Oil - Tires Etc.

[Zoomer602]

Hi - thanks to everyone for participating and answering these "newbie" questions. So, the owner for the last 5 years tells me he has been using Mobil One Synthetic in the 99 Esprit I now own. Another, knowledeable 4 cylinder Esprit owner told me that Mobil One is a no-no for his car. Is the same true for the 8 cyl twin turbo? Something about being "too slippery". He suggested, for his car, Valvoline racing oil or the equivalant. Does the same hold true for my 99 TT? After 5 years of Mobile One should I now switch to racing oil?

As an aside - finding tires that match (all 4 the same) for this car was not easy. Most of the kewl tires (Goodyear, Michlein Pilot etc) do not have tires in both front and back sizes. I ordered Nitto 05's and hope I like them. Would have liked the 555 but of course they are not available in both front and backs....

Jon

[Bibs]

Recommended lubricants...

Recommended lubricants - TLFWiki

That info is as recommended by the Lotus Factory

[Feffman]

Zoomer602:

You are fine with Mobil-1. Ran it in all my Esprits.

Feff

[Simba]

1) No such thing as "too slippery".

2) Lotus specifically recommend Mobil for the V8 cars. They even put a sticker on the pax side airbox to that end.

3) The brand of the oil doesn't matter much. So long as it's a good synthetic and changed at proper intervals, you're good.

4) Be careful with current Mobil offerings. The "extended mileage" oils are fairly cruddy and nowhere near as good as the older blends. I used to use Mobil almost exclusively, but switched to Royal Purple and Redline when Mobil brought out the dozen odd "new" blends.

So far as tires go, you can play around with the sizing to a reasonable degree for more options. Bridgestone Potenza RE050A's come in the stock sizes, and work quite well. Michelin Pilot Sport PS2's are better though, in my experience, so long as you don't mind running a 285/30-18 in the rear.

[TrapperJohn]

Not sure if they have them in the right size for the V8, but the Toyo T1R's I put on my 90 SE have been terrific. Quite a step up from the stock Eagles, they stick like crazy.

[Zoomer602]

Thought I would update. Put the Nitto 05's on the car and I will say they blow away the Dunlops that were on the car. I think they will wear VERY quickly - seem to already with just a few hundred on them but STICKY - oh my - they have been fun to drive on!