Esprit Tires - What are you running?

[Darin P Phillips]

We just brought in a beautiful silver 2002 25th Aniv. Ed. Esprit. When I took it out to check the car out (I have a tough job, don't you feel sorry for me?) I discovered a vibration at around 65 mph. Our tire shop confirmed that the Dunlop SP Sport 9000 245/40/ZR17s were worn enough on the inside to cause the wobble. Unfortunately, even though the rears are like new, the Dunlop SP Sport 9000s are no longer available. Time to replace all 4 tires. I don't want to just slap on whatever the tire shop wants to sell us. I am looking for Esprit owners to advise me what tires are working for them and why they like them. What is the hot setup on the Esprit? Any suggestions?

I should have the Esprit up on our site in a couple hours if you want to check it out. Home - Smith Lotus - Lotus Dealer - California Lotus Dealership - SLO San Luis Obispo California

I have a photos at Picasa Web Albums - dp - 2002 Lotus Es...

Thanks for your help!

[maz]

I loved pilot sports, but the dunlop's seemed to be slightly better in the wet. Most of my friends either had kuhmo's or goodyear f1's.

[E5PR1T]

After a long research...I narrowed down to two choices:

1...Goodyear Eagle F1 - Tirerack has the best price...235 X 40 X 17 & 285 X 35 X 18

2...BF Goodrich Ge-Force KDW's (the flame thread)...America's tire has very good price on that with the road hazard program... 235 X 40 X 17 & 295 X 35 X 18

I went with the BFG's because it is available local...so would save a lot of trouble...on top of that tread wear on BFG was 300, the Eagle F1 was 280...both are the highest among other tires...

Regards,

Alan

[Sport350]

Hi Darin sound a nice car. I too am looking into several options. I aquired my Sport 350 in Dec and need to replace the rears very soon as they are slippery and hard.
The Pirelli P Zero Nero are a good all round summer compound which are good. My car has these on the fronts as speced from the factory but like you they no longer make the correct sizes in 285-295 range which im after for the rears. My rears are mismatched and have Pirelli Rossos on them. I do not know what these were like new but from reviews I am not going down that path again.
Also consider Toyo T1R they do the full range and the reviews are excellent for our application.
I know of four Sport 350 owners running these tires and two more have some on order. So they cant be too bad.

I ran Toyo RA1 (dot performance tyre) on my 89 Turbo which was awesome. However I they only do 275 which would still work but I cant recommend them for our V8s. They would be worse in the wet with wide block tread pattern. In fact quite scary !!!!

Good luck and let us know what you choose.

[E5PR1T]

Here is a link to Car & Driver's road test/review on the following high performance tires, hope it's useful:

BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KD
Bridgestone Potenza RE050A
Continental ContiSportContact 2
Dunlop SP Sport Maxx
Goodyear Eagle F1
Hankook Ventus R-S2 Z212
Kumho Ecsta MX
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2
Pirelli P Zero Rosso Asimmetrico
Toyo Proxes T1R
Yokohama Advan Neova AD07

Link: Tire Test: The Quick and the Tread - Feature/Features/Classic Cars/High Performance/Hot Lists/Reviews/Car and Driver - Car And Driver

The BFG g-Force KDW I got is a little different than the KD in the review, much improved tread wear (300) & maybe a little improvement in the wet while still has a good grip in the dry.

Hope this helps!

Alan

[carbuff]

Originally Posted by E5PR1T

The BFG g-Force KDW I got is a little different than the KD in the review, much improved tread wear (300) & maybe a little improvement in the wet while still has a good grip in the dry.

Hope this helps!

Alan

One of our club members has the g-Force T/A KDW tires (on Sport 300 magnesium wheels)
SuperView of the BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW 2

<drool>
He reports that they are VERY noisy...

</drool>

[E5PR1T]

Yea...it's quite noisy, but it rides quite comfortable...

Alan

Originally Posted by carbuff

One of our club members has the g-Force T/A KDW tires (on Sport 300 magnesium wheels)
SuperView of the BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW 2

<drool>
He reports that they are VERY noisy...

</drool>

[91MR2]

I'm running on Dunlop FM901's. I like them a lot.

[Feffman]

I changed from the stock Dunlops to the Goodyear Eagle F1 on my 1999. Huge difference in performance in both dry and wet.

Feff

[Simba]

Currently have the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Positions on. I decided to try them versus the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2's I usually run on everything else. Excellent tire, but, not good enough to unseat the PS2 as the best all around performance tire on the market, IMO.

[Vulcan Grey]

Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 good!

Pirelli Pzero Rosso bad! I had a Pirelli Rosso front fall apart due to a molding defect that should have been caught at the factory inspection. Other than that they were fine. Good in the wet when new, bad when worn.

[gregte]

Are the front tires supposed to be 235 or 245?

[E5PR1T]

front tires are 235 40 17, rear ones can be either 285 35 18 or 295 35 18

[talon]

I just changed to the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 and they are awesome, bot h in the wet and dry. I went ahead and upgraded to the 295 in the rear.

[Darin P Phillips]

Okay, we went with the Toyos and I am completely happy with them. I don't know if the shock of going from unevenly worn front tires to new ones plus an alignment is what I am feeling, but the Esprit handles wonderfully now. I am total lust after this car -- screw health insurance, I want a car allowance! I will have to talk to my boss about that. (Autohaulics should not work at a car dealership, especially a Lotus dealership, any more than alcoholics should work at a bar!) Man, I wish I could take this one home with me!

[joeyoesprit]

I went with the Falken Fk452 (front & rear). They have the same wear rating as the Dunlop SP9000. They take a little time to warm up but for the price you can buy 2 sets of the Falken vs. the Goodyear.

Edge Racing - Home has the best prices for the Falkens. Not associated with Edge Racing

JoeyO
2001 V8