Rusty bolts and custom centre caps

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

Hey guys, I'm tired of my wheel bolts going rusty and looking awful, has anyone found a way to keep them looking black and nice? I've tried spray painting them but the rust just comes back again.
Lotus want extortionate amounts for new bolts - £7,92 EACH! - I just want black wheel bolts that last. Also on a side note, they are no longer making the older bolts. The 53.5mm ones are discontinued and are now 57mm - will this cause an issue with older cars? 

Secondly, where can I get some nice custom centre badges? all I can find are cheap stick on gel things.  Want either black badges with silver Lotus logo, or maybe orange. 

[MrP_]

Do you not have the silver wheel bolts with star centre? Might be missing something but not sure why you have black rather than the chromed silver ones.

If I was changing bolts, I would look towards these:

https://www.seriouslylotus.com/wheels-tyres/wheels-and-tyres-misc/v6-exige-and-evora-wheel-stud-kit

Or if you want OEM, these are half the price:

https://www.seriouslylotus.com/wheels-tyres/wheels-and-tyres-misc/s2-wheel-bolt-kit-392

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

1 minute ago, MrP_ said:

Do you not have the silver wheel bolts with star centre? Might be missing something but not sure why you have black rather than the chromed silver ones.

If I was changing bolts, I would look towards these:

https://www.seriouslylotus.com/wheels-tyres/wheels-and-tyres-misc/v6-exige-and-evora-wheel-stud-kit

Or if you want OEM, these are half the price:

https://www.seriouslylotus.com/wheels-tyres/wheels-and-tyres-misc/s2-wheel-bolt-kit-392

I did have the silver ones, but they were gross and tarnished, so I took them off, tried to clean them up but didn't really work so whacked two coats of matt black on them - Also didn't really work.

I don't like the silver/chrome look against the black wheels.

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

This is what I'm hoping to achieve

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

Got an email back from Dave,

Hello Mike

Correct, black bolts are not available for the V6 as they have a moving washer.... Silver bolts (correct ones) are available as a kit

https://www.seriouslylotus.com/wheels-tyres/wheels-and-tyres-misc/s2-wheel-bolt-kit-392

The black S2 bolts are the same dimensionally but do not have the moving washer, so I cannot say they are correct for the car but people do use them

Hope this helps

 

Regards

Dave

[Mattmahope]

I would also like to know where I can get black wheel bolts from. Any info would be much appreciate! Thanks

[Seriouslylotus]

59 minutes ago, Mattmahope said:

I would also like to know where I can get black wheel bolts from. Any info would be much appreciate! Thanks

Black bolts with moving washer not made as far as I can find

 

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

Time for some own brand Seriously Lotus ones?

[Seriouslylotus]

3 hours ago, RoflOnMyWaffle said:

Hey guys, I'm tired of my wheel bolts going rusty and looking awful, has anyone found a way to keep them looking black and nice? I've tried spray painting them but the rust just comes back again.
Lotus want extortionate amounts for new bolts - £7,92 EACH! - I just want black wheel bolts that last. Also on a side note, they are no longer making the older bolts. The 53.5mm ones are discontinued and are now 57mm - will this cause an issue with older cars? 

Secondly, where can I get some nice custom centre badges? all I can find are cheap stick on gel things.  Want either black badges with silver Lotus logo, or maybe orange. 

The 57mm long bolts where introduced when lotus changed the rear wheel et offset to et35 to et32.

This was needed as they fit a 3mm spacer to the wheel when using the 285 rear section tyre.

Standard length bolts are still readily available, I assume lotus just upgrade the part numbers so they dony need to carry two differnt bolts

3 minutes ago, RoflOnMyWaffle said:

Time for some own brand Seriously Lotus ones?

?? Own brand?????

[MARTIN_S]

I have artwork here for Lotus centre caps and have had various caps made in the past in a range of colours.

pm me your email address and I can send them or do colour variations for you.

Martin S

 

[BatMobile]

@MARTIN_S can you send to me please as well.

want black with yellow but can only find black with silver or gold.

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

15 minutes ago, BatMobile said:

@MARTIN_S can you send to me please as well.

want black with yellow but can only find black with silver or gold.

Go away. I was debating that too, but settled on black and orange as my car is orange (calipers are yellow though... hmm)

[MARTIN_S]

U used these people a few times as did many of the VX220 crowd and all seemed happy with the results

http://www.signdezine.co.uk/vinyl_graphics/proddetail.php?prod=3D-Domed-Gel-VX220Turbo-wheelcenter

I can try any colour combos you fancy, maybe even swap Lotus for Exige etc

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

Can you make me a black and orange one, like the pic I posted above?

Also does anyone know what size I'd need for the V6 cast wheels? Cars not with me so I can't measure. 

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

https://www.elise-shop.com/wheel-centre-cap-assy-60mm-p-502757.html

Says 60mm, but surely they need to be a tiny bit smaller to sit inside the original badge? I plan to just stick these over the old resin if I can.

[k20Rob]

I am using the seriously lotus black bolts on my 380 Cup.

They are about 1mm shorter (no more than a mm I would say) than the bolts that came with the car. Cant tell you if they are ok to use or not. I did use them for two years on my 350 sport with no issues.

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

7 minutes ago, k20Rob said:

I am using the seriously lotus black bolts on my 380 Cup.

They are about 1mm shorter (no more than a mm I would say) than the bolts that came with the car. Cant tell you if they are ok to use or not. I did use them for two years on my 350 sport with no issues.

Are they still black now? Not corroded?

Do they come out the wheel easily? I thought the washer was there so it didnt scratch the wheels, but who knows!

[k20Rob]

I have these

https://www.seriouslylotus.com/wheels-tyres/wheels-and-tyres-misc/europa-and-vx220-wheel-bolt-kit-352

 

zero corrsoion still. They are not painted. Dave can probably shed light on what has been done to give them the black colour.

The rotating collar is just at the base and is to make sure they torque up evenly from my understanding. The v6 stud kit, the nuts dont have the collars. Not having them hasnt bothered me. Not sure why they are really needed.

[Kristof Thys]

Just torque the non-rotating-collar bolts to 120Nm, whereas the oem ones do with 105Nm.

 

I just painted (and baked) mine black, have been fine since 3 years. 

[alias23]

@MARTIN_S are your centre caps just vynl stickers of gel coated like OEM?

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

I didnt think he made them? Or have I misunderstood?

[MARTIN_S]

Not done them on the Exige but on previous wheels pulled off te original gel domes and inserted new ones.

Nice cheap way of making your car just that little bit more original as you can dom any design or colour range.

Martin S

 

 

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

I forgot to post!!

I received my badge stickers from StickersInternational, not too bad but I expected better for the price.

I uploaded the orange lotus logo you see below, and received what are almost dark orange/caramel coloured. In the light they are a bit better, but still nowhere near what I was hoping for.
LUCKILY I want bronze wheels, so they'll match up quite nicely, but be warned if you do order from them, they have a tinted "clear" on them - so its not bloody clear is it?!?
In the sun its not too bad, but its the UK, so sun is rare! 

[BatMobile]

They look good but annoying on the colour! Surely they should say specify a clear top coat or go for a different shade to compensate.

 

[RoflOnMyWaffle]

You'd have thought so, but I signed off on the production so my fault they say...

Also noted there is some green on the left side Lotus logo that needs touching up, should you need to use those