Exige S2 all year around tyres
Discussion
I have done some searching on this forum for which are the best tyres for all seasons but seem even more confused now than before.I have owned many elise's/exige's and consider myself to be a pretty poor driver in all honesty,so much so that in the last 12months I have finally purchased another car for my 200mile daily commute.I have just purchased a white aspen exige 220 with perfromance(240upgrade)/touring/sports pack and am overjoyed with my purchase from Christopher Neil whom have been excellent.The car is fully loaded with every single possible tick being made when originally purchased from lotus.However I would like to use the car in the winter months etc which brings me onto my point of the best tyres - I use to run the yoko AO48 during the winter months on an Exige na and then got caught out and switch to toyo T1R which were ok but really did seem to compromise the handing somewhat.
I would really appreciate any suggestions/comments however please take into account my driving ability is not very good!
I would really appreciate any suggestions/comments however please take into account my driving ability is not very good!
I thought the T1-R's had wrecked the handling of my Exige, when I first swapped from the 48's.
But 3k mile later, I must have adapted to them, as for road use I think they are easily good enough?
Downsides for me are a lack of immediacy (is that even a word?) on initial turn-in and a very slightly vague feeling at the front in high speed (above 80) corners.
Upsides (apart from at least double the longevity and half the cost) are a nice transition from grip to slip in the dry, being able to drive over cats eyes at speed without thinking the suspension has collapsed and the ability to drive in the outside lane of the motorway in torrential rain, without part of my anatomy being tighter than a camels in a sandstorm.
I would have liked to try the Advans from the Elise SC, but a poster on another thread informs that there are no suitable sizes for the Exige fronts?
But 3k mile later, I must have adapted to them, as for road use I think they are easily good enough?
Downsides for me are a lack of immediacy (is that even a word?) on initial turn-in and a very slightly vague feeling at the front in high speed (above 80) corners.
Upsides (apart from at least double the longevity and half the cost) are a nice transition from grip to slip in the dry, being able to drive over cats eyes at speed without thinking the suspension has collapsed and the ability to drive in the outside lane of the motorway in torrential rain, without part of my anatomy being tighter than a camels in a sandstorm.
I would have liked to try the Advans from the Elise SC, but a poster on another thread informs that there are no suitable sizes for the Exige fronts?
nsm3 said:
I was offered a set of those, but for around £800 !
I used to shoe the Porsche for less than that.
but the Porsche is a high volume mass market car, lots of choice ...the Elise/Exige (the wide front wheel derivatives like Exige, S135/190) have been made in just a few thousand unitsI used to shoe the Porsche for less than that.
anything made in low volumes is expensive, and A039 were not OE fitment on anything else I can remember...
why drive one of "the best" handling sports cars though and fit anything other than "the best" tyres for the conditions ...and brake pads ...the bits that affect the performance after all and make it go around corners and stop as it should
dom180 said:
On my last visit to Hethel, I noticed that the two S2 Exige parked in the Lotus works parking spaces, were fitted with 39s....
It is interesting that they aren't OE fitment to the Exige - possibly due to the cost affecting margins or maybe a deeper treaded tyre would squeeze the Exige handling "advantage" back towards the Elise?I have heard good reports of the 39's, but for road only use they are too expensive for me. I am guessing it is road use that the OP was alluding to in this thread as for the track, the 48's can't be bettered without changing all the suspension bushes first?
I guess, Pirelli, Michelin, Bridgestone don't really offer any suitable alternatives?
nsm3 said:
dom180 said:
On my last visit to Hethel, I noticed that the two S2 Exige parked in the Lotus works parking spaces, were fitted with 39s....
It is interesting that they aren't OE fitment to the Exige - possibly due to the cost affecting margins or maybe a deeper treaded tyre would squeeze the Exige handling "advantage" back towards the Elise?I have heard good reports of the 39's, but for road only use they are too expensive for me. I am guessing it is road use that the OP was alluding to in this thread as for the track, the 48's can't be bettered without changing all the suspension bushes first?
I guess, Pirelli, Michelin, Bridgestone don't really offer any suitable alternatives?
As per Mark's post above [Edit: on the be careful out there thread actually!], very few other manufacturers would offer such track biased tyres on their cars - maybe they're waiting for the S3 Elise and/or for the new EU track tyre regulations....
Edited by dom180 on Sunday 29th November 17:10
I'm starting to think that the Exige is a focused enough car to really require two types of tyre for our seasons... I'm not sure that a single compromise tyre will give you the best the car will give... Tread depth and pattern are all well and good but compound is temperature sensitive and something that will keep you on your side of the road on a slippery November day is likely to shred when you spend all day thrashing round Brands in the summer...
I guess it's a bit easier if you're solely a road driver and don't do trackdays, but trackdays throw a huge spanner in the tyre choice equation. The Exige (well, all the Lotuses really, fitted with appropriate suspension and tyres) can carry such high corner speeds (through sublime balance) that a tyre built to take the heat you'll generate doing 56 second laps of Brands Indy will be bloody useless on the road right now
I guess it's a bit easier if you're solely a road driver and don't do trackdays, but trackdays throw a huge spanner in the tyre choice equation. The Exige (well, all the Lotuses really, fitted with appropriate suspension and tyres) can carry such high corner speeds (through sublime balance) that a tyre built to take the heat you'll generate doing 56 second laps of Brands Indy will be bloody useless on the road right now
I think for general road use the A039 cant be beaten - 95% as sticky as a A048, but with a tread block that clears water ....sure they are still not ideal in icy winter, but not many tyres are...if they were OE on the S2 Exige, and they got the production volume up im sure they would get cheaper
If we were to be all sensible then the UK would follow Germany, and enforce the use of winter tyres, and have different speed limits for them ...but no, our roads just turn into chaos with a bit of bad weather as we leave it up to the individual to decide to fit winter tyres and drive accordingly
If we were to be all sensible then the UK would follow Germany, and enforce the use of winter tyres, and have different speed limits for them ...but no, our roads just turn into chaos with a bit of bad weather as we leave it up to the individual to decide to fit winter tyres and drive accordingly
I've said this before on Exige tyre threads but i swapped my 48's for Conti Sport 2's last winter around Christmas & they have been brilliant in all weather inc high up in the Alps. I have bags of confidence with them in the wet including standing water. Reasonably priced & i'll be fitting them again when its time. I've done about 12k on them so far as a daily driver (1 track day inc) & there is still a few mm above the blocks.
Ed
Ed
this thread is worth a read : http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
i went with the sottozero/snowsport recommendation and i'm very happy with it.
my daily 70 mile commute is mainly back roads that tend to be covered with mud and leaves at this time of year.
when the spring comes, i'll probably go with a regular road tyre. at this stage i think that sticky compound tyres, regardless of thread pattern, are overkill in the summer and potentially very dangerous in the winter.
i went with the sottozero/snowsport recommendation and i'm very happy with it.
my daily 70 mile commute is mainly back roads that tend to be covered with mud and leaves at this time of year.
when the spring comes, i'll probably go with a regular road tyre. at this stage i think that sticky compound tyres, regardless of thread pattern, are overkill in the summer and potentially very dangerous in the winter.
Echo66 said:
I've said this before on Exige tyre threads but i swapped my 48's for Conti Sport 2's last winter around Christmas & they have been brilliant in all weather inc high up in the Alps. I have bags of confidence with them in the wet including standing water. Reasonably priced & i'll be fitting them again when its time. I've done about 12k on them so far as a daily driver (1 track day inc) & there is still a few mm above the blocks.
Ed
looking to switch back to a regular summer tyre - last night, i briefly drove an exige with conti sport 2 at the front and sport 3 at the back and it seemed pretty good, they wear well too.Ed
i went to order a set from delticom but notice that the sport 2 ones are listed as XL (extra load). i'm waiting to hear whether that's what was on the car i drive but it doesn't sound ideal to me.
is that what you have ?
The yokohama Ad07 tyres will fit the wider wheel of the exige.
These are the tyres fitted as standard to the elise sc.
Another option are the older Bridgestone re040 in the elise sizes.
I,e 175,55,16 front And 225,45,17 Rear.
These are the tyres i recommend to customers who run exiges and want a longer lasting tyre than the yoko a048(which are brilliant on the track).
Just two options to consider.
The yokohama ad07 is the cheaper of the two recommended tyres. Only by approx £50 mind.(for a full set).
These are the tyres fitted as standard to the elise sc.
Another option are the older Bridgestone re040 in the elise sizes.
I,e 175,55,16 front And 225,45,17 Rear.
These are the tyres i recommend to customers who run exiges and want a longer lasting tyre than the yoko a048(which are brilliant on the track).
Just two options to consider.
The yokohama ad07 is the cheaper of the two recommended tyres. Only by approx £50 mind.(for a full set).
looked at all of those alright but really i'm not looking for mega performance - mainly safe predictability especially in the wet and reasonably long life.
i have the A048 tyres on spare rims for track days.
heard back this evening that the conti tyres i tried yesterday are indeed XL at the front and i thought they were perfectly good.
used a couple of quiet, very wide roundabouts to check the turn-in, grip and breakaway, also verified stability, traction and braking on a straight stretch.
plenty good enough for road use and way more margin than i'd ever use on the road.
order placed, should have them fitted in the next week or so.
i have the A048 tyres on spare rims for track days.
heard back this evening that the conti tyres i tried yesterday are indeed XL at the front and i thought they were perfectly good.
used a couple of quiet, very wide roundabouts to check the turn-in, grip and breakaway, also verified stability, traction and braking on a straight stretch.
plenty good enough for road use and way more margin than i'd ever use on the road.
order placed, should have them fitted in the next week or so.
shangani said:
If you want all round wet and dry performance in a tyre that will not compromise the handling, I would suggest the new Toyo R1R's. Similar compound to 888's but with a proper tread pattern.
Are these available in S2 Exige sizes yet?I'm still sticking to proper winter tyres in winter (and they've been brilliant today with all the standing water) but I'm about to buy a set of 240R 5 spoke rims for my summer / trackday tyres, and not sure whether to use the 48Rs that came supplied with the car, or buy a set of R1-Rs which should be nearly as quick on track as the 48Rs but without the constant fear of summer storm standing water...
Obviously you can just 'drive to the conditions' with cut slicks but I've had enough aquaplaning scares to seriously consider only using tyres with real tread on the road...
How expensive are the R1-Rs? Anyone actually tried them on an S2 Exige yet?
From my understanding the S2 fitment only comes in a 205 section front with both front and rear profiles being different heights.
Upshot is slightly lower ride height IIRC,c5mm.
205s will only fit a 6.5J front wheel too.
Not sure on prices but a friend bought a set for an S1 for <£500,he rates them highly on both wet and dry grip
Upshot is slightly lower ride height IIRC,c5mm.
205s will only fit a 6.5J front wheel too.
Not sure on prices but a friend bought a set for an S1 for <£500,he rates them highly on both wet and dry grip
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