Carbesity

Cars have become fat and are still growing. This makes it a real problem when trying to source tyres for a sub-600kg road car, particularly if you are looking for a skinny, low frontal area tyre to keep aero and rolling resistance to a minimum. Tyre choice is the starting point for the vehicle dynamic solution, key to the driving experience, and starts the ball rolling for the rest of the suspension design. Plus, I would like a tyre that will still be available in decades and is produced by a premium manufacturer.

In 2011 the world of hypermiling enthusiasts became excited about the 115 section tyres developed for the VW XL1. However, the car did not achieve enough numbers to warrant an ongoing tyre supply. Those tyres still available now reach good prices. Pic https://www.carscoops.com/

As far as I am aware, the only other lightweight car built in recent years, with an accompanying purpose-designed skinny tyre, is the Renault Twizy and like the VW XL1 the tyres are produced by Continental which satisfies one of my criteria.

Another plus point for the Twizy tyres comes from the rear drive nature of the electric powertrain, the Twizy has wider rear tyres; 145/80R13 (5.38kg) at the rear, 125/80R13 (4.28kg) at the front.

A huge bonus of selecting Twizy tyres is the Twizy wheel which I think looks great and weighs 4.72kg. ‘The internet’ states (see other post about the internet telling lies) that the safe maximum wheel load is 290kg which suits EVA. The target for EVA is 550kg and the Twizy is 450kg so I am eating into the Renault safety factor.

The tyres were expertly fitted by Downside tyres, near Bristol Airport. It is rare to find technical understanding alongside genial customer service. Thank you.

After fitting, I was astonished to see that the front contact patch appears to be around 70mm wide, some way off 125mm. This looks good for minimising the chance of aquaplaning but if I ever manage to make EVA oversteer I will be surprised.