Best MPG on a long run ?

[Scott J]

long runs from Glasgow to Portsmouth, 80 avg on motorways, 33 mpg,

[simonbuk]

Ok cheers, so 35 is probably a realistic unit to use.

Never thought about the space saver.........

[Simon_P]

Ok cheers, so 35 is probably a realistic unit to use.

Haha! You will have to drive like a Nun - 32 is a realistic unit to use.

Never thought about the space saver.........

Taking a full size spare also gives you the right size space to put the flat in after you have changed it over!

[GeoffSmith]

Ok cheers, so 35 is probably a realistic unit to use.

Haha! You will have to drive like a Nun - 32 is a realistic unit to use.

Well he is an MX5 driver these days. Says it all really.

Never thought about the space saver.........

Taking a full size spare also gives you the right size space to put the flat in after you have changed it over!

Exactly. Fortunately we were in two cars but otherwise it could have been a case of "could you balance this wheel on your knee for the next 250 miles/6 hours?"

[lotusflasherman]

I was surprised when I first tried to fit a full size wheel & tyre into the space saver well to find the diameter of the space saver tyre is a lot less than a standard tyre so full size tyre doesn't sit horizontal. Bit of a bad design if you've nowhere to put the punctured tyre, or want to carry a full size wheel! On my first trip to France I fitted my luggage around a full size wheel sitting at 45°in the well and left the boot floor behind.
Lucky I didn't need to use the jack as I left the jack handle clipped to the boot floor ...

[simonbuk]

Lucky I didn't need to use the jack as I left the jack handle clipped to the boot floor ...

[dapinky]

Lucky I didn't need to use the jack as I left the jack handle clipped to the boot floor ...

In that case you could have made life even easier and left the wheel at home as well

[simonbuk]

What about taking a tin of that foam inflator stuff ? Chances of getting a puncture are always minimal (can't actually remember having a flat in 30 odd years ?)

Would save on boot space and if your tyre was well and truely knackered then you need to buy a new one anyone so might as well do it there and then.

[lotusflasherman]

What about taking a tin of that foam inflator stuff ? Chances of getting a puncture are always minimal (can't actually remember having a flat in 30 odd years ?)

Would save on boot space and if your tyre was well and truely knackered then you need to buy a new one anyone so might as well do it there and then.

with your thinking.

I've been thinking about that as I'm now running 17" wheels and plan to increase disc size so then my spare rims won't fit, nor the space saver. I saw an Excel owner at a Lotus meet use a foam inflator and it worked well. He was concerned he'd over-inflated his tyre with it. Excel, like Eclat, has a 5th wheel hung under the boot floor that's a struggle to get out so guess he just carried it for convenience.

I've had a puncture at speed on the OSR of an Espace and the tyre was 'staying up' due to centrifugal force but heard a drumming noise and saw smoke coming out of the wheel arch in the rear-view mirror. When I pulled up it was all molten rubber and cords. Was wondering if 'run flat' tyres would be worth the extra expense at next tyre change to ensure you could pull up with a tyre fit to use a foam inflator on...

[lotusflasherman]

Lucky I didn't need to use the jack as I left the jack handle clipped to the boot floor ...

In that case you could have made life even easier and left the wheel at home as well

Plan B : Toolkit has screwdriver and plug spanner so I'd have got the jack up eventually. Nothing like the correct tool for making a job easy. Now, if I'd left the wheel brace behind ....

[Saltire]

I've had a puncture at speed on the OSR of an Espace and the tyre was 'staying up' due to centrifugal force but heard a drumming noise and saw smoke coming out of the wheel arch in the rear-view mirror. When I pulled up it was all molten rubber and cords. Was wondering if 'run flat' tyres would be worth the extra expense at next tyre change to ensure you could pull up with a tyre fit to use a foam inflator on...

I had a similar experience on the Boxster in the outside lane of the M4. By the time I got it stopped, the sidewall was separating from the tread, so the Porsche foam and inflator were useless. New tyre time, but Admiral recovery was excellent.

I have 'run flats' on the daily driver BMW, but I've been told very firmly that a) they're not repairable under any circumstances and b) you can't use inflation foam with them. OTOH, maybe that's just the dealer trying to sell more tyres

[lotusflasherman]

I've had a puncture at speed on the OSR of an Espace and the tyre was 'staying up' due to centrifugal force but heard a drumming noise and saw smoke coming out of the wheel arch in the rear-view mirror. When I pulled up it was all molten rubber and cords. Was wondering if 'run flat' tyres would be worth the extra expense at next tyre change to ensure you could pull up with a tyre fit to use a foam inflator on...

I had a similar experience on the Boxster in the outside lane of the M4. By the time I got it stopped, the sidewall was separating from the tread, so the Porsche foam and inflator were useless. New tyre time, but Admiral recovery was excellent.

I have 'run flats' on the daily driver BMW, but I've been told very firmly that a) they're not repairable under any circumstances and b) you can't use inflation foam with them. OTOH, maybe that's just the dealer trying to sell more tyres

That's useful info. Could be 'run flat lube' prevents the inflation foam from sticking and doing it's job properly. I've got nearly new 'ordinary tyres' so going to 'run flat' was a long way off anyway... back to Plan A - Inflation Foam.

[dapinky]

Whilst I'm aware that we're taking the thread , I have had a bit of a thought....

Is it an option to carry a suitable wheel (15,16 or 17" as appropriate for the rest on the car), but without a tyre fitted - will it sit in the spare wheel well? Working on the principle that a new tyre can be sourced virtually anywhere in Europe, you only need something in the worst case scenario that the rim gets damaged during the 'puncture procedure'....

I suppose that damage can be caused by continuing to drive with a punctured tyre, but this would be a matter of last resort to get to a safe place to stop.

Then again, a can of self-inflating foam can be used to get you to the next town (if you don't have Recovery Breakdown), and then obtain a new tyre for your clean wheel in the boot.

I like to carry a full-sized spare on European journeys, but I'm starting to wonder if it is at all necessary - I have had very few punctures over the years (on normal road journeys I can recall only 2).

Maybe a can of foam is enough (along with the spacesaver)?

There again, I could just buy a wheel from the nearest scrapyard if i didn't want to drive home on the spacesaver, and I'd knackered the rim - 4x100 wheels should be pretty cheap as they fit VWs, Opels etc??

Or better still, sit in a nice hotel whilst waiting for a courier to bring me one of the wheels from my garden shed

[rip]

I think you are a bit optimistic. S2's will get slightly better mileage than SE's but on a 300 mile run (mainly motorways and fast roads) I can regularly get 32/33 mpg. However I never stick to 70

Wondering why Rambo ... SE has 10% more bhp but S2 is 8% heavier ... I'd have thought it more down to driving style than anything.

I can't see this being answered on here.
S2s have closed loop. Although in theory a well adjusted open loop system should be as efficient, those who have converted their SE to closed loop have found improvements in economy.

[lotusflasherman]

Whilst I'm aware that we're taking the thread , I have had a bit of a thought....

Is it an option to carry a suitable wheel (15,16 or 17" as appropriate for the rest on the car), but without a tyre fitted - will it sit in the spare wheel well? Working on the principle that a new tyre can be sourced virtually anywhere in Europe, you only need something in the worst case scenario that the rim gets damaged during the 'puncture procedure'....

I suppose that damage can be caused by continuing to drive with a punctured tyre, but this would be a matter of last resort to get to a safe place to stop.

Then again, a can of self-inflating foam can be used to get you to the next town (if you don't have Recovery Breakdown), and then obtain a new tyre for your clean wheel in the boot.

I like to carry a full-sized spare on European journeys, but I'm starting to wonder if it is at all necessary - I have had very few punctures over the years (on normal road journeys I can recall only 2).

Maybe a can of foam is enough (along with the spacesaver)?

There again, I could just buy a wheel from the nearest scrapyard if i didn't want to drive home on the spacesaver, and I'd knackered the rim - 4x100 wheels should be pretty cheap as they fit VWs, Opels etc??

Or better still, sit in a nice hotel whilst waiting for a courier to bring me one of the wheels from my garden shed

First trip to south of France in Elan in '96, I started looking around to find the price of 205/50/15 tyres and just couldn't find any anywhere, at any price. Don't think any French car ever fitted that size - if they did, bet owners had trouble too. It's 1,000km / 10 hrs to Calais usually but reckoned a puncture that required use of space saver would make me miss the ferry so decided I'd always carry a 5th wheel in future, so I could change it and carry on at normal speed. So I always have but never used it so far ... it's only necessary when you need it and Sod's Law says if I stop carrying it ... you know the rest. Sod's Law also says if I'm depending on a can of foam I'll hit something that slices the sidewall that makes it irreparable...

I've had problems getting 205/50/15 tyres from local tyre suppliers in Suffolk for some years so was buying from internet dealers but since I've gone 17" there's much more availability and price is better too. Hope that applies to France too. Promised I'd go down in next few weeks and take 'kid's paraphernalia' and bags for my daughter, partner & kid's who are flying down Ryanair in July. Might not have room for a spare with all that stuff so a can of foam & fingers crossed, but internet tells me the sun is shining and it's 24°C down there so just got to use the Elan.. I'll make sure I log the fuel and miles (back on topic now?) when I go.

I think Geoff offered the best tip to maximise mpg - use the space saver, so taken to it's logical conclusion for mpg & tyres, it's get 4 more space savers and drive everywhere without exceeding 50 mph.

[GeoffSmith]

On Ekapol's recommendation, I got a Dynaplug repair kit (£20 from Amazon) for the drive to/from Spain. Although they are only meant to be temporary repairs, they seem to last for a long time. I used to have a can of foam, but beware, if you use it you can't get the tyre plugged.

Closed loop equates to a big saving in fuel off-boost. Instead of estimating how much fuel to pour into the inlet based on a few sensors (including the temperature sensor which can go AWOL without any indication of demise other than gross failure) and assuming that the injector is still injecting the specified amount of fuel [Note: 100,000 miles at 25mpg over 4 injectors with petrol density of ~3kg/gallon equates to over 3 tons of fuel injected], closed loop monitors the exhaust and adjusts the fuel injected to maintain ~14.7:1 AFR. When the old Polo CTS went off cal, it was a pig to start from cold and ran as lumpy as rice pudding with added lumps, but after about a minute it ran sweet as a nut - open loop to closed loop.

[GeoffSmith]

Talking of tyres, anyone fancy going more than 5mph after this repair?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFz-Lr5GUd8

And if your tread is below the legal limit, I suppose this may help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzz3r2zZbwA

[Elanlover]

Good gawd. I especially like how the guy, while removing the tire to repair it, tossed the wheel face down on the concrete while bashing away on it. Think there might be a scratch or 2 on the wheel?

[dapinky]

I can't see the first technic being worthwhile - unless it's on your ex-missus' car


As for the re-grooving, it is standard practice for competition cars, off-roaders and trucks (where there is plenty of rubber but you want a different groove pattern for the circumstances) - wouldn't fancy using it on a set of bald road tyres though......

[lotusflasherman]

Getting back on the MPG topic- though it's not something I'd usually bother with, as I was attending Duxford and several Lotus owners over last month or so which involved longish, 100+, journeys I decided to note mileage on my credit card fill up receipts out of curiosity. Fair bit of dual carriageway miles but I do like to go 'as the crow flies' often so also a fair amount of East Anglian B & C roads. Mine is '93 SE with Everest and Bailey RDV so gets back on Full Boost quickly on exit from bends and great fun Driven for fun and not economy - Result: 800 miles at average of 24 mpg.