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Newbie seeking advice
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 3:43 pm
by ecogms
Having never posted on a forum before I am not sure of the etiquette but realise it may be bad form to seek advice/help on your first post. Hopefully by introducing myself now and appealing to your good nature you will overlook this transgression.
I am based in Edinburgh and have owned my S2 elise for almost 18 months now. It is a sports tourer and pretty much standard (nitrons and janspeed exhaust). Previous to that I had a VX220 and that to date is the extent of my car ownership.
Over the period of my ownership I have browsed this site a fair few times and one thing that seems to have universal agreement is the amount that can be learned on a carlimits day at North Weald so I have taken the plunge and am going down at the end of the month. This is where I was hoping to get some advice. As it stands there is not much tread left on my tyres and by all accounts a day in the company of Mr Walsh will certainly kill them off. Can anyone recommend a mobile tyre fitting company who would be willing to turn up at North Weald after the day has drawn to a close?
Thank you in advance for your help and hopefully with my new found confidence I might meet some of you at a Knockhill track day in the near future.
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 3:51 pm
by ironside
Hi there, welcome to the group!
Don't worry about etiquette, several members post here who shouldn't really be allowed out of the house.
How much tread do you have left and what type of tyres are on your car?
Cheers,
Simon
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:01 pm
by ed
I went down to Walshy on bald tyres and got them changed by event tyres?! 08702 407 787 at the end of the day. (Tom will prob confirm or deny that!) They dont stock 48s though so i had to get of scudo stunners to get me home! HTH cheers Ed
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:10 pm
by kenny
/shouldn't be allowed out on my own faction
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:47 pm
by The_Rossatron
Welcome!
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 6:06 pm
by GregR
welcome along mate

Follow Ed's advice on the tyre front - or buy a pair of Toyo T1-Rs and stick them in the pax seat for the journey south and leave them with the tyre fitters for application post-hoon

Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 6:22 pm
by ecogms
Thanks guys
Still have the original bridgestones on at present. Tread on the rears is currently 1-2 mm above the wear markers with the fronts having a couple of mm more. Figure might as well change the lot.
I am toying with the idea of switching to AD07's (might have been tempted by the 888's but I understand they don’t fit the standard 175 fronts).
Also given I have never had the geo checked since I had the car I think that is long overdue but will wait until I am back up the road before sorting that out.
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:06 pm
by simon
Welcome
AD07s are a great tyre and I think better than the Bridgestones. Not sure you'll manage both rears in the passenger seat though if you plan to take any down.
I guess if you move quickly you could maybe get them sent to a mobile fitter and get them done at the end of the day like Ed did. Murrays should do you a full set with the SE discount for just under £400.
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:10 pm
by craigieb
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:38 pm
by robin
Hmm. I am not sure you will eat the tyres quite the same as you think, and that last 1mm is quite hard to destroy on treaded tyres.
Put it this way, I went down there on R888s last time with not much tread on the tyres, did the day, did Cadwell on the way home, drove through the worst rain of my life, and am going back on the same tyres at the start of April
You *can* run R888/A048 on the standard front rims, but it ain't pretty and I am sure some tyre fitters would warn you against it as it is right at the limit.
You should turn your Nitrons to the soft side before you go as NW is quite bumpy and the sprint course is quite slow - with the dampers set to normal track hardness or even fast road, you won't get the car to grip into the corners.
Be prepared to spend a frustrating morning spinning around in circles
Welcome to the mad house!
Robin
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:58 pm
by simon
BTW, how many miles have you done? Don't think I could ever make a set of tyres last that long!

Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:47 pm
by albutch
Hello
As Robin above, I didn't loose much tread at N Weald, doubt it was even a millimetre. I suppose it depends how you drive, one of my fellow pupils managed to spin on a straight bit.

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:26 am
by dezzy
I'm also off down to see Mr.Walsh (with 3 others from here) at the end of the month. My rears are also not far off needing replaced, but I'm going to just hang off til I'm back up here.
Enjoy the Walshy day!

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:51 am
by tut
You did not give your name, but welcome to Scottish Elises, which hopefully will give you a new outlook on your Elise.
Once you have done a Walshy day, hopefully followed by a trackday and meeting some of the locals, you should be bitten by the bug.
tut
ps Did we not used to have a Simon Ironside once, or is this another newbie?
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:09 am
by Lazydonkey