best source of tyres - Elise 111R

best source of tyres - Elise 111R

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Discussion

lee111s

377 posts

188 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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The above site have confirmed they are indeed the LTS they send out. A few guys on Seloc have also had some delivered and confirmed this.

Can get a set of AD07 fronts and AD08R rears for £370 delivered.

Beachbum

2,507 posts

231 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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They are cheap for the AD07's and yes they are LTS variants. However shop around for AD08's, you can find them cheaper elsewhere, usually

kambites

67,556 posts

221 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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Beachbum said:
They are cheap for the AD07's and yes they are LTS variants. However shop around for AD08's, you can find them cheaper elsewhere, usually
The fronts wont fit on standard 111R wheels will they?

otolith

56,082 posts

204 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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Not as far as Lotus are concerned - some people have fitted wider tyres to the standard alloys.

kambites

67,556 posts

221 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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otolith said:
Not as far as Lotus are concerned - some people have fitted wider tyres to the standard alloys.
Hmm, I know 195s fit but I thought 205s fouled the liners on standard width and offset wheels.

otolith

56,082 posts

204 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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Yes - and it looks like you can't get AD08s in 195/50/16.

Beachbum

2,507 posts

231 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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AD08s only fit the rear of standard wheels on a 111R. Hence why a lot of people are now running 7s on the front and 8s on the rear

otolith

56,082 posts

204 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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That's what I was doing before I fitted wider wheels - but I know some people have fitted wider fronts than standard, evidently not AD08s.

Beachbum

2,507 posts

231 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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What 195s do people use and what profile do they adjust to ?
I know the original concept, when Lotus went to 175s was to induce a degree of understeer to allow people coming from FWD cars to adjust to the car easier. Even at the time Lotus admitted going to 195s would bring the car back to a neutral bias

lee111s

377 posts

188 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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Can't seem to find AD08R's any cheaper than £101.37 a tyre which they're priced at on the site I mentioned earlier!

Prices do seem to fluctuate quite a bit. A full set of 7 fronts and 8 rears were priced at about £335 just before christmas.

Rick101

6,969 posts

150 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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lee111s said:
Thanks. This is the site I had been looking on.

Is the 08 a better/newer Tyre. Why are folk fitting 8's when the 07's are available for the rears?

otolith

56,082 posts

204 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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The current AD08R improves upon and replaces the AD08 which improved upon and replaced the AD07. I don't think you can buy AD07s for anything but Elises now.


lee111s

377 posts

188 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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As above...they also don't make elise sized front tyres in the AD08R which is why people stick with the 7's smile

cre8toruk

250 posts

137 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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well I have to admit to being slightly bemused... the AD07 LTS seems to be a bit like Rocking Horse you know what unless you want to but them from Hangar 111 or Eliseparts.com... I've tried black circles, Event tyres and various other outlets but I can't find any for sale...

In fact if I go to Yokohama's website I can't even select the AD07 anymore.

At some point we are going to have to give up being able to source these for our cars, so the question then is what else can we use ?

I currently have Pirelli winter tyres on my S, which If memory serves (on Pirelli tyres) will mean that they'll be down to the wear indicators in a matter of days!! Do I notice the difference between these and the AD07's I had on my previous S2 ? err no.... at what point would I notice the difference ?

I would really rather put the AD07 LTS's on the car, though I'm split... part of me says this is a brilliant marketing scam, the other half wants to believe that a team of lotus engineers and a team of yokohama engineers all got together and tested the hell out of various different compounds, hurtling around tracks and going sideways at every opportunity, oh wait perhaps that split is 75/25 now :-)

At about £750+ for a full set this isn't an insignificant investment and whilst accept the importance of the rubber that's my only contact with the road, I want to know that this is money well spent.... I also want to know if after 15 years of the S2 why no one else has come up with a better tyre ? Or has tyre technology stood still in that time ? (no it hasn't).... So if 195's are better actually and by Lotus' own admission it seems to be then should I not move to a newer tyre ?

You can see why there's so many questions about tyres on the forums... there's no clarity, and it's all a bit of a dark art.

It would be helpful / useful to know what other tyres people have used and what their experiences are, but I suspect this horse has been flogged on several occasions....

I will ask my friends at B&C what they recommend and report back. :-).
8.

otolith

56,082 posts

204 months

Monday 9th February 2015
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The newer tyres are better - more grip, less noise, less rolling resistance. But an Elise on AD07s is hardly lacking. I think the upgrade to wider wheels and tyres is worthwhile, particularly with the scarcity of high performance tyres in the front tyre size, but I entirely understand why someo might not.

kambites

67,556 posts

221 months

Tuesday 10th February 2015
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cre8toruk said:
At some point we are going to have to give up being able to source these for our cars, so the question then is what else can we use ?
As long as Lotus is still fitting them to new cars, there will be supply of a sort so I don't think there's any need to worry about them vanishing until Lotus stops selling the Elise.

That Pneus site above has a full set for <£400 which seems pretty good to me for the type of tyre:

http://www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk/car-tyres/yoko...
http://www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk/car-tyres/yoko...

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 10th February 08:02

cre8toruk

250 posts

137 months

Tuesday 10th February 2015
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ah yes... I did see that but doesn't specify LTS can you buy a non LTS AD07 ? No worries if not...

kambites

67,556 posts

221 months

Tuesday 10th February 2015
quotequote all
cre8toruk said:
ah yes... I did see that but doesn't specify LTS can you buy a non LTS AD07 ? No worries if not...
Yokohama haven't made the non-LTS AD07s since the AD08 came out.

cre8toruk

250 posts

137 months

Tuesday 10th February 2015
quotequote all
hehe... ok well the word on the street (or Bell & Colville) is there's plenty of stock of AD07 LTS's... so this shouldn't be a problem.

Fishy Dave

1,026 posts

245 months

Tuesday 17th February 2015
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Could be worth considering the Avon ZZS, built primarily for the Caterham market, but also available in Elise sizes. These have lighter sidewalls which should suit our cars.

http://www.avonmotorsport.com/road-legal/performan...