Compomotive CX500

[silverfrost]

Looks great ,  10mm will be no problem at all    I quite like the look of the wheels without the centres painted to be honest 

[Andyww]

On 20/05/2019 at 14:12, silverfrost said:

Stunning,  I am with GIS  above ,  see what they look like on the car first,  I have no idea why Lotus milled the centres out on the 5 stud ones ?   

Lotus never fitted 5 stud CX500s did they?

[silverfrost]

Andy,   I am not 100 percent, but i am pretty sure some 5 stud comps got fitted at Hethal during the transition period from the four to five stud period, the only reason comps got binned by lotus was that  customer feedback found them hard to clean, maintain etc, and possibly the risk of leaking sometimes.    Obviously today we find them extremely desirable, not only looks wise, but for those folks on here that have picked up a bare wheel, they are super lightweight also  

The BBS mesh was one piece, easy to clean and possibly cheaper imo ?   

I can only think that the lotus five studs got milled out maybe due to comp cxn 500 been for five studs in the first place before lotus chose to fit them,  comp would of milled out the centre and drilled four holes for the wheel bolts, so when lotus went to five studs, most of the comp stock wheel faces at the comp factory would of been milled out ready for drilling four stud holes, i would think they then just took that stock and drilled 5 holes instead imo. 

 

[Bazza 907]

Lotus never fitted 5 stud Compomotives. The reason they stopped supplying them was because they leaked air resulting in returns under warranty. Lotus binned (in a skip) hundreds of brand new Compomotive wheels as a result. According to Gerald at GST Performance he tried to rescue some of them but Lotus were having none of it.

[PhilW]

Ive personnaly  not seen it but Andy Graham told me Comps are on my build sheet and it is a five stud car

[Andyww]

7 hours ago, silverfrost said:

most of the comp stock wheel faces at the comp factory would of been milled out ready for drilling four stud holes, i would think they then just took that stock and drilled 5 holes instead imo. 

 

Must be some truth in that. The CX500 were clearly designed as 5 stud wheels as the pattern repeats 5 times. The only reason for milling away the pattern in the centre would have been to drill 4 holes instead of 5 as the pattern does not allow for 4. Phils wheels are possibly the only set like this. Maybe the original buyer specified that he wanted comps as a condition of the purchase.

I have always found the story about a skip full of new CX500s impossible to believe. Lotus would simply never have thrown away brand new wheels. They would have sent them back for re-sealing or had some guys in the factory doing it.

Also at that time Lotus used to sell of all the surplus factory stuff out the back door to Derek Dean or Bernard White and neither of them had any CX500s. Maybe they had a pallet load of them for return and its got tweaked over time.

 

[silverfrost]

Andy , 

I can sadly but strongly believe that the skip was actually full of comps     Times do not change,  if a new model comes out today and has a new decent modern factory spec alloy wheel , folks will want that,  i think this was the case with the BBS,  It was new and folks would of wanted it given the period, not like nowdays when we all lust after the hens teeth comps lol. 

Wheels are bulkyand not required as spares that often so the back door sales would of been pretty thin,  Also given the the wheel pcd at 5 x 120 the only other cars they would of fitted was the BMW which given the time period, was an expensive car and not getted fitted with aftermarket parts at the time. 

I can only presume all the comps ended up in the skip, probably taken out by folks at the factory and made there way to motorsport, well the centres anyway imo 

 

[Bazza 907]

Andy

You've expressed your scepticism on the skip subject previously. It's good to question things but when one of the UK's leading Lotus specialists was there and saw it for himself I'm surprised you find it impossible to believe.

Hey Ho.

 

 

 

 

 

[Barrykearley]

Still the case now with many manufacturers. The wheels skipped on warranty is shocking at pretty much all dealers

[Andyww]

Its impossible to overstate just how skint Lotus were at that time. If they could have made the wheels work, including re-sealing them, they would have done. If that was actually a skip, as in scrap, and not a factory floor stillage, then the only reason for that would have been if they had an even worse problem such as cracks in them.

[Bazza 907]

Or, they rejected the lot, were compensated and told to destroy them???. I've no more idea of the reason than you have.

Gerald said he was told it was because they leaked air and resulted in huge number of warranty claims.

Doesn't detract from the fact that it happened.

 

[dr_jayhart]

So I’ve gotten some spigot rings which make the wheels now hub centric. Strippid paint off one wheel which was a mistake total pain in the bottom. Not sure I will do the others as they are ok and the thought of masking 4 of them up for paint makes me shudder. Have some center caps to modify then build time. Fiancé now knows I’ve bought them went better than I hoped. Thinly veiled them as an investment. I’ve 2 original Goodyear front tyres looking for rears any help? J

[dr_jayhart]

Just got centres back from powder coating and diamond cutting. This weekend going to put them together so I can have them on the car for the SuperCar fest weekend. Also just secured a second set of 5 stud compomotive centres if goes well might do a second set in gold. 

[dr_jayhart]

One wheel done holding air. Fingers crossed. Also found another set to build up. J

[Smithy111]

Would you be looking to sell the 2nd set after refurbing and testing them?

[dr_jayhart]

I might be tempted but how much financial sense it makes for the buyer I don’t know. I also have a 4 stud set which I was going to refurb and fit but it meant replacing the hubs and possibly rear arms. Didn’t fancy that then found the first 5 stud set. By the time I’ve bought new rims from image, nuts, bolts and hat washers. Had them powder coated and diamond cut. Made centres and sourced spigot rings may have been cheaper to get image to make a set from scratch . Having said that when it’s not on display I can just bolt the old wheels on. Built a rear up this evening will post with tyre on car if it holds air next couple of days. 

[dr_jayhart]

Done. 

[silverfrost]

Have to say the silver centres look way better that the milled down and painted black ones imo  

The car looks awesome ! 

[Andyww]

The CX500 looks great as a 5-stud. Thats what it was obviously designed as.

Its strange that Lotus got them to produce a 4-stud version by removing the webbing in the middle. I guess they wanted to stick with the same 4-stud hubs of earlier Esprits originally.

[RichardJGC]

A 5 stud variant with the webbing removed.

How many variants of this wheel are there?

This is now my chosen solution over the factory 4 hole variety I have.

[dr_jayhart]

Hi Richard what did they come off? 

[RichardJGC]

Hi Jason

No idea. 
The chap just wanted them out of the way and I was happy to oblige.