The Lotus Grand Tourers

RED BARON wrote:I know I'm talking about 205/50 ZR 15 tyres made by Accelera Alpha someone suggested down my local garage as a low cost tyre to use when only doing low yearly mileage, at only about £40 a corner fitted ( valve and balanced ) seems good value. Yes they are made in China but he showed me a picture and they look quite good to me.

Ian.

Years ago when I had the Elan m100, the only tires I found in the zr were Accellera. I was a bit worried when I put them on the Elan, but instead they are very good tires, maybe better than the old goodyear I had.

Im on 205's, Ive had 225's in past and Id like 215,s but......
Just a note on very cheap tyres, my wifes Mx5 had a new set of tyres on the car when she bought it that were of an unknown brand, the first time I drove it in the wet I went straight and had some branded tyres fitted. It had been ok in the dry but wet weather felt awful and I wasnt even driving like my hair was on fire. Since then Ive always gone for known brands but middle of the range. Im running Fulda at the moment which are fine. Its my second set of these, the last ones got hard at about 8 years old and although they had plenty of tread they were binned cos they had gone hard and wet weather grip became poor. Tyre manufacturers recommend 6 years and although the sinical view is that they want to sell more tyres they are probably about right.
Just in case anyone doesnt know the date that the tyre was manufactured is usually on the tyre. Look for 4 numbers in a losenge shape, 2715 means the 27th week of 2015.

Bash

A few year back Vredestein were selling 155/80HR13 tyres, ideal for the Elan and available for less than £40 a corner, the alternative HR tyre was made by Michelin and was £99 each!! They stopped selling them and the Michelin tyre is the only HR rated tyre now and costs £200 a corner!!
Re. buying tyres made in China, it seems a lot of the well known manufacturers make tyres in the Far East so there is no guarantee that a 'European brand' tyre will actually be made in Europe and not in the Far East.

Carl

A few year back Vredestein were selling 155/80HR13 tyres, ideal for the Elan and available for less than £40 a corner, the alternative HR tyre was made by Michelin and was £99 each!! They stopped selling them and the Michelin tyre is the only HR rated tyre now and costs £200 a corner!!
Re. buying tyres made in China, it seems a lot of the well known manufacturers make tyres in the Far East so there is no guarantee that a 'European brand' tyre will actually be made in Europe and not in the Far East.

Carl

I have 205 50 15 brigestones all round and they don't standout as too small or narrow. I thought that to have the tyre the same ratio as 215s, I should have 205 55 15s on. is there such a size?

when I was forced to change from 215s to 205s I was very unhappy about it - but it has to be said the car handles just as well if not better on the 205s so I won't be changing back at those prices.

Mark

205/55 15

I have these in Vredstein Sportrac 5. Work great, reasonable price as well.

a recent Subaru I bought had a brand new pair of Accellera 'Alpha' tyres on the front.
There was no problem with performance, but they failed an MOT because of cracking and perishing within 2 years.

CHRISYD wrote:I have 205 50 15 brigestones all round and they don't standout as too small or narrow. I thought that to have the tyre the same ratio as 215s, I should have 205 55 15s on. is there such a size?

I have those 205/50/15 Bridgestone (Potenzas) and they do indeed look fatter than the Toyo T1Rs of same size. You can get 205/55/15 but 50% works fine so I won't go down that route ..Excel needs all the help it can get with acceleration!

Lotus-e-Clan wrote:

CHRISYD wrote:I have 205 50 15 brigestones all round and they don't standout as too small or narrow. I thought that to have the tyre the same ratio as 215s, I should have 205 55 15s on. is there such a size?

I have those 205/50/15 Bridgestone (Potenzas) and they do indeed look fatter than the Toyo T1Rs of same size. You can get 205/55/15 but 50% works fine so I won't go down that route ..Excel needs all the help it can get with acceleration![/quote

I have noticed that the faster I go the more wrong my speedo is..as I found out when on the M42 at Birmingham!

RED BARON wrote:I know I'm talking about 205/50 ZR 15 tyres made by Accelera Alpha someone suggested down my local garage as a low cost tyre to use when only doing low yearly mileage, at only about £40 a corner fitted ( valve and balanced ) seems good value. Yes they are made in China but he showed me a picture and they look quite good to me.

Ian.

I have a set of Chinese Nankangs on my Excel since 2010. Given me good service including high laps at Gaydon test track and two day long sessions at Curborough Sprint circuit. Those Accelra Alpha could be an option.

The Vredestein 215/50 price I saw was £222 per tyre

https://www.oponeo.co.uk/tyre-details/a ... SSEALw_wcB

Toyo are producing new TR1s in place of T1Rs in 215/45/15.

Anyone tried them yet?

TR1 205/50/15 is larger than the 215/45/15.
https://www.toyotires.eu/tirefinder/ind ... /45/rim/15
https://www.toyo.co.uk/tirefinder/index ... /50/rim/15

That doesn't compute

Pretty sure Jerry said that he uses the 215/45/15 Toyos ..and yes they are a smaller diameter than 205/50/15 But that's not a bad thing performance wise as long as you account for the speedo (Jerry's is calibrated /electronic)