185s or 195s??????????

daveskerr · Post by **daveskerr** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:21 pm

Ordered a set of T1rs for my S2 111s, got them from Camskill at a very reasonably price......

Now for the part thats bugging me!

I originally told them that I wanted 185/50R16 fronts, they advised to go for 195 fronts and that they have never heard of elise customers ordering 185s.

Now that the tyres have arrived, i want to be sure that 195s are okay to fit before i do so as obviously i cannot swap them if they are wrong.

Seem to be getting told different advice from different parties!

Any advice is appreciated!!

Cheers

David

ps. apologies for posting in general and technical - needed it to get read before tomorrow!

jj · Post by jj » Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:23 pm

You will still get different opinions I am afraid squire. But for what its worth, the toyo website states that the 195 T1R will fit on a 5.5J rim.

Search SELOC as you will get more previous discussion on there probably

daveskerr · Post by **daveskerr** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:27 pm

Tell me about it JJ! Just dont want to head to Jim Dixons to get them fitted to be told i'm a tw*t and their the wrong size!

Anybody out there that runs 195s on a S2 111s???

craigs135s · Post by **craigs135s** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:37 pm

Why not just get them from Jim. He got me a good price on my Bridgestones.

daveskerr · Post by **daveskerr** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:45 pm

Already got them sitting here in the house Craig, took Camskills advice at the time. Doh!!

Do you think Jim would swap the front for 185s if he thinks they are wrong??

Post by **campbell** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:04 pm

I don't think the T1R is available in 185. The T1S certainly wasn't. Lots of people with 195s on instead of 185s myself included. 195s fit fine on S1 rims. Without starting and S1-S2 war, surely the S2 rims are not inferior

But seriously, yes they may have run with a 175 section tyre (or was that the VX?) but if they are a 5.5 inch rim, you have no worries.

Main observation is that car may be a little less understeery or little more oversteery...but not so as to make a hooj difference I'm led to believe. Certainly never bothered me and I'm no Ayrton Senna!

craigs135s · Post by **craigs135s** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:06 pm

Dont think so mate. but you can alway ask

If they are wrong will camskills not take them back?

You never know they might be ok.

Cheers
C

daveskerr · Post by **daveskerr** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:24 pm

camskills will take them back coz there not on the car yet.got a puncture the day after i ordered them so i need them fitted!think tyreweld and a call to catskills is needed!

campbell,t1rs are available in 185s so the option is there!

mac · Post by **mac** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:55 pm

Ok - 195 toyo's will fit perfectly well. They were the tyre of choice for S2 owners a while back - personally I didn't like them as I felt they squirmed too much and dropped back down to 185's.

But it's very much a personal choice and I think I was the only S2 driver to prefer the narrower 185 tyre.

If that's what you've got then there's no problem with fitting and using them. Top tip is to go for the AD07's next time - a much better tyre in all weathers and uses that the proxies which tend to go "off" very quickly on track.

Mac

Bada Bing! · Post by **Bada Bing!** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:17 pm

My AD07's are 185's, and it keeps the front far less pointy. 195's I imagine would induce more oversteer than you have now.

mac · Post by **mac** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:19 pm

195's were originally picked to kill some of the terminal understeer that the K powered S2's suffered from.

Mac

Post by **simon** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:19 pm

Bada Bing! wrote:My AD07's are 185's, and it keeps the front far less pointy. 195's I imagine would induce more oversteer than you have now.

Are you sure? Mine are 175s as are all the other AD07s fitted to Elises.

daveskerr · Post by **daveskerr** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 12:40 am

ive heard that the 111s possibly has narrower front wheels than other S2 models.i know my car wears 175s just now,do the majority of S2 variants run these as standard?

sorry for so many questions guys,only been a member since march so still pretty much a newbie!

steve_weegie · Post by **steve_weegie** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 1:32 am

I believe that lotus changed from using the 195 tyre (S1 elise & s1 / s2 exige) to the 175 tyre on the majority of s2 elises to induce more understeer in the car. In fact, the track biased versions of the s2 elise had 195 tyres fitted, but admitedly these were on larger 6" rims. Your car will not have a rim size less than 5.5" so you can quite happily run 195 profile t1-r's or r888's.

For your peace of mind, my standard rims are perfectly happy with 195 profile t1-r's!

Here's a clicky linkto the toyo website for their permitted rim sizes

clicky link to the wheels and tyres section on lotuses website.

Elise parts have the ad07 tyres for £450 & i'd guess you'll get a set of t1-r's for less than £300. The extra £150 i personally save goes on my yokohama a048 budget, but that's another story for another time.....

Hope this helps,

Steve

Matelotman · Post by **Matelotman** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 6:15 am

You can find a Top Gear clip on YouTube with the S2 Elise where Clarkson explains the narrow tyre understeer and complains about the lack of oversteer (then the Lotus guy shows him up by chucking it all over the track).

(sorry for the lack of a link but I can't get YouTube at work

)