Lotus Elan Central

About 6 years ago I bought a set of centre caps for the wheels on my SE.
At the time Lotus had well over a thousand in stock and were knocking them out for £4.95 each.
I thought that the yellow background looked a bit "lemony", but figured they'd do.

This evening I've pulled one of these disgusting things off a wheel on my new Elan.
It might as well have been made from a bottle top!
The ones on mine don't look much better - they've faded badly.

Fortunately I have a contact who does self-adhesive domed resin badges.
He says a set of 4 should be about £17.50 delivered (if I was posting them on then I would probably say £20, and stick any difference in postage towards the kitty).
I'm going to get 2 sets made, but thought it would be worth throwing the offer open to the rest of the forum in case anyone else is interested.
I don't have pics of the finished product yet, but if you check out "Locking Vinyl" on FaceBook you can see the quality of the work - I have an 80mm MG badge that the same chap supplied, and take it from me, it's MUCH better than OEM.

Note you would need to retain the original bare centre cap to have something to stick the resin badge to, and I would get them made up at 46mm diameter.

So, any more for any more?

1. Enright
2. Enright

Oh wow! I just had the first samples emailed to me, and although the pics only show the decals and they still have to have the resin dome put over the top, I think they look excellent!

They got the "hook" of the "C" into the bottom loop of the "B" as well. I see a lot of knockoff Lotus logos missing that little piece.

I know this is slightly off topic... But. I'd be up for a set of these if they could be ordered to fit the S2 wheels. 58 or 60mm

Out of curiosity I ordered a set of the set wheel centres that KevB ordered here As kec mentioned they need a bit of tweaking but have a nice flat surface to mount the logo. (especially with a tad more tweaking). Not really as problem...

And was planning to order the same logos. But the company has been on vacation for a while.....So this was kind of on hold and awaiting them coming back.

I also ordered a set of these

Other than the obvious logo problem... these drop in the wheels without any modification.... Unfortunately they are domed?? So would need a domed logo...

This info is probably just confusing things at the moment. But thought I would mention it.

Wayne, I'm pretty sure that Dazzer could make up whatever size you like - but would you want 58 OR 60mm?
I don't know if they'd be a bit more expensive being bigger - happy to ask but would like to be confident that the dimensions are right first.

The centre caps on my front wheels have a background of lemony yellow but on the rear caps the background is a definite orange.

They were all bought at the same time, a few years ago, off the aftersales list and I'm sure they were the same colour when bought. What that original colour was though I can't quite remember but I think it was the "lemony yellow".

I would have expected the front caps to be the ones to discolour, due to the heat generated by the front brakes!

Enright wrote:Wayne, I'm pretty sure that Dazzer could make up whatever size you like - but would you want 58 OR 60mm?
I don't know if they'd be a bit more expensive being bigger - happy to ask but would like to be confident that the dimensions are right first.

Neil: Can he handle caps where the backing is domed? I think that is what Wayne meant. The actual "cap" is molded with a domed face. I don't know if the emblem is removable or if it is actually screened on.

Dazzer says that those centre caps are similar to the ones he used for the wheel centre hole on MG wheels, and that the VW badges can be removed and he can make badges to fit them.
However before even getting to the issue of ones "domeage" I would expect that the basic issue of correct OD would need to be clarified!
He's in the process of registering anyway, so people will soon get the chance to deal direct and make further savings, and I there will be no worries about Chinese Whispers.
I'm looking forwards to posting pics of the results once I get them, and then they can be their own advert.

the domed resin badges have been done before and the 'under dome' was not an issue.....

Hi guys , After chatting with Neil I can now show you the domed finished centre cap badge. They can be done in other sizes just let me know what you need. With regards to the vw centre caps as Neil said I have been supplying them to the MG owners who want to ditch their original centre caps and fit these into the wheel centre. Removal of the vw logos make the face of the cap less proud and my resin domed badges fit nicely onto them. I do anything and everything vinyl related so if any body is after anything please just give me a shout.
Here is a photo of one of the vw caps with one of my badges applied and fitted to the wheel.


And here is the finished resin domed Lotus centre cap badge

Can't wait to see those on my wheels and post a few before and after pics!

One question I would have is this - are the backs concave?

If the face of the decals are "domed" then they would be convex. A few domed decals I have seen in the past came with the adhesive or "mating" side being flat. On many wheels centres I've seen the centre has a domed decal and when removed the empty face of the centre is also domed - not flat - making it difficult for a flat backed decal to sit and adhere properly. Can someone describe the profile of the adhesive side for me? Thanks! While we're at it, can they be done with a non-gel core. In other words, not too soft and spongy?

Neil,

Just a sanity check from my side: on your SE, you have stock wheels ?

I've ordered flat versions for myself, and they are for standard SE wheels (as per WienLot's picture above). My centre caps looked as though they had flat faces. If they are slightly convex then I may have to use some spongy number-plate tape to ensure that the maximum surface area for adhesion is used. But I don't think it will be a problem.

My badges can be flexed to fit curved centre caps. The mg ones I pictured are curved and the badges curve to adhere to the centre caps. They have adhesive already on the back. If fitting in cold conditions gently warming them with a heat gun or haidryer softens them more and makes the adhesive even stickier.

dazzer wrote:Hi guys , After chatting with Neil I can now show you the domed finished centre cap badge. They can be done in other sizes just let me know what you need. With regards to the vw centre caps as Neil said I have been supplying them to the MG owners who want to ditch their original centre caps and fit these into the wheel centre. Removal of the vw logos make the face of the cap less proud and my resin domed badges fit nicely onto them. I do anything and everything vinyl related so if any body is after anything please just give me a shout.

That's great news

I noticed that the measurements I gave earlier were incorrect. The flat made in China badge are 56mm the VW badge is about 51mm (and domed). If you are already making badges to fit these for the MG then the sizes will be the same. And the centres drop in the S2 wheels perfectly with no modification.

I will try to take some pictures tomorrow of all the different caps. SE, S2, china and VW. you may get people wanting to go with various options. I will definitely be placing an order... once I decide which ones I want

ps. Maybe the thread title should read SE / S2 wheel centre caps?

Many thanks

Wayne

Ready to order S2 center caps not just the decal but the plastic insert also.

Steve

I'm after the original ones without a Lotus logo. I find the same logos everywhere a bit naff.

surfboardfiller wrote:I'm after the original ones without a Lotus logo. I find the same logos everywhere a bit naff.

Part number A082G6046F Still on the Aftersales list for £4.46 + VAT each

The OZ badged caps are A082G6071F Also on the Aftersales list but £7.39 + VAT

Lotus shows A082G6070F as W/CENTRE-YELLOW-INDY 25TH on the Aftersales list for £17.00 Do these fit the M100 wheels too?

surfboardfiller wrote:I'm after the original ones without a Lotus logo. I find the same logos everywhere a bit naff.

I know what you mean Phil, but when the Elan first came out I thought it looked rather bare - there was only one Lotus logo on the exterior and one on the interior. The wheel centres just seemed to be crying out for them (as I think WienLot's above picture demonstrates very well). Anyway I'll keep an eye out for standard silver ones just in case, but the backs to the ones I've got on both of my cars are black plastic.

Yesterday there was am envelope waiting for me when I got home - I was delighted at the contents when I opened it. They're here!
Dazzer's done a sterling job and I can't wait to get them onto my wheels - they'll really set them off.