Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hello,
two of the 9 original steel wheels of my elan sprint are not perfectly round; the tire repairer is not able to balance because they vibrate too much.
Do you know anyone able to repair them?

john.p.clegg wrote:x

it means...??? funeral...???

Well not sure about that

There's a Wikipedia page on "Hugs and kisses"? What nonsense is this?

My interpretation in the context is that the author of 'x' is saying ' no' or 'wrong'.

Incidentally, I have had a few cases when wheels were unbalanceable because they were out of shape and considered 'scrap' and i've managed to get them balanceable by straightening them out with a 'push and pull' action...i.e. put wheel with tyre back the on hub, jack wheel off ground and spin it to see how it has buckled and then pull it back into shape . I still have 1 wheel that the balancer couldn't quite get right and its fine as a spare or on the back ....

How did you pull the wheel back into shape Rich? Just brute strength or with the crafty use of levers or a jack against a wall perhaps?

I have a remaining steel wheel on my +2 that I use as a spare, and I would like to reduce it's lateral run-out, or buckling.

Dave Chapman.

My answer is No, I do not know anyone who will repair our wheels.
I have recently straightened a buckled wheel, where the rim was still round, but not running in the same plane as the centre. (axial error)
I think someone curbed it sharply sideways, but I will not admit who did it.
It is now on the front of the car and runs wobble free up to 70 mph with no trouble and I have reason to believe it would be OK at considerably more than that!
I had tried several wheel repair people, but no one would attempt it.
If the hub is eccentric to the rim, (radial error) as the original poster seeems to suggest then I cannot think how to approach that problem.
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC

X stands for my sense of humour , and after second thoughts decided to delete , after all what has a Robin reliant got to do with Tyrrell P34 , March 2-4-0 ,Williams FW07D etc .

John

I have no personal experience of them, and I believe I found their name looking through previous posts on this forum, but there is an outfit called Lepsons who may help you.

Would be interested to know the result.

Incidentally, mine were said to be too wobbly to balance by our local man, but lakeside use Merits in Woking who seem to have been able to do a decent job. Not all wheel balancers are the same...

John

John, I still have my doubts.
Lepsons website has no mention of steel wheel repairs that I can see.
All the places I tried, both large companies and one man firms only do alloy wheels and although one large firm took it in for a week as a challenge, they eventually said they could not do it.
Eric in Burnley

Umberto,

I think a repair is possible, but you need the facilities of an engineering machine shop.

Steel wheels are made in two pieces, the centre and the rim. The rim is an interference fit onto the centre, and is then welded securely in place. In the 1960's Lotus wheels were riveted rather than welded.

I bought new rims from a German company called Mefro, you may be able to find an Italian supplier. These rims are a little too big to fit the centres. I cut most of the old rim away with an angle grinder. I set a front hub in a lathe, secured the wheel to the hub, and turned the remainder of the rim away until I had the correct diameter to press the new rim onto the centre. I put the pressed together assembly back in the lathe and checked that it ran true, then had it welded in position.

I have not completed my restoration, so cannot say how the car drives.

Occasionally second hand wheels are advertised for sale.

Most people fit aluminium after market wheels.

Richard Hawkins

A sprint with 9 wheels !!! My warped sense of humour imagines two wheels per corner with one spare.

To be serious warped wheels that have been straightened should be crack tested with the paint removed without the assurance that they are crackfree I would not be contemplating 30 mph never mind 70mph. That is why nobody wants to straighten them and with the chances of being sued is not worth thinking about. The damage to a car with a wheel giving up at 70mph could be expensive survival/injury not assured.

These wheels are made of thin steel- 'added lightness' and damage rectification should not be underestimated.

Out of balance at speed is also uncomfortable and leads to excessive tyre wear and possible suspension wear.
Contact Minilite and get 4 off aluminium wheels and enjoy them

Michael

I would think they could be adjusted in a Lathe with spinning tooling.
Alan

This chap successfully trued many of my wheels - http://www.ianjemison.co.uk/wheelrefurbishing.html

He charged me about ?20 each, he's been repairing wheels for probably forty years. Better call him first though.

I found a self proclaimed wheel 'expert' local to me, said he could fix any wheel, I gave him ten wheels, he told me they were all bent (some were, some were inside tolerances), he destroyed one wheel trying to remove the centre off the rim, didn't seem to understand the rim was heated and shrunk on, he tried to cold press it out. He then got angry and told me he they were irreparable, then he tried charging me ?70...it was not entertained.

I have a contact for straightening our wheels but I am not sure I would recommend them. It is however worth mentioning. Whilst they are a genuine place and everything went well regarding sending and receiving them, I wasn't fully satisfied with their work because when I sent my 4 rims to them, about this time last year, they came back pretty much the same. He said that he does straighten them by using the same machines as he uses for straightening alli wheels and using heat then re paints them. He seems nice enough and they indeed looked lovely on return but one of them still had bad run out and was still wobbly when I put it on the car (even though it balanced to zero). Which was the same as before I sent it. Maybe they settled back during posting them back.
I am going to give them one last try (sorting it out right now actually) by sending my spare which I know has a big ding in it and I think is un-repairable but I am going to try anyway because as the above posts say there is no one else that I know who will do this and these rims are like hens teeth now. If this doesn't work then I'll keep looking for spares on fleaybay (silly money) or as a last resort will have to consider Minilites. I really want to keep the standard steel rims though if I possibly can and I am not sure the larger Minilites will fit a standard S3.
You can try this company if you like. At least they are willing to have a go with them.
http://www.ianjemison.co.uk/
I found they don't answer emails, the only way is to phone and speak to Ian. Can't remember exact cost but it was about ?80 per rim I think including paint post and vat.
HTH cheers.
Keith.