Tyre advice wanted

[bcmc33]

I know this has been a subject of discussion ?Ad infinitum?, but as I?m about to collect my Minilite 5.5x14 wheels, the question is what tyre to fit.
All the tyres I seem to look at for performance start at around 225 width and I don?t want to go bigger than 175.

With the number of miles I do in a year the tyres will not be worn out in the allotted 5 year lifespan, so what would be the best option for grip and roadholding?
I understand that Yokohama tyres go hard after 3 years ? is this true?

[jono]

I ran 14" Toyo R888 on my Caterham and they were fantastic but only last about 5,000 miles with spirited use.

The car used to stick like Sh1t to the prverbial blanket.

Cheap too at around ?62 a corner, fitted.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Hi Brian,

I initially had a set of 185 / 60 x 14" Yokohamas delivered to fit my 14" x 6" rims.
They were just a bit too fat to fit in the arches although I've seen them on another S4
With an amount of fettling 175 / 60 x 14" fitted well but tyres of that size are bit thin on the ground regarding choice.
At the time I was in a hurry & a set of "Continentals" in that size sere found.
I agreed to take them as I had a lot of experience of them on 1 & 3 series BMW's.
That turned out to be a good decision; I'm still very pleased with them.
The car doesn't like wet roads but that's normal I think, wide tyres & 185 bhp doesn't help
The tyres have been on the car since 2002

If that's of any use?

Cheers
John

[collins_dan]

On my S4, I am running 185/60 13's on original wheels with no body modifications, just the narrower springs. I have been thinking about new minilites, panasports or superlites. I was thinking of moving to 14" wheels in order to have more options than are available in 13"s. Would 14" wheels fit? Thanks. Dan

[RobL7/Elan]

Hi All,

Jono, a question on the Toyo R888's. What tire pressures were you running for the Super 7 on track? I'm running R 888 205/14's on my Caterham 7, and have found them to be very sensitive to pressure changes. I only use them for racing and track days, I use 185/14's for street.

Thanks,

Rob

[twincamman]

I have 205 x 50 x 13 on my elan but its SPECIAL ----the super 7 and the europa both have 13 x 175x 60 good years and they work just fine -and I drive the bags off the thing when officer Bob isnt around --the most important thing about a tire for everyday driving is that they are round -black - and hold air --Elans 7s and europas are so light they dont work the side walls so you are mostly relying on the tire tread for stick -----ed

[jono]

RobL7

I ran my Caterham Seven on 185 Toyo R888 at 18 psi front and back. This worked very well on a 150bhp engine for road work.

Main trouble was with the tyres being so sticky my cockpit was always full of road chipping after every blat

[msd1107]

Brian,

Limiting yourself to 175 size is going to be a bit of a problem.

If you are thinking of getting new wheels at the same time as new tires, think of 185/55-15 tires with 15X5.5" wheels.

The wheels are available through Superlight, and are lighter than the 14" wheels available through Spyder.

The rolling diameter of the tires is between 155X13 and 165X13, so you shouldn't have trouble with too large tires or with speedometer calibration.

The tires are available in Bridgestone Potenza RE040 and Yokohama ADVAN A043 brands, both V rated. UTQG rating is 140AA, which on our light Elans should provide satisfactory life.

Good luck.

David
1968 36/7988

[ecamiel]

who makes them? where do I get them? I want them !
Yes they will fit, flares etc. Now have 205 - 60 - 13

Thanks
eric

[collins_dan]

I contacted Superlite earlier this year to find out sizes and prices. Here are contact details from the US rep. You'll need to check about pricing and availability of 15 x 5.5's.


Re: Superlite Spline Drive?‏
From: Pack Sales ([email protected])

The first delivery of wheels went so well that it caught us off guard
and we ran out of stock.
I have the rims here but the MG & other small british 'spline
adapters' which fit in the wheels are 6 weeks or so from delivery. We
only have jaguar splines at this stage. Pricing is as follows:-
13x5.5 $285
13x6 $290
14x6 $295
15x6 $310
16x7 $325
If you have any questions feel free to ask

Terry

[CBUEB1771]

Re: Superlite Spline Drive?‏

Spline drive? I must be missing something here. You want either the correct bolt-on or peg-drive pattern.

[collins_dan]

I had a similar question. I don't profess to know or understand all the terminology, but my understanding is they fit Lotus knock-on hubs. Dan

[collins_dan]

http://packracingproducts.com/acatalog/ ... els_2.html

Link to US superlite distributor and picture and sizes of of spline drive wheels that are available. Dan

[garyeanderson]

The above is a Panisport 13 x 5 off of RD Enterprises site.
rdent.com
click on Panisports Wheel icon
Below is the image of the splined wheel off of the Superlite site, they are not the same design and are not interchangable.

[CBUEB1771]

I am pretty sure that Superlite made wheels for Lotus peg drive hubs at some point in the past. However there is no reference to them currently on Superlite's UK web site. I don't think the US distributor understands the application.