So what tyres are we using?

[royz_garage]

Allthough I have a 3-11 and not an exige, I’m posting here because I’m very curious about tyre opinions and the exige is very much the same after all.

 

my car is fitted with cup 2 and I have yet to experience them as I havent got to drive all that much yet, but on other cars they actually seemed rubbish. 
difficult to get heat in, low initial cold grip and not the best on track either.

 

what is the current choice for a 90% road used car?

[Tex]

If you have a 410 or a 430 and presumably 420 only tyre choice is pretty much Cup 2’s 

[Paul_D]

I’ve actually been very impressed with the CUP2 tyres. 
 

Plenty of grip on the road, and really good with low wear rates on track. 
 

Obviously cold and wet conditions aren’t their strength, but they still felt ok driving to work in near freezing conditions. Unless I had a separate set of winter wheels, I don’t think I’d  want to swap the CUP2’s for anything else.  

[royz_garage]

1 hour ago, Tex said:

If you have a 410 or a 430 and presumably 420 only tyre choice is pretty much Cup 2’s 

Why is this? Is there nothing else on the market? Surely the new a052 yokohama is available in this size? 
 

20 minutes ago, Paul_D said:

I’ve actually been very impressed with the CUP2 tyres. 
 

Plenty of grip on the road, and really good with low wear rates on track. 
 

Obviously cold and wet conditions aren’t their strength, but they still felt ok driving to work in near freezing conditions. Unless I had a separate set of winter wheels, I don’t think I’d  want to swap the CUP2’s for anything else.  

I dont care about wet and cold conditions as I dont drive the 3-11 (410) in those conditions.

happy to hear cup 2’s work on a lotus. But I assume there are more options?

[Paul_D]

I think the options are limited due to the sizes. 
 

The fronts are a relatively narrow higher profile tyre on a 17” wheel. The rears are very wide low profile on a an 18” wheel. 
 

That combination means there aren’t many models of tyre available in both sizes. 

[Tex]

58 minutes ago, royz_garage said:

Why is this? Is there nothing else on the market? Surely the new a052 yokohama is available in this size? 
 

I dont care about wet and cold conditions as I dont drive the 3-11 (410) in those conditions.

happy to hear cup 2’s work on a lotus. But I assume there are more options?

I’d be interested if you find any other OEM sized tyres as below 

285/30/ZR18 97Y XL 

215/45/ZR17 91Y 

7.5J x 17 ET26

10J x 18 ET32

I spent time on this but to no avail

[royz_garage]

In the 3-11 group someone uses the federal rs pro and some use the trofeo. I have no idea which size they use but I assume the same as stock. 
also pss off course but thats a pure road tyre

 

3 hours ago, Tex said:

I’d be interested if you find any other OEM sized tyres as below 

285/30/ZR18 97Y XL 

215/45/ZR17 91Y 

7.5J x 17 ET26

10J x 18 ET32

I spent time on this but to no avail

Ah i see if what you mean, the yoko’s have the fronts but the rear is 275 or 295, not the 285…I see the problem here

[Seriouslylotus]

1 hour ago, royz_garage said:

Why is this? Is there nothing else on the market? Surely the new a052 yokohama is available in this size? 
 

I dont care about wet and cold conditions as I dont drive the 3-11 (410) in those conditions.

happy to hear cup 2’s work on a lotus. But I assume there are more options?

a052 available in the correct 3Eleven sizes, I have a set on mine

[royz_garage]

is it much better than the cup 2's? I have a worn set on the front that need replacing but there are brand new cup 2's on the rear, feels like a waste to change now, but an even bigger waste if cup2 is bad and have to switch with 4 practically new tyres on

[Tex]

Just priced up the Yokohama Advan AO52 in the above size except rears are 295 and they are almost twice the price of Cup 2’s 

[royz_garage]

For those who care, I ended up buying 2 fronts cup 2 as I havent driven either of the tires and I think it is a waste to not use the brand new rears. Also the a052 are more expensive rear, fronts where cheaper than cup 2, so with 4 tires it would be about the same. 

[David Standing]

On 25/01/2022 at 18:00, Paul_D said:

I’ve actually been very impressed with the CUP2 tyres. 
 

Plenty of grip on the road, and really good with low wear rates on track. 
 

Obviously cold and wet conditions aren’t their strength, but they still felt ok driving to work in near freezing conditions. Unless I had a separate set of winter wheels, I don’t think I’d  want to swap the CUP2’s for anything else.  

 

Same here, very happy with the Cup 2's.  I am running my 420 FE through the winter on dryish days, but inevitably in a rural area where I am some of the roads are greasy pretty much all the time. 

Exercise had to be cautioned with the right foot, but then I grew up in the late 60's on RWD cars with crap cross plies on, so nothing really new for me with a potentially tail happy car, takes me back to my youth 😁.

When spring/summer/autumn comes back around, the Cup 2's will be awesome - just beware of standing water!

[royz_garage]

Well I had my first damp and dry drive in my new 3-11 with new cup2’s at all 4 corners. Cant compare to an other tyre in this car but my reference is my Bac Mono and Ariel Atom. 
It was 7 degrees celcius, so just above freezing point. I expected there to be about zero grip and was very surprised to have a lot of grip on the front axle, virtually no understeer and in a straight line I was able to apply a lót of brake pressure without anyting locking up.

 

with the ultra lights I’m used to, the fronts where always struggling to find any grip in cold and damp conditions.

I think the size and weight of the car helps here. 3-11 is almost double the weight of Mono and Atoms, so ab bit difficult to compare, but with this experience I have no real reason to switch to an other tyre

[MrD]

The struggle is real when it comes to sourcing cup2s these days so for road use I''ll opt for something like the assymetric 6 or PS4/5. Very good all around tyres for the road and cheaper.