S1, S2 And S3 Tyres

[jcocking]

If you have an Series 1, Series 2 or Series 3 Elan:

What tyre, brand and size, are you using?

Are you using stock steel wheels or switched to a different wheel?

Have you modified the wheel arches/suspension for the wheel/tires?

What do you think of the tire?

[elans3]

Dunlop Sp Sports, 145 x 13, on standard 4.5" knockons on my S3 S/E. Immense grip in the dry, lots of feel, you know exactly what the car is doing. If you do go really crazy, then it is controllable. Tried another car with 5.5" wheels with 175 / 70's, and it felt awful compared to the smaller wheels / tyres, the ride was worse too. Don't spoil the car by going bigger if you just want it for the road, there's no point, and the tyres get more expensive too .
Chapman got it just right I reckon.
Steve, Elan S3 S/E Drophead

[Fred Talmadge]

I have Michelin "RainForce" MX4 155R13 on standard knock off wheels on my S2.

and for what it's worth I saved these comments from others;

Dunlop SP10 good (when warm)
Michelins ?? bad (too hard)
Goodyear GP S good (esp. in wet), bad (too hard)
Firestone ?? fair (like goodyear)
Pirelli P2500 good (predictable)
Kleber 145R13 average (unpredictable break)
Michelan XASFF 155-13 (maybe hard to find in USA) try vintage dealers $130ea
Dunlop SP4N is just an economy tire
Yokohama A001R's on my S4.
Uniroyal R680 155/80 13s on my S4. (13 inch Minilites)
Michelin MXV 155/70

[elj221c]

My S2 runs on 6" front and 7" inch rear JAP knock-ons. Tyres last run were Uniroyal 185/60 and 205/60 respectively, T340. I have 2.25 springs on the back because of the offset. My car has 200lb/" on the front, 9.25 length on shortened spax with adjustable platforms and 120lb/" rear with shortened Koni inserts, as the rear tubes are, I believe, 26R length. All a little 'up' on the original 26R rates of 128 and 100. This set up gives great grip in the dry but it is rather suspect in the wet, althought the Uniroyals were much better in that respect than the previous fitting of Goodyear Grand Prix. Needless to say the body has flaired arches, 26R style front but no idea what the rear ones came from. About 1 degree front and 2 degrees negative camber seems to work, setting this governing the ride height. Standard roll bar on the front and none on the rear.
Roy
'65 S2

[1964 S1]

I recently bought new Michelins, Rainforce MX4, 165/70, four for under $275, they fit the stock bolt on wheels and body arches on my stock '64 S1, performance and appearance wise, hard to beat.

[type26owner]

Anyone tried this brand before in the 155R13 on 4.5" wheels? It's the only one I can find advertised as any type of 'performance' tire. Still sticking with this size because the 3.9 final drive really buzzs the engine cruising at highway speeds and a smaller diameter would only make it worse.
<a href='http://www.vanderbilttires.com/hptires5.php3' target='_blank'>http://www.vanderbilttires.com/hptires5.php3</a>
Keith
ps: If anyone finds out the maximum pressure for this tire please post that value.

[simonknee]

Dunlop SP10 145R13, good and cheap or even cheap and good. Around ?25 per corner here in London. They benefit from running at the low pressures recommended in the owners manual too.

[n811]

simonknee:
What is the aspect ratio of your Dunlop SP10s (or anyone else who knows)?

I have a 67 S3 DHC with Panasport 5x13 rims and Bridgestone Potenza RE92 at 165/65-13, and I want to know what kind of speedometer error I have vs. OE tire size.

Check out these error calculator pages:

<a href='http://pw1.netcom.com/~sgalaba/tiresize.htm' target='_blank'>http://pw1.netcom.com/~sgalaba/tiresize.htm</a>

or there's one with a cool graphic at

<a href='http://pw1.netcom.com/~sgalaba/tiresize.htm' target='_blank'>http://pw1.netcom.com/~sgalaba/tiresize.htm</a>

Thanks!!

[type26owner]

After carefully surveying the tire brands again I've come to the conclusion that my next choice of tires are going to be HTR T4 in a 165/70-13 size. The outside diameter is smaller by 8/10" then the original tire size (23") and the section width will be up to 6.3" from the 6.1" ones I have fitted now when mounted on 4.5" wide steel wheels. Can fit the thickness of my fingers between the tire sidewall and the lip of the fiberglass fender skirt at the smallest gap so I'm comfortable there won't be any shreading of the fiberglass when I lean on these tires. BTW, I've fit this is type tire many times on my Maserati Biturbo and it stuck like glue with no squealing. Particularly like the fact this tire is pressure rated to 51psi so I can balance the Elan to stop the excessive sidewall flexing for track usage and not suffer from anxiety about causing a blowout.
<a href='http://www.sumitomotire.com/theline/product.asp?id=4' target='_blank'>http://www.sumitomotire.com/theline/product.asp?id=4</a>

Decided to wait till John at <a href='http://www.quantumechanics.com' target='_blank'>http://www.quantumechanics.com</a> has put together a complete bolt-in kit in the next few months which fits a new Ford Type9 5-speed gearbox into the Elan for those of us in the USA and therefore negates the effects of running a smaller tire diameter. My brother's Caterham_7 has this gearbox and it's very stout and well suits the ratios needed. However, I'd still prefer to have a Laycock electric overdrive unit engineered onto the Cortina Mk1 gearbox instead to stay closer to the original theme. If this has ever been done before please provide the details.
Keith

[twincamman]

HANKOOK X2000 185-60R-80 WITH 25 LBS AIR IN THE FRONT and 205- 86 h with 23 lbs air in the rear on 6 inch wide x 13 alloy wheels ed law

[nebogipfel]

Hi All

The original SP Sports were well suited to the Elan and gave a nice quiet ride because they were textile braced.

Are the currently available SP Sports the same tyre?

If so can anyone say how much they cost these days (elans3 ?)

I certainly agree the Elan doesn't need wide boots for road use