which wheel?

which wheel

steels
17
46%
alloys
20
54%
 
Total votes : 37

PostPost by: davidj » Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:42 am

I personally like the steal wheels; much more 60's! The alloy wheels don't look as good as modern alloys nor have the understated class of the 60's steel, and consequently look like poor aftermarket additions. However, I did get my steel wheels power coated satin black which was a mistake. I now think silver looks much better.

just my thoughts............. Sorry to all the alloy wheel fans!

David
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PostPost by: mikealdren » Fri Jul 04, 2014 1:55 pm

I had chrome/steel wheels but they were getting a bit old so I bought replacement alloys, I really wish I'd kept the steel wheels as I definitely prefer the look of them.
Mike
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PostPost by: theelanman » Thu Jul 24, 2014 12:54 pm

well it went to Le Mans with the alloys on.....
then developed bubbles in both front tyres in the side walls on the return journey......
these were brand new tyres only fitted the Saturday before so had only done 1200 miles...
got back to the tyre guy who when he took the tyres off noticed that the inner bead steel band had been ripped....
when he asked who'd fitted the tyres one of his lads said it was him and they were very difficult to fit.....
turns out they are very very tight on the rims and extra use of the lever had ripped the inner band which sits in the bead........he replaced the tyres carefully at no cost to me....but has anyone else had difficulties with the alloys being a tight fit?......
I don't recall having any problems on my other +2 with alloys....
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PostPost by: rgh0 » Thu Jul 24, 2014 1:12 pm

A very common problem with plus2 alloys as they have a very shallow centre well that makes it hard to stretch the bead over the rim when fitting.

cheers
Rohan
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PostPost by: cal44 » Fri Jul 25, 2014 12:12 pm

The tire shop here use machines that don't touch the wheel while installing the tire. Of course the wheel sits on the machine but other than that the install is quite neat. So when I read extra use of a lever........

Elanman................your car is a stunner..............

mike
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PostPost by: JJDraper » Sun Jul 27, 2014 10:29 am

Over time I have tried three options: Steel, Lotus alloy, after market alloys. The car came with Lotus alloys in a dreadfull state & low profile Yokos. First tried correct tyres (local tyre man agreed with Rohan, but did a good job), which helped handling and feel, although not absolute grip. I had the alloys refurbed @ 70 quid a shot, but the shop said the clear lacquer would be a problem in their experience. They were right; after a few years the clear lacquer clouded, cracked and began to peel at the edges of the sharp machined spokes. had a conversation with the a well known UK supplier of replacement new Lotus (style) alloy wheels who said that they would not last long exposed to real-world use, and described the same issue as I had experienced with the refurb. So the Lotus alloys look good, but don't last if used.

I am currently running Minilights which I think look pretty good, but obviously not original. The tyre I use is a bit wider than the original size, and they handle well, but make the steering a little heavy at parking speeds. Also, the grip on offer is massive (road use). Is there such a thing as having too much grip?? These rims also have quite a high bead which makes tyre fitting awkward.

That leaves steel wheels. Well I have a ratty set which I tried, and was pleasantly surprised to find that even with mismatched tyres, the car drove well. Light steering at parking speeds; stable round bendy bits and the wheel rim itself seems to last (I checked all for cracks around the holes). Tyres may be a problem, but even with the mismatched set it seemed OK.

My experience suggests that the best road-use option is steel wheels, with decent original size tyres with set of Lotus alloys for show & the Minilights for track day use.

That's called hedging you bets!

Jeremy
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PostPost by: Pistacchio sprint 72 » Mon Jul 28, 2014 8:53 am

Normally I fancy new items and like to upgrade things for optionnal after market stuff.

same story for my Sprint... I look often at 26R wheels...

But it is the same feeling when I look at your car. The original steel wheels look GOOD. :mrgreen:
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PostPost by: theelanman » Mon Aug 04, 2014 6:53 am

couldn't resist a couple more pic of my car....I went to a lotus meet a couple of weeks ago.....
mainly Elise's but had a couple of friends in 'older' stuff..... :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

(I cant seem to find anywhere to load into the photo gallery also..... :( )
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PostPost by: Plus 2 » Mon Aug 04, 2014 7:57 pm

davidj wrote:I personally like the steal wheels; much more 60's! The alloy wheels don't look as good as modern alloys nor have the understated class of the 60's steel, and consequently look like poor aftermarket additions. However, I did get my steel wheels power coated satin black which was a mistake. I now think silver looks much better.

just my thoughts............. Sorry to all the alloy wheel fans!

David


Shame on you David to prefer 'stolen wheels' Image

Spell check always fails at the most inappropriate times.

When we tested our cars in Timmins (very cold climate) I got a request for urgent 'snow chairs required'...........I could not resist shipping out some sun loungers.

My Dunlop alloys pickled under the laquer after only 6 months..........I have just spent this week around 4 hours per wheel carefully removing the laquer from the silver alloy parts as the black paint was perfect. Changing to the alloys was a case of need to get rid of vibrations due to out of true steel wheels although they looked OK.

Some Goddards stainless steel cleaner after removing the laquer has now brought them up nice and polished. Laquer just does not work on aluminium IMHO,,,,,painting any alloy requires proper etch primer and I have not found one yet clear for ali.

That's a nice red plus 2 'theelanman' albeit wipers are parked on the wrong side! :lol: ......Lotus often used whatever stock was available.....I just love red cars but have too much trouble with fading on my Esprit Turbo. The Rolls Royce and Ferrari seem OK but the Lotus needs polishing every week or it goes pink.
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