tyre sizes - S1 elise

c5tto · Post by **c5tto** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 5:53 pm

whats the proper tyre sizes for a S1 elise front and rear, think i have 225 / 40 / 16 on rear and 185 / 45 / 15 on front. will have to check, im looking to buy a set, which tyres are recommended?
Cheers

GregR · Post by **GregR** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 6:00 pm

195/50 R15 front; and 225/45 R16 rear

yokohama Advan Neova LTS are renowned as the best tyre, but pricey.

Cheap options are Toyo T1-Rs, do a search for 'group buy'. Toyo R888 are Toyo's track biased tyre, whilst Yokohama A048s are the more expensive version.

BF Goodrich G-Force Profillers are also meant to be good, Tom has just bought a set so ask him what he thinks.

There are a few threads about this, so do a search and bob's your mother's brother

mckeann · Post by **mckeann** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 6:46 pm

original lotus S1 sizes were 185/55/15 and 205/50/16, but were increased to 195/50/15 and 225/45/16 when lotus introduced the Yokohama advan neova.

thats what i use on the road and there very good.

other option is BFG's in the bigger sizes, never tried them, but meant to be good aswell.

I'd stay clear of sticky tyres like toyo 888's or yoko AO48's inless you plan to do lots of trackdays and have better suspension.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 6:52 pm

i've just got a set of the BFG's fitted on the advice of walshy. He said that some of his sprinting mates reckon they're better than the neova's. but much cheaper. have heard bad things about the toyo's, and they fall apart if worked too hard. choice between the toyo's or the BFG's, def. go for the BFG's.

my 2p.(again)

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:04 pm

With winter around the corner I'm probably going to get another set of toyos. I'm a distinctly average driver but I like the toyos as they are fantastic in the wet and nice and progressive breakaway. Also they are cheap /pikey

Victor Meldrew · Post by **Victor Meldrew** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:13 pm

RICHARDHUMBLE wrote:With winter around the corner I'm probably going to get another set of toyos. I'm a distinctly average driver but I like the toyos as they are fantastic in the wet and nice and progressive breakaway. Also they are cheap /pikey

I might just stick with the maxi's, they wernt that slippy on the C&D2 run...

Give us more on the BFG.. is there a type?

GregR · Post by **GregR** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:21 pm

BFG G-Force profilers John

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:34 pm

Are there not 2 flavours, s02 and s03? I thought the s02's were preferred but like the proverbial reciprocating equine faeces to get hold of now?

DDtB · Post by **DDtB** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 8:00 pm

If you're going for the BFGs ....

just make sure you get the G Force Profilers... and not the Profiler Gs....!!

and if you wanna get them from Costco (cost me about £250 for the full set) let me know and I'll tell you how I managed it when Costco tell you they can't sell you them... long, boring and very frustrating story though!

HTH

DDtB.

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 8:01 pm

Do tell then, I'm bored of packing...

GregR · Post by **GregR** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 8:02 pm

RICHARDHUMBLE wrote:Are there not 2 flavours, s02 and s03? I thought the s02's were preferred but like the proverbial reciprocating equine faeces to get hold of now?

that's bridgestones Rich

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 8:12 pm

Ah, no wonder they were hard to find!

DDtB · Post by **DDtB** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 1:41 pm

OK, here's a wee summary then for all those who wanna know how I got my tyres at Costco Glasgow....

Basically got it sorted when I found out that it's not just about the tyre sizes... it's about the tread pattern...

When I got mine.. michelin did the sizes I needed but they don't do a "MATCHING SET" in 16" rears and 15" fronts.... Costco policy dictates that if they do your tyres in a Michelin then they must sell you them and can only sell Goodrich if there is no Michelin.... We slip through the loophole due to the matching set tread issue though, thanks to our different sized front and rear wheels!

Costco manager phoned michelin in front of me and was told by them that the Elise must have a matching set or the handling would be ruined so he had to order the BFGs.... this was despite him telling me he wasn't going to 100 times coz michelin did the sizes I need..... Although he did have to phone michelin twice coz the first time they told him that cars must have the same size wheels all round and mine must have been modified!

Also, Costco policy dictates they wont fit a tyre with a lower speed rating than the ones currently on the car. I had to argue for a while with my owners manual in front of me to prove the BFGs had a high enough rating for the elise even though they were rated lower than my Bridgestones at the time. Ended up with one boy changing 2 tyres and another changing the other 2 coz they both thought I was about to drive out onto the road and die immediately somehow and neither of them wanted full responsibility for that!!!

Might be worth you double checking if michelin are now doing them in a matching set... if not... you should be fine for the BFGs at costco!

HTH.

DDtB.

roadboy · Post by **roadboy** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 3:08 pm

I had the same problem with Costco the first time I used them but since then I've just taken the wheels along when getting them for customers and no questions have been asked.

Can't beat them for price though and having used both, I definitely think they're better than the Neovas wet and dry. And nealry half the price! And the wear rate is fantatsic.

The current rears on my car have done 3 and a half days at Croft, 1 day at Cadwell, 25 laps of the Ring and half a day at Spa, plus 2500 road miles and they still have 4 mm of tread. And I don't drive slowly.

Dan@JPS

Sanjøy · Post by **Sanjøy** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 3:13 pm

Sounds like they are as hard as the Toyos. Realised that I have had mine on for 2 years now. ~10k, East Fortune & 5 KH sessions.