Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Apologies for gate crashing the forum, I'm an avid split rim hoarder and would be grateful for any information about these

Can anybody identify whether they are indeed a lotus fitment?

They came as a 2 piece wheel in a 14" and 6.5j









Many thanks for any help

Regards Neil

Certainly look like Elan knock on wheel centres as I don't know of any other car that uses this system.

John

I don't believe they are Lotus factory OEM wheels.

The only Lotus OEM Compomotive application I'm aware of was for the early, 1980-82 Turbo Esprit (and optional on the Esprit S2 & S2.2). Those wheels used a similar mesh/ web center, but they were 15" with 4x100mm bolt pattern, so not what you have pictured.

From 1983-87, they were replaced by one-piece BBS wheels with a 5-bolt pattern, so Lotus only used the 4-bolt Compomotives in limited numbers for a short time period. Lotus never used a 5-bolt Compomotive on the Turbo Esprit, or any other model to the best of my knowledge.

All other iterations of the Lotus Esprit used 5-bolt pattern, one-piec wheels, with the exception of the very limited production X180R, which used three-piece Revolution wheels.

All early 1st & 2nd generation Lotus street cars, like the Seven, Elite Type 14, Elan & Elan +2 (both of which are covered on this forum), and the Europa used a 4-bolt pattern or knock-on one-piece wheels.

The 3rd gen Elite, Eclat and Excel all used 4-bolt, one-piece wheels, as do the current Elise, Exige and Evora.

Regards,
Tim Engel

Wow Tim, that's some solid information for me, I agree that they were never an eom wheel and I'm surprised I've never seen another set.

As long as I can be confident that they were a compomotive aftermarket option for an

1st & 2nd generation Lotus street cars, like the Seven, Elite Type 14, Elan & Elan +2

that fine with me, many thanks for taking the time to reply John and Tim

Steptoe wrote:Wow Tim, that's some solid information for me, I agree that they were never an eom wheel and I'm surprised I've never seen another set.

As long as I can be confident that they were a compomotive aftermarket option for an

1st & 2nd generation Lotus street cars, like the Seven, Elite Type 14, Elan & Elan +2

that fine with me, many thanks for taking the time to reply John and Tim

They won't be for the Seven or Mk14 Elite.
The Elite used wire wheels with Rudge splines & the Seven when it was fitted with wire wheels also had Rudge splined hubs.
To the best of my knowledge the Elan was the only road going Lotus to use knock-on wheels with peg drive

As previously mentioned, the wheel(s) that you have would have been aftermarket parts & never offered by Lotus as an alternative.

Cheers
John

(Snip)...
> As long as I can be confident that they were a compomotive aftermarket
> option for an "1st & 2nd generation Lotus street cars, like the Seven,
> Elite Type 14, Elan & Elan +2" that fine with me (Snip)...

But it wasn't an aftermarket option for those cars. Again, they all had 4-bolt wheels... AND HUBS... and couldn't accept a 5-bolt wheel as an option. Not unless the kit contained all new 5-bolt hubs.

Most of those early cars used 13 x 4.0 to 5.5J rims, and 14 x 6.5J rims and appropriately wider tires would have required custom bodywork... large wheel arch flares.

Regards,
Tim Engel

O.k just double checked the sizes, they are definitely 14" 6.5j so could only have been fitted on a lotus with radical bodywork mods or to a kit/ race car using lotus knock ons and the peg drive system?

Esprit2 wrote:(Snip)...
> As long as I can be confident that they were a compomotive aftermarket
> option for an "1st & 2nd generation Lotus street cars, like the Seven,
> Elite Type 14, Elan & Elan +2" that fine with me (Snip)...

But it wasn't an aftermarket option for those cars. Again, they all had 4-bolt wheels... AND HUBS... and couldn't accept a 5-bolt wheel as an option. Not unless the kit contained all new 5-bolt hubs.

Most of those early cars used 13 x 4.0 to 5.5J rims, and 14 x 6.5J rims and appropriately wider tires would have required custom bodywork... large wheel arch flares.

Regards,
Tim Engel

Take another look at the photos Tim.
Those 5 holes are for the Elan drive pegs, not bolt holes.
Also the Mk14 elite was supplied only with wire wheels having Rudge splines.
I think it is acceptable to expect that aftermarket wheels such as those would need modified wheel arches to suit & the owners would have done that without giving it a second thought back then.

Cheers
John

Steptoe wrote:O.k just double checked the sizes, they are definitely 14" 6.5j so could only have been fitted on a lotus with radical bodywork mods or to a kit/ race car using lotus knock ons and the peg drive system?

That depends on the offset but
6.5" x 14" wheels fit well on S4 Elans with 175/60x14" tyres no body mods needed.
(My S4 Elan has some fitted)

Cheers
John

Thanks for the extra info John, much appreciated!

Steptoe wrote:Thanks for the extra info John, much appreciated!

No probs; it was a lengthy birth though

Cheers
John

John--

Can you tell me the manufacturer/model of the tires you use on your 14" rims?

lesesq wrote:John--

Can you tell me the manufacturer/model of the tires you use on your 14" rims?

175/60 x 14" Continental Premium Contact

Probably not the best but I'm pretty happy with them.
Now Yokohama have a tyre in that size & I'd be very tempted to go for those (regardless of price)
As you know, there's not a lot of choice out there.

Cheers
John

Hi Neil

Came across your post today!
I use cerntres the same as yours on my Elan S4 they are 13" three piece Compomotive and I am looking for another four to to make up another set.

Cheers Colin