17"-18" Wheels for G-body turbo..
Discussion
Hi guys...I have owned an 86 turbo esprit hci for 6 years now, and after my latest search for 15" tires left me totally frustrated, I was wondering if anyone has actually found/had made 17" or 18" tires that fit the car...I know that HRE will make custom wheels for over a thousand a pop, but since I've just taken a 23% pay cut (AA pilot), that is a just a little more than I want to pay...ideally, I would love to find a set of 17" tires that look like the stock 15" BBS that are on the car now....thanks for any info..
I am in the process of getting a set of 16/17" rims for my G-car right now. I have ordered the wheels and I am currently drawing up the spacers required to get over the odd rear offset problem.
I have gone for Azev 'A' 5 spoke rims as they are fairly angular so match the style of the car and they also do special fittmets at no extra charge.
If you are interested I can give you details of the rear spacer which will allow you to use any wheel with a ET25 - ET10 offset on the back.
Andy
1981 S3
I have gone for Azev 'A' 5 spoke rims as they are fairly angular so match the style of the car and they also do special fittmets at no extra charge.
If you are interested I can give you details of the rear spacer which will allow you to use any wheel with a ET25 - ET10 offset on the back.
Andy
1981 S3
In case you don't have the inboard brake setup..
Be careful of how much backspacing you have behind the spokes to clear the caliphers.(esp. at the front)
The Azev 'A' types do not have much room behind the spokes and run into trouble if thick caliphers are used.
I had to resort to the Azev 'E' type on my Elise because the 'A' versions would not clear the caliphers.
Bye, Arno.
>> Edited by Arno on Thursday 24th April 13:36
Be careful of how much backspacing you have behind the spokes to clear the caliphers.(esp. at the front)
The Azev 'A' types do not have much room behind the spokes and run into trouble if thick caliphers are used.
I had to resort to the Azev 'E' type on my Elise because the 'A' versions would not clear the caliphers.
Bye, Arno.
>> Edited by Arno on Thursday 24th April 13:36
I just nipped put to the carpark to have a look at an Elise and the front calipers are very deep hence the back space problem. The calipers on G-car Esprits only come level with the hub face so unless the Azev 'A' have got no backspace at all (unlikely) then there should be no problem. The rears have inboard brakes so no problems there either.
Andy
1981 S3
Andy
Andy
1981 S3
Andy
I have been a bit worried about that, but the lack of 235/60 15 tyres (the rears are worn out) and the fact that I don't like the OEM wheels kind of forced the issue.
The overall diameter of the new tyres is very similar to the old (-1%) so it is only the side wall height and weight that could be a problem.
The weight will be greater as there is more alloy in the rims but not a lot can be done about that except for going for mag wheels but these are even harder to get hold of in the correct offset.
That leaves side wall height.
I had read somewhere that the S3 and Turbo where set up with stiff springs and soft tyres where as the S1/S2 was the other way round. With this in mind I didn't go for 17" fronts / 18" rears as this would be pushing my luck a bit.
I'll let you know how the car feel when the wheels are fitted.
Andy
1981 S3
The overall diameter of the new tyres is very similar to the old (-1%) so it is only the side wall height and weight that could be a problem.
The weight will be greater as there is more alloy in the rims but not a lot can be done about that except for going for mag wheels but these are even harder to get hold of in the correct offset.
That leaves side wall height.
I had read somewhere that the S3 and Turbo where set up with stiff springs and soft tyres where as the S1/S2 was the other way round. With this in mind I didn't go for 17" fronts / 18" rears as this would be pushing my luck a bit.
I'll let you know how the car feel when the wheels are fitted.
Andy
1981 S3
Yeap, got the wheels and have had them on for over a year now.
Have a look at www.lotusespritworld.co.uk/EOwners/Hill.html
If you need more details let me know via the e-mail address at the bottom of the page.
Andy
1981 S3
Have a look at www.lotusespritworld.co.uk/EOwners/Hill.html
If you need more details let me know via the e-mail address at the bottom of the page.
Andy
1981 S3
Hi You can use BMW Wheels ! Only the center bore is slightly larger ! Look at my OZ F1 PLUS !
Front 17x8 with 215/40 and rear 18x10 with 265/35 .www.lotus-driver-cologne.de
Greetings Harald !
Front 17x8 with 215/40 and rear 18x10 with 265/35 .www.lotus-driver-cologne.de
Greetings Harald !
hilly said:
That leaves side wall height.
I had read somewhere that the S3 and Turbo where set up with stiff springs and soft tyres where as the S1/S2 was the other way round.
Andy.. my 83 S3T had OE 125lb fronts and 155lb rear springs.. quite soft actually considering what the laters cars have.. Lotus were all over the map with springs rates over the years.. some of it has to do with the fact that the newer the car the fatter they got. Jan
This site has info on G-car stuff.. here is the wheel page...
http://esprit.driestone.com/index.php/Esprit/Wheels
http://esprit.driestone.com/index.php/Esprit/Wheels
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