track usage so the company’s design, test and validation must consider this broad spectrum of vehicle usage.
When initially sizing the braking system, vehicle inputs and attribute targets such as vehicle performance (acceleration and Vmax), gross vehicle weight and weight distribution, stopping distances, peak disc temperatures and airflow and design constraints such as wheel sizes and dynamic clearances are key points to note.
Lotus brake sizing tools are employed to ensure these targets are met and used to optimize pad area, TMC and caliper piston sizing, disc mass and vent gaps (thermal capability), pedal feel and front-rear bias to get the best out of the brakes including optimization of the anti-lock system.
Environmental considerations are also a requirement in terms of pad compounds, ELV compliant coatings and end of use recyclability.
The entire announcement can be viewed by clicking HERE.
