Evora Wheel Bolts/Nuts in Black

[philnotts]

Hello,

Searching the forum, I have seen some old threads about Evora owners trying to find black wheel bolts/nuts with the moving washer to replace the silver bolts/nuts that are supplied by Lotus.

Since then, has anyone managed to find any in black!?....  or is the only way spraying the original bolts? Car in question is a GT410 Sport.

Thank you,

Phil

[Bibs]

This is worth a read...

 

[philnotts]

Thank you for this. I have seen this one from 2019 but was wondering since then, if anything has come to market from any of the Lotus part re-sellers.. 

[Rambo]

Suggest you just spray the bolts. Cheap and efficient. Easy to do again if they get a bit scuffed

[JimH]

Not sure of the bolt head sizes but push-on black plastic covers may also be available (Amazon/eBay etc.) ? If they're round, as I suspect, you may need to buy sets of 5 locking wheel nut covers in the right diameter(s - the locking Evora one may be bigger?) though....

[pat_t]

I bought these, they're perfect for my black 400 OEM forged wheels:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224619917129

[mik]

Interesting. Any pics @pat_t ?

[pat_t]

Here you go 🙂

I fitted studs at the same time. I always fit studs to all my cars if they don't have them as standard, far better for track work and when you have two sets of wheels. Only took like an hour to do all four corners. 👍🏼

 

[philnotts]

@pat_t Did your original silver wheel nuts have the moving washer? My GT410 has the moving washer and i was under the impression there were no 'black' replacements and only re-spraying them is the only option.

Thank you,

Phil

[pat_t]

Yes, the moving washer is technically a better solution, it just prevents galling between dis-similar materials during tightening. In theory the washer stays stationary with the wheel and the bolthead moves, so the only moving contact is steel-on-steel, not steel on aluminium.

 

However in practice: [1] when I removed my 2016 wheel nuts for what looked like the first time (car is on it's original 2016 tyres and brakepads when I bought it so I can believe it) the moving washers were no longer moving and corroded solid to the bolts anyway! [2] it's not any less safe, the correct torque and clean mating surfaces are the critical aspects for a safe bolted joint - as I'll have the wheels on and off reasonably often I'll be keeping a close eye on them, but they've done a full on assault of the Nurburgring and Spa during the 40*C heatwave we had last summer with no issues! 🙂

[Bruss]

My understanding is that it is a little more complicated than that. The wheel is positioned via a central toleranced spigot. If the wheel holes are slightly out then the wheel is pulled by the bolts to an off centre misaligned or stressed position. The supplied washers are there and have a small movement tolerance that allows the correct centralisation of the wheel mounting points without stressing them.

 

 

[dogtag114]

On 12/12/2022 at 11:45, philnotts said:

Hello,

Searching the forum, I have seen some old threads about Evora owners trying to find black wheel bolts/nuts with the moving washer to replace the silver bolts/nuts that are supplied by Lotus.

Since then, has anyone managed to find any in black!?....  or is the only way spraying the original bolts? Car in question is a GT410 Sport.

Thank you,

Phil

Hethelsport in the US has them

[mik]

I haven't tried them, but I am pretty sure these will fit - OEM bolts are M12x1.5, with 28mm thread depth. No washers obviously, and I have no idea how robust the finish is.....

Other sellers are available etc etc

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182057547530

[Bruss]

You will need to check the taper angle. Not all tuner bolts fit the Evora taper.

 

 

[mik]

Fair point. ORM are 60Deg I believe. Don’t see this noted on the aftermarket ones, but <squints with one eye> looks about 60. 😃

[Bruss]

To be fair most are 60 degrees, but you do need to check.

[EvoraBob]

On 15/02/2023 at 13:35, pat_t said:

Yes, the moving washer is technically a better solution, it just prevents galling between dis-similar materials during tightening. In theory the washer stays stationary with the wheel and the bolthead moves, so the only moving contact is steel-on-steel, not steel on aluminium.

 

However in practice: [1] when I removed my 2016 wheel nuts for what looked like the first time (car is on it's original 2016 tyres and brakepads when I bought it so I can believe it) the moving washers were no longer moving and corroded solid to the bolts anyway! [2] it's not any less safe, the correct torque and clean mating surfaces are the critical aspects for a safe bolted joint - as I'll have the wheels on and off reasonably often I'll be keeping a close eye on them, but they've done a full on assault of the Nurburgring and Spa during the 40*C heatwave we had last summer with no issues! 🙂

As an engineer I totally agree with this, I would use a small smidge of copper slip on the taper to prevent any galling to the wheel and not under or over torque the studs. I use the black studs from eBay and had no problems.    

[steamdriven]

I’ve used cold blackening solution on my OEM bolts - works just fine and retains the ‘moving taper’ and avoids that unsightly rusting on the silver finish.

[mik]

@steamdriven interesting - is the finish more robust than painting? (which isn't very robust at all).

[steamdriven]

I have tried a few different solutions over the recent few years and painting - as you say- is not really a solution IMO particularly if you regularly take the wheels on and off. (The paint does not properly adhere to the bright metal surface and is easily chipped by the spanner socket.

I tried parkerising but - unless you enjoy a bit of workshop chemistry - the results (at least for me - have not always been satisfactory in that the colouration is not black enough for my liking.

I have found that cold blackening does work, and my wheels still look great after 18 months, but it is worth practising a little as you need to get the bolts really clean (a sonic bath would probably help if you have access to one, but I just used a  brush and some patience and various cleaning fluids).

Give it a go

[mik]

Tried a set of tuner bolts as per the link above. Geometry is right, but the bolt heads are much smaller, so the contact surface on the wheel is around 50% of the OEM bolts. They’d probably be fine, but I know I’d think about that every time I threw the car into a bend…. So they are going back.

I decided to do some “home chemistry inspired by @steamdriven “ tonight.

Bought a cold blackening kit off eBay (approx £9 for 100ml of the 3 liquids used in the process) and did 1 wheel to see how it looked.

Cleaned the bolt heads up using small flat bladed screwdrivers, wire brush drill attachments, wire brushes and sandpaper. Not perfect - it’s never easy to clean out blind holes.

Before & after starring particularly scabby black paint.

Alkaline clean for 10mins, rinse, blackening solution for 10mins, rinse, dewetting solution for 5 mins.

Pretty pleased with the final result. Far from flawless perfection, but they no longer look awful from any closer than 5m away.

I’ll get the others done over Christmas.

Alternative approaches?

a/ Save a whole lot of work by buying 16 new bolts (£2.95 each from Eliseparts) and blacken them from new before fitting. You’d still have to clean up the lock nuts.

b/ Save even more time by buying 20 new bolts, and just ditch the locknuts that you fear breaking every time you go near them. I’m sure any determined thief has a set of keys or a removal tool anyway….

Edited December 17, 2023 by mik

[mik]

Sorry - can't edit the above post to add - I realised that a better way to clean the inside splined faces of the bolts was to pop the threaded part into my drill chuck and hold my wire brush in the vice. Using the drill to spin the bolt whilst "dipping" it onto the wire brush worked well.

[steamdriven]

19 hours ago, mik said:

b/ Save even more time by buying 20 new bolts, and just ditch the locknuts that you fear breaking every time you go near them. I’m sure any determined thief has a set of keys or a removal tool anyway….

Glad to see your results @mik 

It is indeed a bit time consuming to clean off used bolts so personally I purchased 20 new oem (I have no need for the lock bolt) and treated those.

From this close-up example pic you can see that they are still pretty good after 18 months

[TrevS]

Sorry to revive this thread but I’m looking for a set of black wheel bolts. I contacted seriously lotus and they said they don’t supply any black ones with the moving washer but that the vx220 ones are the same size just without the moving washer. Given what @EvoraBob said I might give these a go. Can anyone confirm that Evora bolts are the same size as vx220?

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

Thanks

Trev

[philnotts]

On my last Evora, i just had my local Lotus garage spray them for me.