The Lotus Grand Tourers

Although they had previously been removed from the Delticomm website (Mytyres.co.uk) they are now back on the site and in stock!

MrCoolA wrote:My next tyre change will be 225x45x15 toyo 888s on the back and 215x50x15 toyo t1rs on the front. After using them both on track and road I am hooked on them. Really good in wear and stunning in grip.

Having had both Toyo R1-R (one down from r888) and T1-R (2 down from R888) there is not a chance id want to stagger the two accross front and back.
T1-Rs are like any other road tyre. R1-Rs are definate summer only road tyre capable of occasional track days.
I did a track day in an MR2 on T1-Rs and i melted a whole set.

R888 are practically slick and T1-Rs are well groved for water disperion. It would be unpredictable to say the least.
Rather you than me.

Benbay001 wrote:

MrCoolA wrote:My next tyre change will be 225x45x15 toyo 888s on the back and 215x50x15 toyo t1rs on the front. After using them both on track and road I am hooked on them. Really good in wear and stunning in grip.

Having had both Toyo R1-R (one down from r888) and T1-R (2 down from R888) there is not a chance id want to stagger the two accross front and back.
T1-Rs are like any other road tyre. R1-Rs are definate summer only road tyre capable of occasional track days.
I did a track day in an MR2 on T1-Rs and i melted a whole set.

R888 are practically slick and T1-Rs are well groved for water disperion. It would be unpredictable to say the least.
Rather you than me.

Done several track days with the T1-rs and had no issues with them, and trust me I gave them some serious grief, 250hp worth of grief.
Any way each to their own.

MrCoolA wrote:

Benbay001 wrote:

MrCoolA wrote:My next tyre change will be 225x45x15 toyo 888s on the back and 215x50x15 toyo t1rs on the front. After using them both on track and road I am hooked on them. Really good in wear and stunning in grip.

Having had both Toyo R1-R (one down from r888) and T1-R (2 down from R888) there is not a chance id want to stagger the two accross front and back.
T1-Rs are like any other road tyre. R1-Rs are definate summer only road tyre capable of occasional track days.
I did a track day in an MR2 on T1-Rs and i melted a whole set.

R888 are practically slick and T1-Rs are well groved for water disperion. It would be unpredictable to say the least.
Rather you than me.

Done several track days with the T1-rs and had no issues with them, and trust me I gave them some serious grief, 250hp worth of grief.
Any way each to their own.

Don't knock it until you have tried it. I may just have to blag a lap in Jerry's just to see how the balance has changed with the slightly wider rears. Things are cheaper when someone else has taken the leap before hand.
Traction for me is a serious problem. I do however like my handling at the moment so it requires careful consideration with any small changes.

I wasnt doubting the benifit of a staggered tyre set up.

I was doubting mis matched tyres across axles.

Is there any reason why you dont want r888s on the front?

Probably hasn't worn them out yet

fueltheburn wrote:Probably hasn't worn them out yet

If they scrub anything like mine do...

Apart from tyre wall construction and compound differences (T1Rs are quite hard!), 225/45/15 is a smaller diameter than 215/50/15 (or 205/50/15). Floor/ride height tilting backwards is not good for aero/top speed - but just might actually help rearward weight transfer if traction is all one is worried about. Traction is also affected by corner weight/load on tyres and spring and damper settings so traction improvements could be found without tyre changes even if it means increasing total kerb weight just a tad (power is nothing without control).

Personally i wouldn't want to much go over 90 mph tilting backwards collecting air under the floor. I speak from experience having compared a level floor with a forward rake - but only with a rear-engined car - tilting forwards definitely improves high speed acceleration and high speed stability on sweeping bends.

Not tried it in the Excel though (that said, mine does tilt forward just a tad from normal).

My problem is that I need to /want to reduce the forward rake of the car whilst reducing the side wall depth as after the track days I was uncomfortable with the side wall flex and the excessively low nose position in to corners. At this moment I don't want to go down to 215s on the back as I want to keep as much rubber as I can on the road as she has a habit under hard acceleration of braking traction even at motorway speed; I am very happy with the toyo's both in grip and in wear so want to stay with them. The difference in depth will be around 6mm(?) and I can dial that out with the suspension/ pressures. I have run this by several of my friends and the General consensus seems to be as long as u don't mix on axles then there shouldn't be any major issues,
It may transpire that for me to stick to toyo's I will have to drop back to 215s all around, as I really don't want 225s up front with possible inner wing issues and tram lining, she tram lines enough with 215s.

Bottom line is I probably should have elected for 16s not 15s when I bought the wheels may now have a better range of tyre sizes to play with.

Be careful when adjusting suspension height to compensate for tyre differences that you do not to upset the front & rear roll centres and front to rear roll axis... these changes might produce some unpredictable cornering behavior!

Lotus-e-Clan wrote:Be careful when adjusting suspension height to compensate for tyre differences that you do not to upset the front & rear roll centres and front to rear roll axis... these changes might produce some unpredictable cornering behavior!

Will do peter. Thanks.