The Lotus Grand Tourers

MOT today.
Passed, but the MOT man showed me a video of the wheels spinning whilst jacked-up.
The inside of both passenger wheels buckled!

He said that they weren't like that last year, and I've done less than 200 miles between MOTs so I must remember hitting a pot or something.
I can't recall any impacts but hey ho, it is what it is. Can't really feel the buckle whilst driving normally, but I didn't go over 60 mph to MOT garage.

I know the 89SE wheels are easy to buckle, the spare has a buckle too.

So, has anyone had a buckle straightened by a repair shop?

Any insights appreciated.

I’ve had my Speedlines all straightened by Reno Wheel - I believe SJ uses them for Esprit wheels and they’ve done work for McLaren.

I recently had two Merc wheels straitened - lots of heat needed, but nice and round in the end. The hydraulic press being used made the wheels look like they were made of plastic - astounding!

Pete

Thanks Chaps. Needed to know they would be OK to straighten.

Looked on the net this morning and have found an alloy wheel repair shop near me in Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire.

When I bought the Excel 20 odd years ago, the wheels were pristine, and I kept them that way until a neglectful mechanic badly scratched the n/s front wheel finish during a polybushing job.

Luckily it's the same buckled front, so an opportunity to get it refinished too.

I had my OZs straightened by Renowheel too, they have been OK since. The buckle in mine was actually noticed by someone driving behind me!

I've heard of the Speedline wheels cracking on the inside of the spokes. It seems as if Lotus over-reacted to this and specified the OZ wheels to be made from Plasticine...

Went to have the Route OZ balanced a couple of weeks ago, one balanced and was correctly shaped, one balanced but had c5mm of ovalisation, the other two wouldn't balance even with a line of weights half way round the rim, and had c199mm of ovalisation. They (all 5 including spare) are off to be corrected. My thinking is that even the round one may be slightly out but just not enough to see when spun and viewed by eye.

barker_001 wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 08, 2022 16:21

I had my OZs straightened by Renowheel too, they have been OK since. The buckle in mine was actually noticed by someone driving behind me!

I've heard of the Speedline wheels cracking on the inside of the spokes. It seems as if Lotus over-reacted to this and specified the OZ wheels to be made from Plasticine...

I got mine done eventually. The first place I took them to turned the job down because they thought they were buckled in more than one plane. I asked if they had used the correct sized spigot (60 mm) or back coned them to check the balance, and from the answer I guessed he hadn't mounted them properly - probably front coned them.

The next outfit (I never told them about the previous job refusal) said yes, no problem, we can fix them.
OK, it took 2 weeks to get them back (they were much busier than the previous lot -I wonder why ...), but @ just £55 per wheel trued and re-coated, I can't complain! They used heat to true them and said they were quite soft and easy to true.

The silver finish is a tad more glittery silver than the original (flat grey silver), but the two refinished wheels are on the near side, so you never see the slightly different finishes side by side to compare, so it's OK!

Don’t know about the OZ, but the Speedlines had a slightly sparkly, metallic finish to them. I have a pair of the centre pieces that I got as new old stock, never been fitted to a car.

I acquired 5 "new" refurbished OZ wheels from Lotusbits a while ago as 2 of my original Celebration wheels were out, 1 had been kerbed a long time ago, but the other 2 seemed OK.
I have the original wheels which are available but would need a refurb.
Please contact me if you are interested.