Tyres for Elise SC - road use only

[aea730]

Folks I’m looking for a bit of informed advice on this. I put a post on the lotus forum but it’s got lost in amongst track day stuff.
I’ve a 2011 SC on the original AD07’s still tread left but thinking it’s time to swap. As I understand it the 175 fronts are no longer available in a suitable tyre.

Has anyone been through this process and found a good tyre for just road use, the car has only done 12k from new and is never going near a track, I don’t want something that’s going to dump me into a hedge but equally I don’t really drive the car hard.

The car has the forged 6” front rims so will go above 175 but I don’t want to lose the front end feel

Any help would be appreciated

[aea730]

Belle427 said:

let us know what you go with and how you find then OP as its a big help.

Will do, I think I’m going to go for the V105 as the tyre seems to be the one prescribed for the car, I think anything more track biased might be just a bit hard to live with at normal road driving

[aea730]

herebebeasties said:

Recently fitted V105s all around to my Elise SC (2ZZ, standard twelve spoke SC wheels).

Old tyres were AD07s which were pretty ancient and rears fairly worn, so not at all comparable back-to-back obviously.

I am not a tire-testing god, but there is only marginal difference vs. how I remember it on new AD07s.

There might be a fraction more squidge, making the secondary ride quality better. Turn-in seems just as good. Stopping power perhaps a little better than I remember new AD07s in the wet, but not night-and-day. Front end grip is a bit better, doesn't push on as much. Wider tyres up front, though, so hardly surprising. Doesn't seem to make the handling any less forgiving, though. Am perfectly happy with the choice.

Am running very slightly lower than Lotus-recommended pressures all round, made it all feel much more planted.

Thanks for resurrecting the thread. I still haven’t got round to doing anything with mine. What I’ve owned my SC from new so it’s 12 yrs old and about 12k miles on the originals. I think I’ve probably only done 200 miles since I posted the thread so not really felt the need to spend

[aea730]

Cryssys said:

I've just bought a 99 Elise 111s which is in need of new tyres all round. For the most part it'll be road use with the occasional track day. It's currently fitted with 195/50/R15 on the front and 225/45/R16 on the rear.

Having read through the thread, and even though comments are mixed, it seems like Yoko ADO8RS are the best bet but I was wondering if there are alternatives that are worth considering?

I was the original poster and still not swapped mine - albeit I haven’t used car for over 12 months.
I got the impression that the AD08s were more track focused, needing quite a bit of heat in them to avoid binning it !
Isn’t the V105 the recommended replacement by Lotus

Edited by aea730 on Tuesday 4th June 18:16