Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi,

Do you know if the lotus 5.5 alloy wheels fitted on the S/130
(as in 3rd pic) : (http://www.geocities.com/trevorsparrow/elanplus2/wheels.htm
could be fitted tubeless ?
regards

Hi Jerome,

I have the Lotus Alloys as in 3rd pic.

As far as I know these wheels were intended for tubeless tyres.

But....my +2 Alloys have always had tubes.

When I went to get new tyres just after buying the car my local tyre centre could not find a valve that was had enough length to seal on my alloy so we just stuck with tubes....

All's been well (apart from some incompetent tracking) 20k+ miles later.

All the wheels are balanced perfectly.

Best of luck,
Peter '73 +2S 130/5

Thanks for your answer.
Do you know if they had some difficulties when they have replaced the tyres ?
Yesterday the guy at the tyre center did'nt succeed to remove the old tyre...he told me that the wheel was "special"...
He is needing advice before trying again...

Jerome

I'm running these wheels on my +2 without any inner tubes, however, one of the 4 tyres deflates slowly over time so I have to keep checking it's up to pressure. I suspect that either the wheel is slightly porous or that there is a leak around the rim of the wheel - I believe this is a common problem so would recommend that you get inner tubes fitted while the new tyres are being put on.

It is, apparently, difficult to get the old tyres off/new tyres on without damaging them. The edge of the wheel rim is quite wide and square edged - it seems that the tyres won't "stretch" over the rim easily and they tend to rip. When I took my wheels in for refurbishing the tyre company couldn't get the old tyres off without destroying them. The same firm managed to fit new tyres on the refurbished rims OK but it wasn't easy. Suspect you may have problems if you go to tyre companies where working on old cars such as the Elan is "beyond their experience"...

Good luck!

C

Hi again Jerome,

I agree with everything that Craig mentions.

And...I also had difficulty at the tyre centre when the guys tried to remove my old tyres (for the reasons mentioned by Craig). Putting the new tyres on was not too bad.

It may just take you a little time to find a tyre centre that you can both trust and that is interested in doing the job....and of course knows how to do it!

In the end, it took a Polish employee of my local tyre centre to show the owner how to do my wheels!!
Top notch mechanic from Poland, now working in an Irish tyre centre.

Maybe an older tyre centre rather than a new 'franchise' centre might be your best bet?

Take care,
Peter '73 +2S 130/5

Thanks a lot !

The tyres were delivered in a tyre center specialized in Porsche from 911 to ...Cayenne.... They use to fit run flat on 22" wheels...

regards
Jerome

I fitted original size Vredestein (165x13)and three were wrecked (torn bead) before taking it to another place where they mounted it by hand. I was told it had to be mounted from the back side of the wheel but even then, the machines tear them up--hand mounting best way to go. Gordon Sauer

thanks a lot

jerome

lots and lots of tyre grease when fitting, fit the wheel on the machine back to front. Many new tyres on newish wheels go on with little or no grease.

One place i went to a few years ago ripped 5 brand new tyres trying to get them on.

In the end an ex lotus tyre fitter sorted it out doing as above.

Gordon Sauer wrote:I was told it had to be mounted from the back side of the wheel...

Yes, it is important to fit/remove them from the correct side of the wheel. I was told that it is the oppsite side to most wheels, and it is still tricky - good old Lotus!
At least it means they won't come off in a hurry...

Matthew

Thanks a lot for your advices !!

the new tyres were fitted today without difficulty with a lot of grease (old tyres were removed from the back side of the wheel )

These new tyres ( Good Year Eagle Ventura 175/70R13) seem to be efficient.