Can a Leaf be made into a Porsche 911??

[Electric4Me]

That's what Car and Driver just attempted to do, by only swapping tires and measuring on a skid pad:
[youtube]http://youtu.be/tOIAk8TA6b4[/youtube]
http://youtu.be/tOIAk8TA6b4

I remember putting used race tires on my spongy suspension street car back in college just for fun. The car became a handful since the tires would attempt to put cornering loads into the car that the springs/shocks couldn't keep up with! Not a big deal on a smooth skid pad perhaps, but it would be challenging on the street in this Leaf.

 

[DaveEV]

Pretty entertaining video. 0.96 g w/basically stock sized race-rubber. Some negative camber in the front probably would have let the LEAF hit the target of 1g - Disappointed they stuck w/stock sized rubber, too. 17" wheels and/or 225 width rubber would have helped a bunch, too.

 

[Boomer23]

VERY nice and fun video, thanks for posting. I'd love to see more features like this from the mags. Maybe we will as EVs mature.

I loved the take home message that the future may not be so bad after all.

 

[Nubo]

In 5-10 years as cheap, used EVs become available on the market you'll definitely start seeing some serious modding and rodding going on.

 

[garsh]

Thanks Electric4Me, it was a very entertaining video. I wish I could have Tire Rack send me a bunch of tires to "try out".

I find the experience of buying new tires painful. It's hard to find good comparisons, so I usually just end up going with cheap tires.

Skidpad numbers from the video:

• 0.79g Bridgestone Ecopia EP 422, $107 (stock tires)
• 0.84g Yokohama S. Drive, $98 (performance)
• 0.89g Yokohama Advan Neova ADO8, $155 (performance)
• 0.89g Yokohama Advan AO48, $233 (performance)
• 0.96g BF Goodrich g-Force R1, $203 (racing)

 

[TomT]

Actually, according to the actual article in the magazine, they went 1/2" wider on the wheels... I also love how they took off the doors in an attempt to lower the CG!

Pretty entertaining video. 0.96 g w/basically stock sized race-rubber. Some negative camber in the front probably would have let the LEAF hit the target of 1g - Disappointed they stuck w/stock sized rubber, too. 17" wheels and/or 225 width rubber would have helped a bunch, too.

 

[Electric4Me]

I find the experience of buying new tires painful. It's hard to find good comparisons, so I usually just end up going with cheap tires.

Yeah, the process sure can be painful. I wish they had demo tires available (for a modest fee) like they do on other things, like sporting equipment.

[Edit: I find buying replacement shocks is just as painful. Far *less* comparative info out there (zero?) and they make such a huge difference on ride & handling.]

Actually, according to the actual article in the magazine, they went 1/2" wider on the wheels... I also love how they took off the doors in an attempt to lower the CG!

They did?? How did the results turn out? As if the Leaf's CG wasn't low enough (for a street car)! Can you post a link to the magazine article?

I would have like to have seen the opposite approach on the 911 to see how it turned out: Ecoppias on a 911! hahaha...

 

[TomT]

I haven't been able to find a link to the article online... I get the magazine and read about it there. If I remember correctly, it added another 1 or 2 hundredths to the number...

They did?? How did the results turn out? As if the Leaf's CG wasn't low enough (for a street car)! Can you post a link to the magazine article?

 

[dandrewk]

I'll try and wait for the OEM's to wear down before I slap on a set of slicks.

 

[DaveEV]

Actually, according to the actual article in the magazine, they went 1/2" wider on the wheels...

Yes, but you can see in the video that the tire size stayed the same - 205/55/16. 1/2" wider wheels typically results in very little difference in grip levels though it can improve steering feel / response.

 

[Drivesolo]

Nice to see C&D making a video and writing an article about this. Would've been better if they would've had some lap time comparisons and/or would've used the Tein Street Basis suspension. I think there have been a few forum members that have put their Leafs on R-comps and/or on a track. Would be nice to hear their feed back on their tire experience.

They should've just cut to the chase and put the R-comps on it. Would've been even better if they would've gone for Hoosiers or Kumho V710's.

 

[cwerdna]

Actually, according to the actual article in the magazine, they went 1/2" wider on the wheels... I also love how they took off the doors in an attempt to lower the CG!

Yeah, the improvement was from 0.96 g to 0.97 g. There's a small picture of them in their Leaf w/3 doors removed.

 

[RedLeader]

LOL! I think a few Porsche owners are going to take strong objection to this comparison (not that there ever could be). Infact, I know a few that I will have to send the video link to. I haven't read the article but it would have been more informative if they would've taken the modifications farther and had some comparable data on lap times on a known track.

I've had R-comps on the fronts of the Leaf before, it really was not a good feeling since the rears were all over the place on the OEM wheels and tires. I still have a full set of (used) Kumho Victoracers that I've been meaning to put on and try out but free time and dry weather have not been hard to come by.

This is the first attempt I've seen by a major automotive publication where they've attempted to extract performance from a Leaf, I hope this is the beginning of a trend.

 

[Electric4Me]

This exercise really wasn't about extracting performance from the Leaf per se, it was just the car they happened to "pick on". It also wasn't truly an EV vs ICE comparison either, since they could have chosen a Tesla Roadster to have more of an apples to apples comparison.

They had a point they wanted to make about the effect of going to stickier (and non-rain safe) tires on an econocar, and it got our attention because of which one they picked. :lol:

 

[Drivesolo]

LOL! I think a few Porsche owners are going to take strong objection to this comparison (not that there ever could be). Infact, I know a few that I will have to send the video link to. I haven't read the article but it would have been more informative if they would've taken the modifications farther and had some comparable data on lap times on a known track.

I've had R-comps on the fronts of the Leaf before, it really was not a good feeling since the rears were all over the place on the OEM wheels and tires. I still have a full set of (used) Kumho Victoracers that I've been meaning to put on and try out but free time and dry weather have not been hard to come by.

This is the first attempt I've seen by a major automotive publication where they've attempted to extract performance from a Leaf, I hope this is the beginning of a trend.

PM sent.

 

[TickTock]

I've been toying with getting a set of performance tires (say what you will about the heat, but we do get lots of dry weather) but was waiting for another guinea pig to do it and report the impact of effciency first. If I lose another 20% range I won't be able to use them much.

 

[eHelmholtz]

I've been toying with getting a set of performance tires (say what you will about the heat, but we do get lots of dry weather) but was waiting for another guinea pig to do it and report the impact of effciency first. If I lose another 20% range I won't be able to use them much.

TickTock, a number of us have replaced the stock tires with Michelin MXM4 or MXV4 with significant improvements in handling and cornering and not much difference in efficiency.

 

[knightarmor]

Not sure if this has been posted before but saw it on the Yokohama website. I got a kick out of watching it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tOIAk8TA6b4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[garsh]

Posted here.

 

[PatricioEV]

I changed out my wheels/tires for a 17x7" Juke wheels and 215/45z17 Continental ExtremeContact DWS setup, and I can say it makes a VAST improvement in handling over the OEM. Also, having driven more than a month and 1600 miles on the new setup, I can say it has made only a marginal (if any) difference in efficiency.

The Juke wheels, btw, will bolt right on and you can reuse your blue logo center caps and Leaf TPMS. They look like a nice dealer upgrade.