Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I fitted new Minilites to my '70 S4 last year, and after a couple of problems with the wheels catching on the wishbone bolts, they have been fine for about 1000 miles. However, having developed a noise from the near-side rear when going round right hand corners, I now find that one of the bolts is catching the inner wheel. ( UK car) Has anyone got any ideas of why this has just developed? The car has only had gentle motoring. I have a Lotus handbook and it doesn't show the washer positions on the wishbone drawing.
Thanks for replies

Hi

My guess is that the rear bushes have worn / settled or possibly the wheel bearings have worn slightly. I had a similar problem and I "adjusted" the outer wishbones bolts further and have not had any problems since.

Regards

Andy

Thanks Andy, I'll check those suggestions, very helpful

Having the same problems. Just about to check the rear bearing/hubs are tight . New bearings about 2000 miles ago. Has issue with pain in the peg holes. Also balance weights on the inside were too close to edge.
James

I havent used the torque wrench to tighten (Just hammer torque)

For my 10 years of ownership, I have always had 5.5" plus 2 steel wheels on my S4. Tires are 185/60R13s, which I found to be too small for highway driving, but great for autocross. Last winter, I changed from rubber outer bushings to poly, which made things a bit tighter, but still no contact. I bought another set of 5.5" plus 2 steel wheels and had them beautifully powder coated. I bought a set of 175/70R13 Michelin Defenders, crossed my fingers and put them on. No clearance issues whatsoever between the tires and the fenders, which was a huge relief, but the interference between the washers and bolt heads was tremendous. I ended up grinding down the inner metal sleeve and trimming the outside head of the bushing. Initially, it turned with no issue, but after driving, it began hitting again, so I did another round of the same, particularly on the left side. All seems fine now, but I'll let you know if it comes back. All I could determine was that there is some movement dependent on driving conditions, so you need more clearance than you think when you have the wheel up in the air. Why this set of plus 2 wheels is so much smaller than the other set is a complete mystery to me. Cheers, Dan

I encountered the same problem with new K/O minilites.

The machining of the wheel itself is the problem - uneven casting - have tried the wheels on several cars/hubs