Intro and Question on Tires

[Saif]

Hi all

My first post here. Looking forward to contributing to the forum.

Me, my brother and a good friend received our X-Bow's in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) a few months ago. We have been to 4 open track days already (yes it is January but our season is basically from October to May).

Our cars aren't from the first 100 (Dallara editions) but we opted for the Racing Chassis, Central locking wheels, and most of the CF options.

The cars came with Continental ContiSport tires (which are terrible). We are looking for options to upgrade to semi-slicks or full slicks (with a separate set of wheels designated for the track) however we're having problems sourcing the tires locally. I also couldn't find either Michellin Pilot Sports Cup or Pirelli PZero Corsa in the correct sizes for the X-Bow.

What are others doing for tires and what tires did their X-Bow's come with?

There is a Dallara Edition X-Bow here in the UAE too and for some reason it was delivered with Michellin Pilot Sport 2 tires (not amazing but definitely better than the Conti's)

Oh and I'm posting a photo of our cars together and one of the delivery. I got many more photos including from Geneva Auto Show and Driver Training in Austria.

Rgds
Saif

[Karlo]

Welcome Saif

Is you X Bow street legal in UAE?

[Saif]

Welcome Saif

Is you X Bow street legal in UAE?

Thanks for the welcome Karlo.

Yes as you can tell from the plates on them, they are road legal!

Not sure how but we got lucky registering them. We weren't sure if they would allow us to register them without windshields however we gave it a shot and didn't have any issues.

The 3 of us are planning on shipping the cars to Europe this summer for a couple of weeks to hit a few tracks in Germany, Belgium and the UK!

[Karlo]

Sound like a Road Trip Adventure :thumb2:

We are short owner videos do you have any?

[Saif]

Don't have any videos yet but have many photos. Will try to shoot some videos with my digital camera

[bolus]

The Atom and the Lotus use a Yokohama A048 tire
http://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/advan_a048.aspx

I have these on my Atom and they are very good.

The UK Atoms use a Toyo Proxes R888 tire which over here is less expensive. My friend has these on his Atom and he likes them quite a bit

http://www.toyo.com/docs/tires/tires.asp?lpid=30029&name=Proxes%20R888&category=comp

Kumho makes a DOT rated slick. I'm not sure it is legal there but it is the closest thing we can get to a road legal slick over here. The V710.

http://www.kumhousa.com/tires/passenger/competition.do

How much does the xbow weigh? Most people who use these slicks will use them up in one day at the track on a normal weight car.

The Atom guys who track a lot use Hoosier A6 slicks. These are not road legal though.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hoosier&tireModel=A6

[Saif]

The Atom and the Lotus use a Yokohama A048 tire
http://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/advan_a048.aspx

I have these on my Atom and they are very good.

The UK Atoms use a Toyo Proxes R888 tire which over here is less expensive. My friend has these on his Atom and he likes them quite a bit

http://www.toyo.com/docs/tires/tires.asp?lpid=30029&name=Proxes%20R888&category=comp

Kumho makes a DOT rated slick. I'm not sure it is legal there but it is the closest thing we can get to a road legal slick over here. The V710.

http://www.kumhousa.com/tires/passenger/competition.do

How much does the xbow weigh? Most people who use these slicks will use them up in one day at the track on a normal weight car.

The Atom guys who track a lot use Hoosier A6 slicks. These are not road legal though.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hoosier&tireModel=A6

Thanks bolus this is great info.

Unfortunately the only ones that seem to come in the standard X-Bow tire size are the Toyo Proxes R888. I have heard these are decent tires.

The X-Bow's unladen weight is 790 kg. The tires sizes are f: 205/40-17 and r: 235/40-18

A set per track day seems crazy! How long do you think the Proxes would last on the X-Bows?

Oh and anyone know a good online shop that sells these and ships overseas? I have used Tire Rack before and they are great for ordering overseas however they don't seem to sell the Toyo's

Thanks

[bolus]

the R888's should be pretty good. The xbow is about 150 kg more that the Atom. I still have the original A048's on my 3 year old Atom that did 7 track days and a 2700mile trip half way across the US on them. They are about ready to be replaced.

The R888 are supposed to be very comparable so I think you will end up liking them and they will last you a while (assuming you are not doing a bunch of burnouts :) )

Go for the R888's

[bolus]

One other thing, if you dont have much experience with a light track car, dont count out the standard tires just yet. The Atom also came with a cheep street tire (yoko a100's) and the guys with them got used to them and would come very close in track times as those with A048's.

The car just takes a different style of driving that has a higher learning curve. Even with the A048's it still takes some skill to drive the Atom. You can get the car all over the place if you are not careful.

[Saif]

Thanks for your advice. Will take it all into account!

[CMC#5]

I think you'll be quite happy running Toyo 888s. They offer a very nice compromise between traction and durability. There are dozens of racing series that use these as a spec tire, including a couple of pro level classes.