Tires again.........

[dougal cawley]

Here is our page with Elan tyres

https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/classi ... /elan.html

Pirelli Cinturato or XAS are the best, with different characteristics.

we will have a new 155R13 Cinturato CA67 soon. that will be great.

as far as innertubes go. if you are running a 145r13, 155r13 or 165R13 you can fit an inner tube in that tyre weather it is described as tubeless or not.

Howeve the question for you guys is have you got tube type wheels or not. so if you have a tubeless tyre fitted on a wheel that should have inner tubes, then yes fit a tube. His web page should explain weather your wheels are tubeless or not.

https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/classi ... tubes.html

then this period Dunlop fitment guide will tell you if your Elan came from the factory with tubeless wheels or not.

[AshleyPark]

Wow, I can't believe how much your prices have skyrocketed.

I bought a set of 5 for my car a couple of years ago for £443, now the same set is £720!

[661]

Here is our page with Elan tyres

https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/classi ... /elan.html

Pirelli Cinturato or XAS are the best, with different characteristics.

we will have a new 155R13 Cinturato CA67 soon. that will be great.

as far as innertubes go. if you are running a 145r13, 155r13 or 165R13 you can fit an inner tube in that tyre weather it is described as tubeless or not.

Howeve the question for you guys is have you got tube type wheels or not. so if you have a tubeless tyre fitted on a wheel that should have inner tubes, then yes fit a tube. His web page should explain weather your wheels are tubeless or not.

https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/classi ... tubes.html

then this period Dunlop fitment guide will tell you if your Elan came from the factory with tubeless wheels or not.

1978 Dunlop Lotus Fitments.jpg

Interesting.
Elans were tubed, +2's tubeless.
My S4 was bought in 1986 with +2 steel rims and I've run it tubeless until converting to the Revolutions.
The cross section of the Elan steel wheel and that of the +2 appear the same to my eye. Does that mean Elan wheels can be run tubeless ( if my eye is correct), despite an OEM tube being used?

[dougal cawley]

I must admit that the tube type tubles thingy is a bit complicated and contradictory.
yes they did fit wheels without inner tubeds on wheels without the safety rib. (but they soon stopped that)
yes Porsche did even fit 60% profile tubes at the factory gate with inner tubes (but they did soon stop that)

Basically if your wheel has the safety rib on it then it has been designed as tubeless wheel

If it doesnt have that hump, it might be from a breif period where they were fitting tubeless tyres on wheels before the safety hump was invented. I am not saying that is dangerous, but i would say that they didnt do thius for long. they soon invented the safety hump, and having invented it they didnt go back to wheel without a safety hump.

From my point of view where i have to be careful as a commercial entity, we say "no hump? fit a tube."

There is more stuff about this on our inner tube page

https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/classi ... tubes.html

and you might find this film interesting.

https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/pub/me ... ls.mp4#t=1

Here is some more stuff from the big boys.

[661]

That is the most definitive reply I've seen to this topic, thank you.

[reb53]

Wow, I can't believe how much your prices have skyrocketed.

I bought a set of 5 for my car a couple of years ago for £443, now the same set is £720!

I would happily pay that.
Here in NZ the only price I can find is £360 each ! ( NZD680).
So your set of 5 would cost you £1800.....!!

If freight was reasonable I'd get a set out of the UK.

Ralph.
N.Z.

[TBG]

So sorry if I upset Dougal whose tyres are no doubt quite wonderful but I have found Nokian and Yokohama tyres simply brilliant. Have been driving Elans since 1966 and over 200k including track days and so on and my tyres are around £50 each. Simples.........................D

[dougal cawley]

So sorry if I upset Dougal whose tyres are no doubt quite wonderful but I have found Nokian and Yokohama tyres simply brilliant. Have been driving Elans since 1966 and over 200k including track days and so on and my tyres are around £50 each. Simples.........................D

That is like saying i bought a MG Midget instead of an Elan because it was cheaper and it is still good fun.

[dougal cawley]

Wow, I can't believe how much your prices have skyrocketed.

I bought a set of 5 for my car a couple of years ago for £443, now the same set is £720!

I would happily pay that.
Here in NZ the only price I can find is £360 each ! ( NZD680).
So your set of 5 would cost you £1800.....!!

If freight was reasonable I'd get a set out of the UK.

Ralph.
N.Z.

Hi

I think that has got a bit mixed up some how.

The best thing to do is go through the buying process on our web site if you are in a country like New Zealand where there isn't a distributor for the Pirelli Collezione range.

Also worth noting is that when you go through the buying process in New Zealand the VAT is not needed.

Also shipping to New Zealand is only £ 150 ! I think that is staggeringly cheap. I almost fgeel sorry for our shippers. That is to your door step. you will be amazed. it only takes about a week.

https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/classi ... /elan.html

so currently - to New Zealand.

5 off 145R13 CA67 £ 490 + £ 150 Shipping = £ 640
5 off 165R13 CN36 £ 509 + £ 150 Shipping = £ 659
5 off 175/70VR13 CN36 £ 600 + £ 150 Shipping = £ 750

I don't normally like to write prices like this publically, because i'm afraid the price does go up. Yes there has recently been quite a big price hike, (though not as big a some tyre manufaturers.) The truth is that things are going up because of some Nutter from Russia. but that cant be helped.

just use our web site and when you change the country it will work all the taxes and weather you pay VAT etc. That includes countries within the EU; we deal with all the taxes, and it is calculated by our web site, and that helps overcome the Brexit farce, which i might point out was not my choice.

[TBG]

"That is like saying i bought a MG Midget instead of an Elan because it was cheaper and it is still good fun."

Dougal - no it isn't at all. good try though! Over the years I have tried all sorts and found in the end the Yokohama A1s were the best. They don't make them any more but the Finnish Nokian are pretty damned close.
If you can sell tyres for over £200 each good on you! There always some people who think if it is expensive it must be good, a bit like designer jeans!! D

[dougal cawley]

"That is like saying i bought a MG Midget instead of an Elan because it was cheaper and it is still good fun."

Dougal - no it isn't at all. good try though! Over the years I have tried all sorts and found in the end the Yokohama A1s were the best. They don't make them any more but the Finnish Nokian are pretty damned close.
If you can sell tyres for over £200 each good on you! There always some people who think if it is expensive it must be good, a bit like designer jeans!! D

Sorry that's completely wrong. but yes they are cheap. some people buy on price, and of course that is your choice.

Better tyres are better. They use better materials when making them. the quality control in the structure is better, and the research that goes into the compounds gives better results.

I don't dounbt that the Yoko A1 was a good tyre they are a good brand that invest in development and are a leading manufacturer, however that tyre would not return as nice predictable handling on your chassis, because it did not have a carcass design suited to geometry of your car. Yes they it might have returned faster lap times on a perfectly smooth race track; if you lowered and stiffened you springs and added some advers camber. but that is different to making a good road car/tyre. Yes a quality modern Yoko will probably wheel spin less and improve straight line stopping distances by having more rubber on the road. A more modern 155R13 will put more rubber on the road than a period 155R13. The compound of the current Pirelli is extrordinary, but part of the reason it handles better is the rounded tread.

Here is an independedt tyre test proving the Pirelli compounds are exceptional. you could not get that wet performance and braking results with out fab compounds.

https://www.cinturato.net/images/test-c ... s-0716.pdf

If the Michelin XAS or the Pirelli Cinturato were the same price as the Nokia, you would not be buying the Nokia.

If a Lotus Elan were the same price as a MG Midget no on would have bought the Midget. (Im not knocking the MGB Midget, its just the Elan is Epic).

[TBG]

Thank you for that interesting information Dougal - I note that "But the remaining candidates prove that classic profiles can also be effective - especially the Pirelli CN36 which is unequaled on water."
BUT as with engine oils things have moved on in design and technology terms since the good old days. I for one would not use 1960's oil in my engines and I firmly beleive that modern tyres are far superior than those old Goodyear G800s ( I think they were) that I had on my first Elan. Each to their own is probably the best solution. My Elan sticks to the road like muck on a blanket so I am a happy bunny. Not so good in snow though! D

[dougal cawley]

Hi

Castrol R is still best suited to some engines. The current Catrol R is similar to the original stuff, thought they have improved it slightly with detergents. So the general structure suits some engines, while benefitting from some of the modern materials.

However it is not about weather a modern tyre is better than an old one. It is about what suits your cars geometry.

Yes your modern tyres have modern compounds. Well so do the classic tyres from Pirelli and Michelin Collection ranges. The difference is how that compound is presented to the road. A modern carcass does not do it in a suitable manner for your chassis. So in cornering your tyre will let go more suddenly when you are pressing on in the corners. It is not designed to be progressive like the Cinturato.

I get that people want to save money on tyres, but modern tyre carcass design are designed without any consideration for progressive handling, because modern cars have a chassis set up that cleverly keeps all that footprint in contact with the road, your chassis doesn't, and when you press on hard in a corner and the car leans it will lift a portion of the tyres footprint off the road, and not handle progressively, the way a period tyre does.

I'm not saying that if you fit modern tyres the handling will be awful and you will immediately crash into the hedge. It is still after all a Lotus Elan. A lovely handling light weight rear wheel drive nimble little sports car, renown for its amazing handling. But as a road car its handling will be nicer with a tyre that is designed to suit it, but they do cost a little bit more.

[661]

"That is like saying i bought a MG Midget instead of an Elan because it was cheaper and it is still good fun."

Dougal - no it isn't at all. good try though! Over the years I have tried all sorts and found in the end the Yokohama A1s were the best. They don't make them any more but the Finnish Nokian are pretty damned close.
If you can sell tyres for over £200 each good on you! There always some people who think if it is expensive it must be good, a bit like designer jeans!! D

I liked the A1. That and a Potenza ( if I recall the name) were Pat Thomas' go to tyres way back.
But the XAS is just much better ( for my driving at least). At least we have the choices.

[nomad]

Well, after a lot of frustration I ended up springing for the cheapest tire I could find. Only because I cannot find what I wanted at ANY price. Vredestein's Quatrac have even changed their tread pattern to the same rotten tread pattern that all 13" tires available in the USA have gone to. I really don't want the wide longitudinal grooves that follow the grooves in the road and pick up boulders to toss into my wheel wells.

I realize that the Pirelli's still have a decent tread pattern but if I would spend that amount I would want 155 tires. Soooo, perhaps I will change wheels.....perhaps I will wait till Pirelli offers the 155's and hope they keep their current tread pattern. The very cheapest is just a waiting and hoping game.

I can't figure why a high end manufacturer would change to the same rotten tread pattern that all the cheap manufacturers had and think they could compete with them. That is what Vredestein seems to have done along with everyone else. Is rotten government interference forcing it?

Kurt