17/18 inch wheels on an Exige !!!!

General General Lotus Talk
1

The wheel size debate is an interesting one; as a friend of mine who regularly frequents a local race track with a colegue reports that he is totally out gripped by his friends car which sits on 17/18’s and is shod with budget rubber…(fulda or Kohomu) against his 16/17 on yoko A048. He has been so impressed with the combination of ride and grip that he has been considering a change himself to larger wheels…
He is however a true lotus enthusiast and has said that he wants to conduct some more tests, which include actual wheel swapping at the track !!

Has anyone else got any experience of the larger diameter wheels?

2

No, but that doesn’t have any logic in it.

What pressures is he running? because the recommended pressures are only for road, they are too high on track and will balloon the tyres.
A bigger wheel will only have detrimental effects on handling. The only advantage is more space inside to fit larger disks (which heavy barges really need)

3

The wheel size debate is an interesting one; as a friend of mine who regularly frequents a local race track with a colegue reports that he is totally out gripped by his friends car which sits on 17/18’s and is shod with budget rubber…(fulda or Kohomu) against his 16/17 on yoko A048. He has been so impressed with the combination of ride and grip that he has been considering a change himself to larger wheels…
He is however a true lotus enthusiast and has said that he wants to conduct some more tests, which include actual wheel swapping at the track !!

Has anyone else got any experience of the larger diameter wheels?

Could it not be down to a difference in suspension setup Chris ? I would have thought that more likely…

4

Hopefully Bru la will post on here with some more info on this set up…As mentioned earlier i’m not an expert in this matter but it will be interesting reading to hear peoples views and techy no how…

5

Form an orderly queue for 20inch chrome Giovanies

6

Hi Chris
As you know I have been running BlownK on 17/18 rimstocks for the last year and I have nothing but praise for the setup, having completed 12 trackdays during that period without one single spin and only one trip into the kitty litter at Brands when I locked up going into Druids.

Despite the extra weight of the larger wheels and having only 150bhp to play with I can honestly say that the setup was the most stable of any car I have driven on the track including when I used to race Formula Fords.

I had a heated debate with Simon Scuffham on the LOT forum regarding using the larger wheels in the race series, I had to capitulate in order to be accepted so I am fitting standard 16/17. Simon insisted that 17/18 setup cannot possibly work on the Elise/Exige, but crucially he never drove BlownK on the track, he only had a brief drive on the road when Geary built the car in 2001. When I spoke with Geary he claimed that the choice of 17/18 wheels was purly aesthetic and both he and Simon felt it was somewhat skittish on the road, quite the reverse of my experience on driving 3000 miles on the road and probably 1500 miles on trackdays.

There is a thread on SELOC relating to larger wheels, there is someone running 17/18 wheels in Europe, Switzerland I believe, and he has a similar experience to me, ie the stability is excellant.

I believe that I have the only Elise in the UK running 17/18 so only the drivers of BlownK can objectively give an opinion of how it handles, it is interesting that there will be many people insisting that the handling will be rubbish in comparison to a standard setup without having any experience to base their opinions on.

Only myself, Tony Doe, John Wareing, Jon Malbon and possibly a couple of others will know the true capabilities, others can only speculate.

I would however add that I have not as yet had a true comparison, perhaps with standard wheels I might find the handling even better, yet to be seen but I honestly doubt it. As fate will have it I never will get a true comparison, even when I run the standard wheels for the first time I’m going to have your old engine to power the wheels rather than the puny old VVC.

Personlly from an easthetic point of view I consider that the 17/18 rimstocks suited BlownK to a tee, Exige S1 wheels look too small to fill the wheel arches. Purists will say original is best and we are all perfectly entitled to our own opinion, at least with BlownK it never was an original Exige to start with so shouldn’t upset anyone, of course Chris the same applies to your car, but I have to say I think yours looks great on the black Speedlines, remember you can always sell them to me if you decide to go for a set of 17/18s.
David
[image]http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k272/lotuselan17/gallery_81_70_158096.jpg[/image]

7

No, but that doesn’t have any logic in it.

What pressures is he running? because the recommended pressures are only for road, they are too high on track and will balloon the tyres.
A bigger wheel will only have detrimental effects on handling. The only advantage is more space inside to fit larger disks (which heavy barges really need)

I am sorry but i have to disagree.

What did Lotus do when they wanted to make the their Cadena Gt3 cars quicker? They added wider rubber at the rear. Also the one-off sport exige they built had bigger diameter and wider wheels.

It has to be said that it is possible to go to 17/18 inch wheels without increasing the overall radius of the tyre. You get two advatages, you can get wider rubber and the smaller stiffer sidewalls mean you need less negative camber, which improves straight line braking or acceleration traction.

I am actually considering going to 17/18 wheels myself so i can get more rubber on the ground. Normally it would not be something i would even consider but after following a friend around the nurburgring i am beginning to entertain the idea.


Heres my mates car at the ring…its got incredible grip from its 205 fronts and 245 rears…i almost went off trying to follow him through the fiirst few turns with my Yokos

[image]http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o236/bruh_la/christoph.jpg[/image]

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Do you know what tyres he was using ?

9

Wheel DSC Race Front 7x17 7,9 kg (Team Dynamics)
Wheel DSC Race Rear 9x18 10,4 kg (team dynamics)

Kumho Ecsta V70A 205/40/17 8,4 kg Compound K 60
Kumho Ecsta V70A 245/35/18 10,9 kg Compound K 60

The Kumho tyres are about 100 euro more expensive than a048s for a set over here. They are a bit softer and along with having a proper tread they are better in the wet. In the dry his data logger is showing consistent high 1.40s in lateral Gs.

The wheels are a bit heavy. The fronts are lighter than std exige cast wheel but heavier than Lotus forged wheel. If i made the change i would only do it if i can pay no weight penalty over my Lotus forged wheels and A048s.

I was the total skeptic when i first saw them, i imagined all the boy racers with their big wheels and low profiles. The idea of “upsetting” the balance of my finely honed Lotus was not appealing. Having driven with him at both Hockenheim(ultra smooth) the Ring (not smooth!) and on the road i have to say i am almost a convert.

In spring we plan to do back to back tests on my S with the Yokos and with his wheel/tyre combination and a data logger on the same day at the same track. We plan to alternate the wheel/tyres back and forth all day seeing how they differ as the day warms up and as the track beds in.

Thats what its gonna take to make me go for the 17/18 inch wheels/tyres. but i must admit i have almost changed my opinion. In contrast to my earlier thinking i would be surprised now if they are NOT better than my A048s.

Hope thats not too much waffle

10

I bet you the difference is down to using wider rubber, and possiby a wider track. I’m sure you’d find out that it wasn’t the wheel diameter the difference.

BTW, I run Kumho ECSTA V70’s as well, in the std wheels, and have nothing but praise for them.
Maybe thet’s why…

11

Fair enogh. I was not saying its due to the bigger diameter, although the bigger diameter gives a smaller sidewall which needs less negative camber.

But the 17/18s have good wide rubber available for them.

I agree with you about the V70s i am very impressed with them. Are they available in 205 and 245 for 16/17 inch rims?

12

I remember Mr Malbon spinning off the track quite regularly. Could have been the wheel sizes, but more likely his driving

13

Some good infomation there Dave(blown K) and Bru-la. Just from asthetics alone i thought that Blown K really suited it’s 17/18 set up yet the silver/titanium Mk2 initially looked a bit Max Power but as time has passed it has really grown on me. I think visually the difference is that the silver car has a very dark set of wheels and high lights the size difference.

With regards to the grip and handeling issues i can’t personally comment as i have no experience of this; i did however follow Dave around Brands last year and can say that it looked to corner faster than the other Loti there on that day (Maybe that was just the driver though.)
And i look forward in anticipation of some results from Christoff and Bru-la’s wheel and telemetary swaps…

14

I agree with you about the V70s i am very impressed with them. Are they available in 205 and 245 for 16/17 inch rims?

205 and 235 is what I use, brilliant!

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I agree with you about the V70s i am very impressed with them. Are they available in 205 and 245 for 16/17 inch rims?

205 and 235 is what I use, brilliant!

…and what size rims are you using? (i mean how wide)

16

Are we saying that the Kumho ECSTA V70’s give more grip than a set of A048s ? And these fit on standard Exige S1 wheels in 205 and 235s ?

17

…and if the answer is yes. What width are std exige s1 wheels?

I would be interested to try the wider Kuhmos on an S2

18

Cheers Bruh-la! I’ll have to take a look at them.
My data logger reports that my S2 with Ohlins and A048’s can manage 1.3G So there must be more of a contact patch. I have tried the A048’s in 225/45WR16 and 235/45WR17 and they definitely provide greater cornering ( I didn’t have the DL at the time). I wonder which set would be better. The A048s were on the RAC wheels which are 7J and 8J (1/2 inch wider than stock)

19

Are we saying that the Kumho ECSTA V70’s give more grip than a set of A048s ? And these fit on standard Exige S1 wheels in 205 and 235s ?

this could be a nice little easy grip upgrade…

even ‘if’ the koomoe has less grip per mm, the overall grip due to the increase in tyre width might just do it…

can somebody do a back to back tyre test with standard exige rims and datalogger and post the results?

20

Duda,

Christoph got 5000kms out of the Kuhmos…he reckons they are softer. It would seem they have more grip anyway and in the wider format even more. Christoph reports they are better in the wet aswell as they are softer and have a proper tread.