Offset

[JETRO]

Just wondering probably becasue I'm up too late and minds drifting but................. say if I bought a set of alloys with +40 offset can the alloys be custom altered to a +60 offset???

Prob just a stupid question but one of you rocket genius's prob know the answer !

Some body save me from the wheel hell and sell me there S2's

[ailwyn]

I think the offset is all about where the centre of the tyre tread sits in relation to the hub (but I could be wrong).

I don't think it is something you can adjust/alter it has to be built into the wheel design.

Ailwyn

[tweetdriver63]

Offset is the distance from the center of the wheel (measured from the inside rim to the outside rim). The Elan has a positive 60 offset, which is unusual. Most aftermarket tuner rims have a positive 40 offset. Using them will cause the center of the tread on the tires to be 20 mm farther towrd the outside of the fender. A friend of mine, who is a big SCCA rally/racer guy, and a performance grease monkey, looked at my Elan (which I just got two days ago, by the way) and said he didn't think 40 offset wheels would be any problem on it. There appears to be plenty of fender clearance, so there shouldn't be any rubbing issues, and he thought it would probably make the car look more aggressive due to the wider stance.

Does anybody know anything else that might make this a bad thing to do? I'm looking at some rims for mine that also have a 40 offset, and I don't want to cause any handling problems.

[Doug]

the answer to your question is: NO

but they are plenty of people who have used +40mm offest wheels on the Elan and none have had serious problems from it to my knowledge

. . . not that it is the right thing to do though.

[nitroman]

Doug's ex-Stripey with +48 aftermarket wheels felt like it handled the same as mine which has the stock wheels. Obviously you can't stretch that comparison to oblivion or your wheels would sit 5-feet outside the car! www.tirerack.com lists mostly +40 wheels for the Elan, and they are about as respected in the aftermarket wheel biz as it gets.

That said, I'm still leery of throwing that much money at an unknown.

This I can tell you with certainty: you can screw-up a car's handling by going to a plus-2 configuration; which is mounting wheels 2" larger than stock, even though they have the same offset. Doing that tends to make the car very "darty" feeling as you now have very low-sidewall tyres (since with larger wheels your tyre-sidewall height must shrink to maintain the same total diameter).

Perhaps using aftermarket equipment not meeting OE design standard can be summed up thusly... "You spend your money & you take your chances."

[tweetdriver63]

I too noticed that tirerack.com showed about 8 different wheels for the Elan, and that all of them showed +42 offset. I kinda figured that supported my friend's opinion that +40 offset would be fine.

Sorry, I'm not a purist. If I can make my Elan more "me," I will. I'm not considering plussing-up the size, though. I think 17's would look very good, but I'd have to also buy a set of tires for that. The 16's on the car are almost new.

I also considered taking the factory OZ rims to a powder coating place to match them to the car's color, but I think it's better to just hold onto them as they are, in case I ever sell the car, and the buyer prefers the stock look. I personally like the way the car looks (on the computer) with the wheels color-matched (except for the rim, which I would leave the silver it is).

Also, I need to know if there's a kit to clean up the shift. It's really tough always getting it into the right gear. I'll post that in another area, though.

[donsladek]

Tweetdriver,

Welcome to LEC!

The PO of my Elan had installed 16 x 7 Enkei CDR-9 rims, 40mm offset. The right fenderliner is out, but I notice a touch of tire contact on the left fenderliner near the brake line body mount. Tires are 205/45-16.

The car seems a bit "wiggly" when hitting hard bumps, maybe due to the wheels being further outboard?

I haven't driven a standard wheeled Elan, so I can't make a good comparison.

I do have a set of flaking-chrome OEM rims that I'd like to get stripped and powder coated someday.

Donsladek

[tweetdriver63]

Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm new here because I just became the proud owner of my mid-life crisis car two days ago. I love it.

You say you're getting some rubbing because of the 40 offset wheels? Maybe I better keep thinking. I don't want that to happen.

This forum is going to be my new second home. I live in Mississippi. People here don't even know what a Lotus IS. I'm going to have a tough time finding help in these parts of the woods.