So tempted. Maybe just for a little while, just to amuse myself.
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So tempted. Maybe just for a little while, just to amuse myself.
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Do it.
Tried it, it looked completely stupid, took it off.
That car just wasn't meant to have any stickers on it.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love Vinylex? The stuff is like new plastic trim pieces in a bottle. Guess which side I already put it on?
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Well, the time has come. I had been avoiding it, but there's no denying it at this point... It needs tires.
The Florida sun was not kind to the rubber compound on these things. I'm also sure that leaving them in -13deg temperatures over the winter didn't help either. Supposedly they are not supposed to even be exposed to temperatures below +19deg. I've tried to drive the car hard, but I can feel that there's nothing left in the tires at all. And, the tires protest this by developing nice big cracks in the shoulder.
As far as the rears go... Well, even when new, the ability of the Yokohama A048 to channel water away from the tire is a strictly theoretical principle. And at this point, there's no hope. (It's not like I take it out in the rain, so I don't really care, but it kind of restricts taking the car on any trips when I would encounter bad weather.) There's also some nice cracking on these things too.
Now, here's something you don't realize until you own a Lotus... (And this is a big reason I held off doing this for so long.) Buying tires for it requires a degree in mechanical engineering. Be prepared to spend long, hopeless nights pouring over tire size spec sheets and comparing revs per mile figures. And, just when you think you found a tire that will work, you will find that they don't make that tire in a size that will fit on the other end of the car. You'll start madly plugging numbers into tirerack, creating theoretical tire sizes that have never been spoken of let alone produced by any major tire maker.
I finally settled on the Hankook R-S3, which just started being produced in a Lotus friendly front tire size this month!
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....28Version+2%29
Sorry, but I just couldn't justify keeping A048s on it. They really don't get very good reviews, and I don't think they're really designed for normal street use. I don't know what happened to the set that's on there now, but they're trashed! The Hankooks are much cheaper and generally get favorable reviews. I should be able to get much better mileage out of them as well.
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Last edited by Sad, little man; May 17th, 2014 at 11:20 AM.
Makes sense to me, super-soft tyres make sense if you're trying to gain the last bit of lap time, but otherwise you need something that will work year-round and hopefully give decent grip and progression. I'm sure it'll still corner ludicrously quickly with the Hankooks anyway.
Well, not really year round around here (see pg. 1). But anyway, once you get to a certain point with extreme performance tires, I don't think they are even really meant for normal street use, and I think they get finicky with regard to heat cycles as well. ie, they weren't really made for continuous, moderate driving. Really they do best when they're thrashed on for a little while and then allowed to cool.
I think the R-S3 is just about right for my needs. Not a racing tire, but it should still do the car justice. The thing will still out-handle almost anything even with those completely dried out Yokos.
RS3s are not known for cold weather performance (and by cold I mean by California standards - below 50 degrees). They like heat. Just so you know next time you go for a drive - they take time to start working. They thrive on a track because they can take the abuse lap after lap.
Those wee cracks don't look bad at all. That one tire is getting pretty low though, if you ever drive through rain.
As for the tire sizes, yes. Welcome to the hell of mid-engined cars with staggered sizes. I gave up on the MR2 and found a second hand (but never mounted) pair of discontinued rear tires for it. But there was no matching fronts, so I took a best guess at something similar. Bleh.
I could do OK if I didn't care about gearing and speedo accuracy. Or funny ride height as a result.
Even upgrading the wheels to larger sizes gives no comfort in tire selection. All of them are wrong!