Tires size

[joeyo]

I have a question about the rear tire size for my car. I recently purchased a new 2001 Esprit V-8 (US), supposedly it already had the 2002/03 tire/wheel upgrade (OZ Racing Nova 16-spoke rims). The car has Dunlop 285/35/18 on the rears. But I have seen brochures/data that the 2002/03 models will have 295/35/18. So what is the tire size for the 2002/2003 model? I believe the 2001 thru 2003 model are almost identical except for the rear tail lights and minor cosmetic changes, so when I change my rears; can I move up to the 295/35/18?

[sanj]

joeyo said:

can I move up to the 295/35/18?

The wheel sizes haven't changed, so there's no reason you can't. It may introduce a very slight speedo error, but only about 1%. I wouldn't be surprised if Lotus didn't recalibrate the speedo for the different tire size.

Cheers,
Sanj

[rob.e]

I have 295 rears on my 98 V8-GT. Original size was 285. No problems at all running the wider rubber - only minor point is that it raises the rear a very small amount, hence you are a little more likely to scrape the nose. Its not a problem though. On a positive note the wider rubber means you're less likely to kerb the rim