Types Of Tyres

[bermudabob]

After much hunting and reading through ads for various Elises, I'm now a bit vague on the whole tyre front.

 

So, a few questions:

 

What are the standard tyres that come with the Elise? How much do they cost to replace?

 

What other ones are available and how much are they?

 

What are the good and bad points about each type?

 

ummm... I think thats it...

 

Rob

[Mark H]

Try this one for size to start with as it answers most of those I believe:

 

http://www.elise-faq.info/content/tyres/index.php

 

If you still cant find your answers, I'll post some up tonight for you

[Scott_Mac]

Not much to ask then

 

Std tyres are Pirelli P0 - they are very good in the dry, but shite in the wet. You can no longer buy them either, plus they are/were very expensive...

 

There are many options for replacements, some in slightly wider sizes than the std car came with. The Lotus recommended replacement is the Yokohama Advan Neova LTS, apparantly an exellent tyre, no personal experience of it though... costs approx £425 fitted

 

The main rival seems to be Toyo, originally the Proxes T1-S, and now the T1-R. I have these fitted and they are excellent, cannot compare directly to the Advans, but i love them (much better than the T1-S and the P0) they are approximately £300 fitted.

 

The std S1 came with 185/55/VR15 fronts and 205/55/ZR16 rears.... the 111S, 135 and 160 all had slightly wider rears - 225/45/ZR16. The Advan only comes in 195/50Vr15 and 225/45/ZR16 so if you use those they will be slightly wider fronts... this apparantly dulls the turn in a little (can't say i noticed it) but gives you more ultimate grip... obviously the larger rears give you more grip too, but may cause problems in the wet as they are a fair bit wider (aquaplaning - the tyre is wider so cannot cut into the road through the water as well as a narrower tyre)

 

Most people tend to put 195/50VR15 and 225/45/ZR16 on when they upgrade - of whatever tyre too.

 

There are other makes out there, BF Goodrich do some that seem to get good reviews, and all the main manufacturer make something that will fit... the above have been proven though, so i would head in that direction.

 

You can get "track oriented" tyres, as in semi slick ones, Yokohama A038's and A048's, Toyo Proxes R888, Dunlop R1 etc... but you need uprated suspension, toe links etc to trun those and you also wouldn;t want to be driving around in the rain too much with them fitted

 

*Edited to add LTS to the tyre description as they are specific to Lotus and not the generic ones you can buy

[GCCK]

Scott's right with a couple of exceptions:

 

Advans, despite being a little wider than the original P0's are better in the wet, including aquaplaining performance due to their more "open" tread.

 

Advan Neova LTS was engineered specifically for the Elise S1 as the official Lotus aftermarket tyre. When launching the Elise (new car for a new market), Lotus didn't have much clout with suppliers so took the best "off the peg solutions" it could find. E.g. Koni dampers, round lamp units and of course the P0 tyres. Once established as a success, the suppliers were better disposed to bespoke solutions. The Advan LTS is designed for the Elise - a lightweight car - with a high-grip tread compound and stiff sidewalls that will stay upright yet square to the rims - very high cornering loads but not much weight bearing down on them.

 

No other tyre can make the same claims. Toyo do seem to have come closest, with first the T1-S, which suffered from too much sidewall flex (made it feel as though it was about to trip over into oversteer, but drive through it once you've found your confidence) and latterly the T1-R (better, but wears faster).

 

So the decision is:

If P0, then budget £400+ for a new set of Advans soon.

If Toyo, it's 2nd best, you've saved a few quid (£125?).

If Advan, you're OK for all but major track work.

 

Graeme

[Scott_Mac]

There you go... bit more info on the Advan as i wasn't an expert

 

Should be all you need now.

 

[bermudabob]

Blimey - loads of info!

 

I shall file this lot away under 'useful' and dig it out when I need it.

 

Thanks!

 

Rob

[malbon]

NOt a lot between them all for road driving IMHO.

 

Pzeros are still great in the dry for me..advans do nearly as well in the dry and are good in the wet. T1-s were good when you got the right pressures - needing to be higher due to sidewall flex but not anywhere near as accurate as the pirellis in the dry. good in the wet tho !

 

for this reason. advan get the nod from me as an allrounder if its your everydayer.

 

if its your weekender get some of those a038 semi-slicks - grippy as fcuck and look good too ! not too fresh for th wet tho

[dobbo]

So which would you go for ?

 

Toyo T1S at £288 for 4 or

Toyo T1R at ~£316 for 4.

 

Both prices from Inner Ring, Derby.

 

Road use only, albeit pretty hard at times.

 

Anyone want my P0 fronts - about 5-6mm tread left ?

 

Chris

[Scott_Mac]

Sell the P0, many folk like them

 

I would take T1-R, IMHO much better than the T1-S

 

That is if they have got the 195 fronts in stock as Toyo UK haven't.

[Ladders]

I've got on well with Bridgestone SO3's as well Bob

 

Good progressive grip in the dry and dont seem to snap out in the wet like the P0's do

 

You can get them for around £360ish inc fitting

 

Actually, would it be worth setting a table up, something like the garage area, where people can put up the makes of tyres's they've had experience with, and then people can add there comments to each tyre? Soz if it's loads of work for you Beefcake!

[dobbo]

Ta Scott - thought you'd reply.

 

Apparently, they can get them ASAP. I'm away with work tomoorrow so they've got 3 weeks to get them in.

 

Out for beer now.

[simon_prickett]

Advans are reasonably good track tyres too, last quite a while but eventually overheat and you have to come in and adjust pressures. I've managed a 30 minute non-stop session at Bedford on mine. Also did 7 track days with Advans and wore the rears out, but the fronts are still good.

 

Simon.

[Scott_Mac]

Ta Scott - thought you'd reply.

 

Apparently, they can get them ASAP.  I'm away with work tomoorrow so they've got 3 weeks to get them in.

 

Out for beer now.

May be ok if no rush... but apparantly Toyo GB are completely out!

 

Hope they sort that in time

[Mark A]

Toyo T1R at ~£316 for 4.

Contact Tim Stevens over on SELOC, I paid less than that for a set of T1-R's in Exige sizes (although I went slightly different on the front) of 195/45R16 Front, and 225/45R17 Rear. (should have been 195/50R16 on front)

 

Usually a 24hr delivery if they are in stock.

 

 

 

Oh, and the AO48's and 38's work quite nicely on standard suspension set-ups, they just work better with uprated. The comments about only running if the suspension is uprated is bull (sorry Scott )

[Ladders]

Mark, does it make much difference having 45's on the front?