Monday 21st August 2006

Grippy tyre for the Elise released

New rubber gets closer to Lotus original spec

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Yokohama Advan Neova

Need new, grippier tyres for your Lotus Elise, closer to the original spec? Yokohama has ridden to the rescue.

We hear that stocks of the original spec Pirellis are long gone and a lot of people have swapped over to slightly wider (195/50 front, 225/45 rear), track-biased Yokohama Advan Neovas.

Now, Lotus-approved skinnier rubber is available from Yokohama in the form of the C.Drive (185/55 front, 205/50 rear, as per the originals). Apparently these tyres have been around for a while, it's just that very few people are aware of them; they haven't even shown up on official Lotus lists as yet.

The C.Drives have 'proper' tread so should be better for those who want to use their Elise S1 through the winter and because they're narrower at the front than previous replacement tyres, they should lighten up the steering a tad. Inevitably there'll be some lowering of the outer limits of adhesion, but on the other hand Yokohama has, apparently, given the C.Drive a slightly softer rubber compound for use on the Lotus.

• Yokohama

[mrdemon]

205 is not wide enough for the rear ?

[Narvanath]

Yokohama said:

...a slightly softer rubber compound for use on the Lotus

Does that mean new tyres every 5k miles?

[bher]

Narvanath said:

Yokohama said:

...a slightly softer rubber compound for use on the Lotus

Does that mean new tyres every 5k miles?

Yes if use on the wet otherwise we can't tell

[S Works]

mrdemon said:

205 is not wide enough for the rear ?

I thought the early S1 rears were 205?

[shangani]

Oddly enough, that picture is of the Yoko Advan 07 which is in S2 sizes and is now standard fitment on S2 cars excluding exiges. The Advan Neova for the S1 has been around a long time and is a popular choice on the S1.

Edited by shangani on Monday 21st August 14:35

[S Works]

Serious? 48's no longer being put on the Exige as standard? Must be a marketing push to get people to buy more spare sets of wheels an stickies!!

[Davey S2]

shangani said:

Oddly enough, that picture is of the Yoko Advan 07 which is in S2 sizes and is now standard fitment on S2 cars ecluding exiges.

Exiges still have AO48's. They are a huge part of the cars increase over the 111R.

Saw several unregistered Exiges in Stratstones on Saturday all wearing AO48's

The others would be good as a winter tyre though

[shangani]

What part of "excluding exiges" is difficult to understand? Apart from me leaving out the "x".
Ie all S2's except exiges which have 048's. In S2 sizes, only the 175 front is available.

Edited by shangani on Monday 21st August 14:37

[jaykaybi]

shangani said:

What part of "excluding exiges" is difficult to understand? Apart from me leaving out the "x".
Ie all S2's except exiges which have 048's. In S2 sizes, only the 175 front is available.

Edited by shangani on Monday 21st August 14:37

Lipscomb Lotus have a 111r with the sports pack and super sports pack (I think that's what they're called) and it is definitely wearing AO48s.

[just1]

The pic looks like the new ad-07's that are on the sports racer.

[shangani]

jaykaybi said:

Lipscomb Lotus have a 111r with the sports pack and super sports pack (I think that's what they're called) and it is definitely wearing AO48s.

It is an option to put exige wheels etc on a 111r, but it is NOT A STANDARD FITTING.

just1 said:

The pic looks like the new ad-07's that are on the sports racer.

Isn't that what I said about half way through the thread?

I now wish I hadn't bothered to post. Everyone is pointing out that exiges have 048's etc etc. Once again, I said S2 cars EXCLUDING EXIGES. Actually my S2 111s has OZ wheels and 048's, but this isn't standard.

[enjybenjy]

Shangani YHM

[Davey S2]

shangani said:

What part of "excluding exiges" is difficult to understand? Apart from me leaving out the "x".
Ie all S2's except exiges which have 048's. In S2 sizes, only the 175 front is available.

Edited by shangani on Monday 21st August 14:37

Sorry mis read your post.

Stroppy bastard

[shangani]

[enjybenjy]

These tyres are on [url]www.mytyres.co.uk[/url]. They're in S1 and S2 sizes, and are amazing VFM. Not a too gay tread pattern either...

[rob e]

i found the standard s1 elise more stable on the 225s but more fun on the 205s. with sports suspension and a more agressive setup i found it just as stable on 205s and way more neutral. 225s on the rear give too much grip imo.

[enjybenjy]

enjybenjy said:

These tyres are on [url]www.mytyres.co.uk[/url]. They're in S1 and S2 sizes, and are amazing VFM. Not a too gay tread pattern either...

That's bollox actually, they have S1 and Exige S2 sizes, that's what I meant. They don't do 175s for 16" rims.

[simonarnot]

enjybenjy said:

That's bollox actually, they have S1 and Exige S2 sizes, that's what I meant. They don't do 175s for 16" rims.

I guess Mytyres won't have them because they're an LTS marked tyre. I've got them on my S2 111S in a 175 front and I think they're superb on road and track. Only tracked them once before I got my O.Z. wheels and AO48s but they held up well and I think they're better than the old Bridgestones. I paid £394 + fitting for a full set.

[simonarnot]

Actually, this article is a little confusing. The picture is of a Yoko AD07, now standard fit on new Elises but the tyres mentioned are not the AD07 but the C.Drive:

www.yokohama-online.com/gb/pages/produkte/start.php?id=95

[zebedee]

I changed my Pirelli rears for Advan Neova LTS about 2 years ago (s1 111s). Now the Pirelli fronts need changing too - so I assumed it was Neova LTS time again - what I can't understand from this article is why I might choose this tyre over a Neova LTS? Does anyone know, the only thing it says is it is grippy, but so is the Neova, and that it is good in winter, which doesn't concern me as I don't use it in winter. So what are the differences?