Tires for a 300 Sport?

[jollyroger]

Hello everyone,

I am looking at a 300 Sport these days (hopefully), and I am pondering what options are there in terms of tires.

As you know the tire sizes for the 300 are pretty bizarre nowadays:

Front:

8.5'' x 16'' wheel

245/45 x 16'' tire

Rear:

10.5'' x 17'' wheel

315/35x 17'' tire

A quick look on the net suggests that very, very few tires are made in those sizes now, so I was wondering whether it would be best to get "strange" tires to fit the original wheels, or whether it might be better to replace the wheels with something more modern (v8? s4s? Sport 350?) and having a chance at using better, more available and modern tires...

Any thoughts?

Cheers!

[Bibs]

Going 10mm either way isn't going to have much of an impact on the handling by all accounts, does that open things up for you?

[jollyroger]

Hi Bibs,

thanks for the info, I was wondering whether the wheel offsets and the total tire diameter would be a problem using other (newer) Esprit wheels... any clue?

Cheers,

Francesco

[Bibs]

Personally, a 300 needs to stick with 300 wheels, it's part of the look and character of the car but if you do change wheels then make sure you have a full geo setup done on the car. To check compatibility, I'd ping an email to Lotus and ask them as you'd want to stay close to the spec you already have.

[jollyroger]

I agree with you that the original wheels are the ones that keep the 300 character at its best, although from my research the available tires for those wheels are either really mediocre or semi-slick track tires...

[Vulcan Grey]

get different rim sections for the front to make it a 17" wheel...???? keeping the OZ center sections.

Then you could run the 245/40-17 size similar to the V8's (235/40-17)

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=Ecsta+XS&sidewall=Blackwall&partnum=44WR7EXS&tab=Sizes

245/40-17

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=Ecsta+XS&partnum=135WR7EXS&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

315/35-17

Edited April 13, 2010 by Vulcan Grey

[jollyroger]

Interesting option, although I would rather keep the original wheels intact and use different wheels instead...

I will check with Lotus if they think it's ok to use the V8/S4s wheels; the S4s wheels are also pretty similar in shape to the original wheels...

[Vulcan Grey]

Well to be honest... the V8 size tires aren't that easy to find in matching sets either... But there are more.

Be careful on brake clearance with the other wheels. I think the S4s wheels should clear, but not sure. The sport 300 does have large brakes.

I do know the V8 AWI wheels will fit over the Sport 300 brakes, because I have put my AWI's on a friend's X180-R (same brakes as Sport 300).

Edited April 15, 2010 by Vulcan Grey

[esprits4de]

Try this :

www.nittotire.com

[jollyroger]

Thanks Olaf, I had already seen the Nittos, but after asking a fair amount of people I know about them I got a strong impression they are generally pretty bad... do you have any different information about them?

Cheers!

[Russell Mills]

I was under the belief tha the goodyear tyres for the Sport 300 were the same (or similar size) as fitted to a certain year Corvette and so should not be a real issue to find from the US. Personally I would not fit any other tyre to the Sport 300 as, 1 it would not look right (the wheel arches would be too big) and the handling would get screwed up from what Lotus spent many hours to get right

Russ

[esprits4de]

Have not tried them, found them as a good size choice. Personally I will fit either Michelin Sport or Goodyear Eagles ...

[jollyroger]

I was under the belief tha the goodyear tyres for the Sport 300 were the same (or similar size) as fitted to a certain year Corvette and so should not be a real issue to find from the US. Personally I would not fit any other tyre to the Sport 300 as, 1 it would not look right (the wheel arches would be too big) and the handling would get screwed up from what Lotus spent many hours to get right

Russ

Hello Russ,

thanks for your comments, my first choice would be to keep the same tire sizes, even though I wouldn't mind giving the 300 a bit of the GT2 look, which had the 5-spoke OZ magnesium wheels, very similar to the Sport 350 Cronos.

Looking around I think I have seen nearly all the available tires in the exact size, and I didn't find any of them to be particularly satisfying.

The problem is not finding the correct sizes, but rather finding good compounds; it is a problem classic cars and motorbikes owners know all too well, I have a relatively old bike and sure enough most people who have it mount a different wheel to use more modern tires, as the only ones available in the original sizes are just not very good in terms of performance.

The same applies to the Sport 300 tires in my opinion, so I am going to consult Lotus on this matter, to ask them what could be a good compromise as far as handling, after all later cars have different wheels sizes so they must have tested with quite a few combinations; the Sport 350 has slightly narrower tires, but I strongly believe a 295/35/18 high performance modern tire has much more grip than an "average" 315/35/17, wouldn't you agree?

As far as looking right, it is only a matter of wheel offset and total diameter whether the look will be any different; from behind the tires can be narrower in terms of tread width, but the overall car track width can be exactly preserved, and that together with the total tire diameter determines how "full" the wheel arches look.

Cheers!

Francesco

[Loteuk]

Vredestein do the rears in the correct size and Toyo do a similar pattern for the fronts. Mine has this set up and it is pretty good. The Goodyears are no longer available either here or the States- I have a pair of unused rears but they would now be out of date for performance use.

[jollyroger]

Hi Tony,

choosing different tire brand/model between front and rear the amount of combinations is certainly larger.

I have never used Vredestein tires, how do you find them?

My worry is that pattern similarities aside, two different tires models/brands could have compounds different enough to upset the handling, maybe even more than changing tire sizes all round, what do you think?

Cheers!

Francesco

[esprits4de]

No problem having 2 different makes. On my S4 rims I have GoodYear Eagle F1 in the front and Vredestein in the Back. I actually have to admit that the compound is pretty good on the Vredesteins. A little on the hard side, has been lasting for a much longer time than the GoodYears, they do loose grip but its absolutely controllable.

Over all handling was pretty good.

A tire to look out for, once new sizes are made, is the Dunlop SportMax TT. I use them on my Audi ( 1800 Kilos ) and they stick to the road ( wet and dry ) like superglue...... amazing!

[Ben.A]

Hi All,

I have a Sport 300. I do a bit of track work and use Kumo V70. They do a 245 X 45 X 16 for the front and a 315 X 35 X 17 for the rear. I run a medium compound on the front and hards on the rear. I am currently trying to source some mediums for the rear as I am having trouble geting enough heat into the rears to make them work well.

Cheers Ben

[jollyroger]

Hi Ben,

this is good to know, I was looking at the Kumhos, as they seem to be the only tires for which an entire set can be found in the standard 300 Sport size...

Could you please let me know where you buy then and whether they are legal for road use in Europe?

Cheers,

Francesco

[jollyroger]

I ended up buying the V70's, if all goes well I will have a chance to try them next week...

[DeJay58]

Hi!

Which tyres should I buy for my Sport 300? Any suggestions? The original tyres aren`t avaialable anymore in the stores...

Greetz from Austria

[Vulcan Grey]

http://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/topic/32790-tires-for-a-300-sport/

any help?

[DeJay58]

Vredestein do the rears in the correct size and Toyo do a similar pattern for the fronts. Mine has this set up and it is pretty good. The Goodyears are no longer available either here or the States- I have a pair of unused rears but they would now be out of date for performance use.

Where do you buy the Toyos? What's the exact name of the Toyo?

[DeJay58]

Yes, maybe - thx!

[ERIC340R]

I HAVE A SPORT 300 also and i put toyo r888 on mine. i will have them on the car tomorrow .

[The Pits]

What, how, who, where? You can't post things like that without pics!

Secondly, how much do you want for it?