Have I bought the right spinners??

[thor]

Got carried away on ebay and paid WAY too much for rechromed spinners. BUT , oh no! I've got alloys (+2S130 black/polished), and what if these are only for steel wheels.
On my octagonal bolts now it says "alloys only", on these nothing..
Can anyone tell me?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... otohosting

Hope I didn't throw money out the window...

[Si_130/5]

Hello Thor,

This is something I'd like to find out too. I remember the Robinshaw and Ross book saying that you had to use the spinners marked 'alloys only' as there was a discrepancy between the cone angles of the alloy and steel wheels BUT I've only ever seen it written on the octagonal federal nuts although there are many late model Plus Twos with spinners. I suppose you could try placing your new spinners in the wheel centre recess and see how snugly the taper fits.
Those spinners look fabulous by the way - I too have a set which I got at Donington many moons ago (not as good) but never fitted due to what I read in the Robinshaw book.

If anyone can shed some light on this I'm sure we'd both be grateful.

Si

[Dave_Newcastle]

Hiya

I dont know the answer on this, but did ask the same question of many people ten years ago when I got my plus 2 having read the same book.

I was told by Graham Arnold of Club Lotus that the angle was same on all spinners and I could use either. I have eared spinners on the plus two alloys - no markings at all inside the spinners. I have also used the same spinners on steel wheels for about thousand miles with no problems at all.

I have a theory that the hexagonal spinners are marked for alloys only so that they are not used on steel wheels, and that the eared spinners can be used on either. My thoughts on this is that the profile/shape of the steel wheel would make fitment of the spanner to the heaxagonal spinner and tightening correctly more difficult to achieve, the spinner will sit down into the bowl shape of the wheel as tightened- perhaps someone with a steel wheel and a hexagonal spinner sitting loose somewhere could check this out??

Either that or lotus did not want us all to clip our soft alloys with our hard hammers, knocking them to shreds and causing claims against lotus that the design was inherently flawed since it needs great care not to hit the wheels.

Dave
dave

[thor]

AHA! this all sounds logical..
By the way (if they'll fit), how much shoudl the spinners be hammered/tightened?

Thor

[marcfuller]

Thor, since you now have both spinners and nuts at hand why don't you measure the angle?

In the US the Federal spec Elans and +2 had nuts as original equipment on steel wheels. I have had many nuts and spinners with no markings as to wheel type.

According to the Lotus manual the wheel nuts torque spec is 160-180 lbs/ft

[tonycharente]

Paul Matty's show the same spinners for both the Baby Elans and for the Plus 2's, with no distinction for alloy wheels, but if you want to be sure perhaps you could just call them and ask? Cheers, Tony.

[thor]

hmmm, no I haven't got the spinners yet, I'll check the angle etc. when they're here.
But if they fit, how much should they be tightened (hard to measure lbs' as your slapping them with a hammer, but..)

Thor

And also : the air pressures in the tyres of 20 at the front and 24 at the back with 165/80R13 seems very very low, are they are also right with my 185/70R13's ??

[ElliottN]

I have Panasport wheels for my S4 - they have steel centres for the spinners - what about yours?

[thor]

They are the standard black/polished Lotus Alloys..


WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT to get anyone to answer a simple simple question about TYRE PRESSURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I must have put it in about 4 posts now. HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELPPPPP

[types26/36]

..WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT to get anyone to answer a simple simple question about TYRE PRESSURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

Could be we dont know
Brian

[john.p.clegg]

Thor
Don't get so uptight ,there is no right or wrong,i use 23 psi front and 26 psi rear,so if you wish you could use this as a start point and find what suits you?
John

[thor]

thank you very much gentlemen... Obviously I was being a bit ironic, and not really upset..

I'll try the 23 -26 combo first and see what happens. Shame I've got nice Goodyears at the back and Chengshan (or something like that..) on the front..

[steveb1]

How tight should the spinners be hammered?
Until the spinner does not move when hit with moderate force. No grease should be used on the thread unlike the splines on wire wheels. A copper hammer or lead hammer should be used an not a hide hammer.

[thor]

rubber hammer?

[marcfuller]

Rubber? No a rubber hammer, just like hide, plastic etc. will not work - use copper or lead. Or get a spinner socket if you can find a good one.

"type26owner" (Keith) recently related in a post on this BBS that he uses 240 lbs/ft of torque on his spinners with a 3/4" drive spinner socket he has fashioned. Here's a link to that thread - http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/viewtop ... 6&start=15

Regarding irony - If you don't have one already, I think you would be very well served by having an original Lotus Workshop Manual, they come up for sale on eBay regularly.