Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I have a couple of bent wheels but one is so bad the can cannot be driven about 30mph

So I finally managed to find on eon ebay and paid over the odds but was happy

Trouble is that it's wider than the wheels on the car. Any ideas on what this would be originally fitted to?

AND more importantly what are my options given I can't get replacement steel wheels?

I'd guess you have an Elan with 5" wide wheels and you bought a Elan +2 wheel that is 5.5" wide.

I'd try the for sale/wanted sections on here, you might be lucky and sell your wheel or find a replacement.

elan or +2??

Sorry yes S4 Elan

Elan wheels are 4.5 J whilst +2 are 5.5J.

Last Elan wheel I saw on fleabag sold for ?130. Evermore rare these days as they aren't making them anymore.

I too would like a source of ?lan wheels. I had a couple of abortive attempts to get wheels made. I spoke at length with Sue Miller who was very helpful, but it would seem her supplier had been taken over and the tooling for ?lan wheels destroyed. It didn't seem economic to have new tooling made. I was also in email contact with a chap in Australia ( whose name escapes me) who was also helpful, but the minimum order required for a batch run was prohibitive. I am currently resigned to running minilites, but would be more than happy to pitch in with an order for 5 wheels if a batch could be manufactured.

Not easy

What are my options wanting to retain knock ons?

Minilites

R wheels

??

viper wrote:I have a couple of bent wheels but one is so bad the can cannot be driven about 30mph

So I finally managed to find on eon ebay and paid over the odds but was happy

Trouble is that it's wider than the wheels on the car. Any ideas on what this would be originally fitted to?

AND more importantly what are my options given I can't get replacement steel wheels?

You could try these guys, not too far from you either.

http://www.lepsons.com/classic-car-wheel-refurbishment/

What's the problem with Minilite or Panasport KO alloys? They are reasonably priced, true, and stiff. IMHO, a much better alternative than any steel wheel.

Bill

The wheel is buckled so Lepsons won't be any use.

Minilites are an option but I was wondering what other options I have

bill308 wrote:What's the problem with Minilite or Panasport KO alloys? They are reasonably priced, true, and stiff. IMHO, a much better alternative than any steel wheel.

Bill

Agreed, ally wheels are better than the original steelies at being wheels, but cosmetically not original. No elan that is used is 'as it came off the production line', but I do try for the appearance of originality if possible. Unless a batch order is possible, I will run minilites and keep the (crooked) steelies in the garage.

viper wrote:The wheel is buckled so Lepsons won't be any use.

Minilites are an option but I was wondering what other options I have

I did come across a firm that would remove the centre from a bent wheel, true it up and weld it into a new (straight) rim band. It wasn't cheap, and at best you ended up with a wheel that was no better than the original (which was probably too thin). I believe the wheels manufactured later as replacements were thicker, and in the case of the Aussie wheels had the relative position of air holes and drive peg holes shifted to reduce cracking. If you are interested I can see if I kept the details of the firm in question who did the rim replacement.

Hello,
I was lucky enough to buy some new (well.second hand) 4.5J wheels recently - they are being blasted and powder coated at the moment.
So, in the coming weeks I will have five wheels to sell. They are powder coated silver - they are all good, straight with good drive peg holes. Two or three of them are a bit pitted though from historic rust (that's why I'm changing them).
If these would help you out, give me a shout in, say three weeks and we'll see if we can agree a price

cheers

Nick

I too would like to know all these answers. I would be up for a set also as I am still deciding whether to try to get my original wheels refurbished/straightened or to go for a new set of Minilites. Let us know what you decide and how you get on.

Here are some links to recent similar discussions:
http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotus-suspension-f42/steel-wheel-manufacturer-t27233.html

http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotus-suspension-f42/steel-wheel-restoration-t28446.html

http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotus-elan-f19/sprint-wheels-t32586.html

MWS when they were in London fixed steel wheels for me, and made a set of wide rims on VW centres (for a Morgan 4/4)

http://www.mws.co.uk/site/cms/contentCa ... tegory=216

Jon the Chief