Wheel refurb

[83 turbo]

I am about to refurbish the wheels on my 83 turbo (metallic copper colour bodywork with gold stripes and lettering) the wheels (BBS crosss spoke) currently have gold centers with polished rims. Firstly is this how Lotus supplied them, i.e. is it the correct colour? I have seen pictures of the same coloured car with wheels with gold centres or completely silver. Personally I think they look better with the gold centers. But I am concerned about the maintainance of a polished rim, should any polishing be lacquered? Or would it be preferable to paint the rim silver the center gold and lacquer all over. Also does anyone know if the wheels are an aluminium alloy or magnesium alloy? Thanks in advance.

>>> Edited by 83 turbo on Friday 17th January 23:06

[lotusguy]

I am about to refurbish the wheels on my 83 turbo (metallic copper colour bodywork with gold stripes and lettering) the wheels (BBS crosss spoke) currently have gold centers with polished rims. Firstly is this how Lotus supplied them, i.e. is it the correct colour? I have seen pictures of the same coloured car with wheels with gold centres or completely silver. Personally I think they look better with the gold centers. But I am concerned about the maintainance of a polished rim, should any polishing be lacquered? Or would it be preferable to paint the rim silver the center gold and lacquer all over. Also does anyone know if the wheels are an aluminium alloy or magnesium alloy? Thanks in advance.

>>> Edited by 83 turbo on Friday 17th January 23:06

'83,

Hi, yes these whells are supplied by Lotus in the two-tone you describe. I have the same wheels on my '85 MY Turbo. These wheels were also available in single tone aluminum also. In some years, only the two tone were available in other years, both single and two-tone were supplied. But the rims were never polished, they are made of base aluminum alloy and therefore cannpt be polished. If yours are, then they were plated. Stock, the wheels are painted a sort of silver metallic.

I had mine refinished a year ago and they look great. I had them powder coated to match the stock appearance. One note, if you are doing this, use a pantone color guide or such to select the color gold you want. Gold powder coats can range from just short of shiny metallic to an almost green color. I used the pantone chart to match the gold in the Esprit decal and it came out great. Also, make sure that any defects, scratches are filled and that the wheels are 'trued' prior to having them coated. Also, make sure the company doing the work masks off the depressions where the wheel lugs fit. If these are merely powder coated, the pressure from the tightened lugs will cause the coating to crack and peel around the lugs. Where are you located? If you are shipping the wheels to be done, consider the firm I used, Precision Wheel here in Mpls. They are nationally known and do superb work with a fast turnaround. If interested, I can give you additional info. Hope this helps...Happy Motoring...Jim '85TE

[83 turbo]

Thanks for the info Jim, a great help, I'm in the UK. The rims on my wheels are bare (dull) aluminium, I thought they would just need a polish and perhaps a lacquer. But if I understand you correctly they are not suitable for polishing. I thought they may have been polished as I had a copy of an old esprit turbo ad that had what I thought was highly polished rims but they were probably chromed as you said, they were also three piece alloys although of the same cross spoke design. Silver and gold it is then. I am finding as you probably did when you were refurbishing your wheels that the capabilities and prices of the refurbishers varies considerably. Thanks again, Jez U.K.

[PatHeald]

Are these polished or chromed?

http://home.att.net/~fcmprod/esprit/wheels1.html

>> Edited by PatHeald on Sunday 19th January 09:57