New wheels wanted!

[euan888]

Hi guys, I've been looking to replace the OZ Saturns on my Esprit for ages now but have struggled to find alloys which will fit. I've been to a few local alloy wheel suppliers and when they see the Esprit they either turn a blank or start talking literally thousands of pounds.

More recently I've tried using the internet to source OZ Nova's but again have struggled to find any? I've noticed a few Esprit's on here have aftermarket alloys and just wondered if anyone has any tips where to get them? Obviously I've been keeping an eye on the Esprit World sites "For sale" section but keep missing the nice ones!

Cheers guys (and gals!)

[Bibs]

These are nice...

http://www.thelotusforums.com/cms/index.php?option=com_adsmanager&page=show_ad&adid=57&catid=6&Itemid=88

There are no OZ Novas for sale any more, not new from Lotus so your only chance of these is to buy them from an existing owner. The problem with Esprit wheels is that the PCD is very unusual so it's not easy to find anything off the shelf. That said, Azev do some nice wheels that fit too!

[euan888]

They'll be the Azev A's then? Good classic style alloys - fancied something flasher tho! The Magnesio's look the part - bit out of budget tho... Unfortunatly.

[Jonathan]

There are companies that make rims very similar to Novas (I found one but they wouldn't return my calls or answer e-mails, set of wheels too much bother for them) - you just have to shop around.

I was also looking for wheels for the GT2 - again same problem, no-one wanted to do business, even in a recession.

IMO your best bet is the custom wheel makers / 2-3 piece wheels who cast or machine a wheel for you and make specific PCD's for the bolts as a matter of course, expensive though and imo they dont look as good as a 1 piece. Again looking at a fair bit of wedge.

Finally your last choice is a standard wheel with a wheel adapter to convert the bolt patern to the unusual one Lotus have (108mmx5) - this is probably going to be cheapest but again it's finding the wheel/width to work with the car.

Welcome to many late nights trawling the net

[euan888]

lol! Yeah, many more nights trawling the web! Thank's for the info tho I'll check out the wheel adaptor idea??

[mangel]

If you can find somewhere to make the required adapters the this is deffo the way to go. Either Porsche, Bmw or Jap fitment is Ideal as they all do staggered fitmenats and can go up to 12 inch width.

I always thought porche Krone Rims would look good

http://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=porsche+krone+&fr=yfp-t-702&ei=utf-8&x=wrt

[euan888]

Hi Mangel, I agree! They would look fantastic on the Esprit - especially powder-coated black! I've emailed a couple of different companies re Porsche alloys with the required adaptor so I'll wait and see what I get back... Bet I've still got the Saturns this time NEXT year! lol

[mangel]

Maybe,

Problem is that its a limited market. Don't be disheartened though, a fresh pair of eyes may pick up where I left off and succeed.

Karl found a manufacturer in europe who did wheels at the correct PCD and offset but I think they went bust. There seem to be quite a few guys over the pond who have custom wheels so maybe they could post up who they used and we could see if they would ship to uk and find out costs and styles etc.

One of the guys had a set made by Compomotive which looked good plus Image wheels in the uk will make custom ones but they are expensive.

Incase you haven't guessed I've been round the houses with this a bit and ended up with V8 split rims with black rim and anthracite centres myself. I still love to get a custom set sometime though.

[euan888]

Thanks for the link to "Image" - they're defo worth contacting! I also found a company called www.vogueinternational.co.uk who do alloys that fit. Unfortunatly they were about

[bosbon_be]

Ferrari wheels do fit:

I love these

http://cgi.ebay.de/Neuer-mehrteiliger-19-BBS-LeMans-Ferrari-Felgensatz_W0QQitemZ120432321931QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAuto_Felgen?hash=item1c0a53658b

Edited November 11, 2009 by bosbon_be

[mangel]

I am loving that last set of wheels, they are stunning!!!

[Iconic Ride]

Stunning indeed. However, say what you will about the Saturns, but they are without doubt the easiest to keep clean from the breath of the dreaded brake-dust monster.

[Günter]

PDC 5/108 is pretty common in Europe (Renault, Jaguar, Maserati,Ferrari and others..), the only problem is that apart from Ferrari/Maserati no type of car is there for the 10'' wide tires ... . What you can do is use smaller 9 or 9.5 '' wide rims with different offset or spacers.

[bosbon_be]

Stunning indeed. However, say what you will about the Saturns, but they are without doubt the easiest to keep clean from the breath of the dreaded brake-dust monster.

If you install Ceramic brakes, you don't have brake dust. (but they are SO expensive)

[euan888]

Right! Problem may be solved... Check out these guys http://wheelsworldwide.co.uk/wheels/projex

I've just been talking to the guy and they manufacture custom alloys that fit the Esprit - if you check out the gallery there's even a picture of an S4 with a lovely set of 18/19's. Hmmmm.... An early Christmas present ye say....?!

[mangel]

What sort of wedge are you looking at on them!!!

May be interested!!

[euan888]

Hi, sorry for the late reply - I didn't want to come back until I had my facts correct.

If you go on their site go into the sub menu "wheels" then click on the "Projex Custom Tuning" icon. The Multi-Piece alloys are all a fortune - I was quoted around

[richardvg]

what about adaptor plates .would these not work as you can therefore select any rim of your choice?

richard

[qwerty123]

www.compomotive.co.uk

I got MO1810 and MO1782, 10x18 and 8x17. The fronts are 0.5 narrower but the 235 section tyre site perfectly on it like it was made for it.

The set were about £800 all in I think and they are made to fit the Esprit dimensions which Comp hold. Be careful though, as Lotus changed stuff regularly and I found that the inner dia was 58mm instead of 60mm so I had to get the wheels machined. The wheels are hub centric. No big deal for me though. Do measure everything first and send them the details just to be on the safe side.

They are very helpful, the wheels are very good quality, look the biz and are motorsport ones so are very strong!

Talk to james@compomotive.co.uk

forgot to add, you will need slightly longer wheel bolts for the rears to allow the 20mm thread to protrude, I have a set (of 20, they did 16 or 20 and I only needed 10) If you do go down this route I can provide them or you can get them yourself, of course. They weren't cheap though, £60 for the set!!!

Edited November 19, 2009 by qwerty123

[mangel]

Euan,

The drifts were the ones I Really liked.

[euan888]

Hi Toby,

Yeah, I reckon they'd look the part - it would be 8.0x18's on the front and 9.5x19's on the back. I'm losing 0.5" on the Saturns width but I don't think it would effect my handling too much as I'm not an especially hard driver and if I was to go a run up to the Highlands or whatever for a bit of fun i could always put the Saturns back on? Total Price:

[Bibs]

Make sure you get to a Lotus dealer (or equivalent) to get the geo set up once they're on!

[mangel]

Yeah Bibs is right, thats important or it'll look great but drive yack!!!