Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: jbcollier on Wednesday,January 19, 2022, 08:48:13 PM
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I really like the look of the stock steel wheels with hub caps and trim rings. Two problems: too narrow, and, not the best for tubeless tires. So I bought and refurbished a set of Cosmics. They are great looking wheels but quite heavy and I prefer the steel wheel look. So I started to explore getting new “rims” welded to the old centres. Then this turned up:
https://www.imagewheels.co.uk/elan-billet-alloy-wheel/
I enquired and they can do them as a bolt-on as wheel. So I ordered a set of 13 x 5.5” rims with the same offset as my Cosmics. I also sent them a hub cap so they could fit the hubcap nubs. They're a bolt-together, billet wheel so the rim section is just a bit wider and the centre section a smidge smaller. This means the vents are just slightly covered when the hub cap is on. I haven’t received them yet but I think they are absolutely spot on with the period look I like best.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Lotus-Europa/i-GCsXSfb/0/2abdab3d/O/IMG_5236.jpg)
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Extra un-sprung weight?
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I really like those jb, I expect them to look good on the car and very similar to the original steel wheels. I’m sure you will share some pics of them fitted when you receive them?
I liked the ‘prisoner’ alloys that Caterham had made some time ago, even toyed with the idea of getting a set for the Europa but the offsets aren’t quite right for my car (15” diameter would have been ok for me) - the ones you have found have me thinking again about a spare set of wheels, especially because the wheels I have are from Image too.
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Will post photos for sure.
"Extra un-sprung weight?"
I'm moderately confident that the new rims with hub caps will be lighter than the Cosmics.