Performance Tires For The Elio Will Be A Pain.

[Coss]

Oh No GPA; you posted a stolen picture!! <Gasp!!>
The sign below replaced your picture.

You should have done a screen scrape
Like this:

Run and hide GPA; they'll be looking for you!

 

[TeamCoconutOreo]

2300 pound car is what I was using as a referance. Side wall stiffness significantly change the driving dynamics of a car, to include light ones.

I can almost guarantee what EM is going to tell you: "changing the tire size is not something we will or can do and meet our 84mpg or performance numbers. Once you take ownership of your Elio; you can change what ever you want".
Also take another item into consideration, are you comparing "spirited" of a typical 3,000+ pound car to the 1250lbs of the Elio? Because the Elio is so much lighter, the same rules and dynamics don't apply.

 

[TeamCoconutOreo]

Yes, spirited driving is no fun on skinny tires.

View attachment 11363

Indeed the excitement of open wheel racing, with the top speed of a horse and the handling characteristics of a 1984 Toyota pickup. I miss those days too!

 

[TeamCoconutOreo]

Wider fenders will reduce the aero, Wider tire will also reduce the mpg. NOT what the ELIO is about.

You forgot the wider contact patch also increases friction further reducing mpg. I see the Elio as a fun alternative to the boring econobox. I don't think it needs to be lightning fast, but I would like a firm responsive ride. I'd be happy with 50+ mpg and a 10 on the fun scale!

 

[Earl LaSitis]

I think that135/80 15. tire is like a spear donut they are unstable when you go around turns . Hopefully we can go with a wider one and taller one without to
much trouble. This RADIAL ZX by MICHELIN TIRES may be a good replacement.

 

[Coss]

EKH made mention the other day the EM had the results from the swerve test; they were going lock to lock and pulling a .85g at 50<?> (I think that was the speed he said) and they came back with stable and responsive.
So they might have come up with a new tire in that size.

 

[Stephen Workman]

and, I'm sure they'll mention that such a change will void the factory warrantee

WARRANTY?

 

[Jeff H]

Well over in this thread, http://www.elioowners.com/threads/lios-talk-nuggets.7714/ They quoted PE as saying "Lock to Lock at 50mph" and ".85g lateral". I would assume the testing is being done with production tires, so that is not bad. My instinct would to keep an eye on the back end fishing out since it has less weight and a single tire.

 

[Folks]

You forgot the wider contact patch also increases friction further reducing mpg. I see the Elio as a fun alternative to the boring econobox. I don't think it needs to be lightning fast, but I would like a firm responsive ride. I'd be happy with 50+ mpg and a 10 on the fun scale!

I tend to leave tire size to the engineers. Especially in that the Elio is half the weight of most.

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

Been pondering the ease of finding the odd elio tire size.
You'll likely see mods for ease of purchase, meaning, a tire size that's actually available.
185 65 14 are cheap and numerous.

You'll also see slight mods so the front and rear tires are the same size.

Then we'll report the specs here with apparent MPG change and ferring fit