Hard Top & Black Wheels
Discussion
If you are buying new wheels anyway, I would personally take the opportunity to fit wider front wheels and tyres. You lose a little of the delicacy from the steering (though I wonder how much of that is that you have more front grip) but you gain a reduction in understeer, a big improvement in braking and a much wider choice of appropriate tyres. The only suitable front tyre fitment for the standard wheels is the AD07 in 175/55/16, which is expensive, sometimes hard to obtain, and a couple of generations old now. I've got AD08Rs all round, 205/45/16 front and 225/45/17 rear and they're very good. And easily available at £440 a set from Camskill, versus more like £700 for UK suppliers of AD07. There is a French supplier of AD07 which is a *lot* cheaper than the UK ones, but whether they will always be there and have stock is a bit of a gamble.
cre8toruk said:
ok well as you might know I'm now the proud owner of an ardent red 56 Elise S..
Needs a bit of cosmetic stuff doing to it and I have licence to get some black wheels (it has 5 spoke lotus silver wheels atm, looking to go with 8 spoke black one's).
I'm also on the lookout for a hard top... B&C wanted about £2k for a brand new one which unfortunately is way out of my budget.
I was considering a black one too as a possible alternative to trying to get the colour match right...
Thoughts ?
Anyone got a roof or wheels they're looking to part with ?
I have some breaker contacts who I've put the word out amongst too....
8.
There are some forged wheels with AD07 and AD08-rs on SELOC http://classifieds.seloc.org/ads/s2-forged-wheels/Needs a bit of cosmetic stuff doing to it and I have licence to get some black wheels (it has 5 spoke lotus silver wheels atm, looking to go with 8 spoke black one's).
I'm also on the lookout for a hard top... B&C wanted about £2k for a brand new one which unfortunately is way out of my budget.
I was considering a black one too as a possible alternative to trying to get the colour match right...
Thoughts ?
Anyone got a roof or wheels they're looking to part with ?
I have some breaker contacts who I've put the word out amongst too....
8.
cre8toruk said:
Yeah £1100 !!! though...I found some from team dynamics for £500.00 which is a bit more reasonable... thanks for looking tho.
8.
They are bloody light, though, and not a bad price with tyres included.8.
(5.5kg/7kg vs 8kg/9.9kg for the Team Dynamics or 8.8kg/9.8kg for the Exige Y-spokes)
cre8toruk said:
ooooh you have my car !! :-)... I was wondering if a black hard top might be good too, thoughts ?
You would have to make the roll hoop bit, above the petrol cap in my photo black as well. I guess if you were wrapping/painting the hard top black any way it wouldnt cost much more.
The Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2s (I assume that's what you're looking at) don't look a bad choice.
Think carefully about what tyres you want to run before making a decision though because it will effect the width of rim you want to buy; the AD07 LTS tyres are lovely things but the narrow fronts make the car under-steer prone and slightly unstable under braking. You can get rid of most of the understeer, at least in high-speed corners, by making suspension geometry changes but that makes the braking problem slightly worse and increases tyre wear. 205 width AD08Rs on the front give a better balanced car but kill some of the steering feel and make lift-off oversteer more likely if you do something stupid.
Think carefully about what tyres you want to run before making a decision though because it will effect the width of rim you want to buy; the AD07 LTS tyres are lovely things but the narrow fronts make the car under-steer prone and slightly unstable under braking. You can get rid of most of the understeer, at least in high-speed corners, by making suspension geometry changes but that makes the braking problem slightly worse and increases tyre wear. 205 width AD08Rs on the front give a better balanced car but kill some of the steering feel and make lift-off oversteer more likely if you do something stupid.
hi Friday passion... yeah really like your carbon fibre tops... but can't afford that my friend....
If you can let me have it for £500 then we might be in business :-)
Are you able to do a finished item service ? i.e. so I can just order a finished ardent red one with all the seals etc applied ?
Wife reckons I can cope with the soft top for now, so black wheels will be the priority...
If you want I will take a carbon fibre one for free if you want me to do some advertising for you :-)
8.
If you can let me have it for £500 then we might be in business :-)
Are you able to do a finished item service ? i.e. so I can just order a finished ardent red one with all the seals etc applied ?
Wife reckons I can cope with the soft top for now, so black wheels will be the priority...
If you want I will take a carbon fibre one for free if you want me to do some advertising for you :-)
8.
For what it's worth, I have an OEM hardtop and have only ever used it once in eight years of ownership and that was when one of the tensioner cables on my soft-top snapped. I just don't really see the point - it's no quieter than a lined soft-top, no warmer, no more waterproof,... I suppose you could argue that it looks slightly better and if you live in high crime area it's marginally more secure.
The only reason I'm keeping it is because it seems to add more to the value of the car than it's worth separately. To be honest it just gets in the way.
The only reason I'm keeping it is because it seems to add more to the value of the car than it's worth separately. To be honest it just gets in the way.
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