Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Gray wrote:Hi

I thought 175 was considered too wide for 4.5 inch rims and the maximum recommended was 165.

it's not perfect, the walls are a bit tilted inward which must alter a bit the outside of the wear surface but it does work.

175/60 is 66.8" 977 revs/mile
145/80 is 69.5" 939 revs/mile
155/80 is 71.5" 913 revs/mile.

So whichever way you look at it gearing goes down considerably.

Which gives me the opportunity to bring up this wonderful tool again:
https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/?wheel1 ... 0mm&sr=0mm

........................... when we were kids, me driving a friends' cooper S 998ccm (they say as quick as a 1275?) the surface in sqinch was everything (as kleber V10?) : why or how can a 145 tyre do the job: exceleration is almost everything: WE DRIVE TIGHT CORNERS (alone) AT MAXIMUM SPEED: WE DONT CHALLENGE ANYBODY (except racing) publically ----------------------------------- so my car has a couple of miles more on the dial: who cares. its the knowledge of whats done (OR UNDONE) ----------- my punk is 100% DONE!! incl tyres! alpine sandy

i luv that lovely New Joisy ELAN S1 sandy

Thanks Sandy! It took me a dedicated year of weekends to rebuild my S1and I have a big smile every time I go for one of my country road drives. My new tires added a bit of handling improvement. Trust you will enjoy your driving enhancement!

I agree a lot of the standard tyres available are probably not that great for an Elan, but I think I would check the minimum recommended rim width with Yokohama before using 175s on 4.5 inch rims.
I've used 165/70/13 in the past on an S4 and a Sprint, which was the maximum width recommended for 4.5 inch rims many years ago. One of the reasons I'm putting 26R arches on my S4 is so I can use 6x14 wheels with much more choice of more modern tyres.

I too am more than a bit flummoxed by tires for ,my S2, I wanted 145H13 but outside of trailer types nothing available , heard differing opinion on 155h13 Dunlops filling , vendor in UK says no but other owner's use that size

Jeffrey Vogel
Long Island NY

el-saturn wrote:........................... when we were kids, me driving a friends' cooper S 998ccm (they say as quick as a 1275?) the surface in sqinch was everything (as kleber V10?) : why or how can a 145 tyre do the job: exceleration is almost everything: WE DRIVE TIGHT CORNERS (alone) AT MAXIMUM SPEED: WE DONT CHALLENGE ANYBODY (except racing) publically ----------------------------------- so my car has a couple of miles more on the dial: who cares. its the knowledge of whats done (OR UNDONE) ----------- my punk is 100% DONE!! incl tyres! alpine sandy

Sorry but there was no "998cc Cooper S".
There was 997cc Cooper or 998cc Cooper.
For the "Cooper S" it was 970cc or 1071cc or 1275
I had great fun when i had a 1964 Austin Cooper S 1071cc
Alan

Alan - must've been a 970cc in that case, thanks, it was a gas to drive in 1970??!! sandy

970cc Cooper S and 1071cc Cooper S are worth serious money these days
Alan

Having 14" X 6" rims gives a bit more choice with road rubber. Several months ago I had a set of Falken Azenis put on the S2 elan - They are considered a Targa Tarmac rally tire and fantastic to drive on, and awesome in the corners. The previous tires were Continental Premium contact... and in comparison to the Falken's, is like chalk and cheese, would put another set of Azenis RT615K on again.