Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Yes, they do have full engagement but they are not 5 peg wheels and not the standard 5 peg hubs. They are on 26R hubs.

it´s 2x dia. for ally (magnesium and titanium) and only 1x for ARP-quality steel! sandy ...........one (maybe only) definate advantage: they look magnificent!

Dale, the only option is to reduce the thickness of the wheel hub to allow the spinner to tighten using more threads.

It seems these wheels are made of the 26R pattens and machining has not been adjusted to suit the threaded length of 5 pegs hubs.

I'd not be trying to extend the thread.

Vaughan

Reducing the thickness of the wheel hub is not an option for me. The wheels that are currently in use have a 4" offset and the new alloy wheels come with a 4 1/2 " offset so any reduction to the wheel hub is going to make things worse in regards the wheel and the guards and also fouling the lower rear control arms.

Dale,

Gordon who owned an S2 (with 26R guards) that I restored, replaced the bolt on hubs etc with knock on to fit Kelsport 26R knock on wheels to the 5 peg knock on hubs and had the same issue you have as previously posted. He ignored the advice, regularly used the car and was very lucky as he had a wheel come loose at slow speed, having just crossed the Anzac Bridge, Harbour Bridge and freeway here in Sydney .....

Reducing thickness should increase guard clearance which is normally the issue at rear particularly S1-3, and may assist at front as reduces likelihood of cracking front guard lips on turning. Also worth noting that 26R's have a longer steering rack spacer to limit steering lock which stops the tyres from rubbing on the inner front guards on lock.

They should not foul the rear wishbone if the bolts are narrow head with flats carefully placed maximise the limited clearance available to the inner rim profile. I've done this a number of times to fit bolt on 6" panasports and minilight wheels to S2 with 26R guards that S4 Elans.

Another common tweak/adjustment is to chamfer or reduce overall width of the outer bush/wishbone by a few mm to increase clearance which is what the factory did for S1 26R's rears when running the alloy wheels..

Alternatively you could have the front face of the wheel where the spinner contacts machined deeper to provide additional depth for the spinner to fully engage assuming adequate clearance to back of spinner . the angle of the face that the spinner contacts must be maintained. Note that a standard steel, alloy +2 wheel and after market wheels have a different contact angle to a genuine 26R wheel, and you cannot mix and match genuine 26R spinners with other wheels.

BTW, where are you in Australia?

Regards

Vaughan