Honda S2000 Wheels for Elan?

[tweetdriver63]

First, I'm not actually looking for wheels right now, since I don't have the extra $$$.

I'm just bored, and doing a little surfing. I have stumbled onto something....possibly. What I stumbled onto is the fact that the stock OEM wheels on the Honda S2000 are as follows: front -- 16x6.5 +55 offset, and rear -- 16x7.5 +65 offset. At first glance, it should be obvious what I'm about to ask.

Here's the kicker though, and it may be a deal-breaker. They have a 5x114 lug pattern. Damn! These are good-looking wheels (see here), that would just need Lotus centers to cover the "H," but can they be adapted to a car with a 4x100 lug pattern? I know there are adapters, but they have a thickness to them also, and how would that screw up the offset? Also, I don't know what the hub bore is.

I only posted this in case it might help somebody get some usuable wheels at a good price.

Any knowledgable input concerning whether they could be made to work........

[Monty]

Those wheels aren`t even close on being the correct

There the wrong PCD
there the wrong wheel width ( should be 7")

I`m sure there dozens of wheel paterns like the one you`ve quoted, should we all start posting individual threads for each wheel that will never fit

Think this one might do the trick thou

[tweetdriver63]

A lesser man might feel about 2 inches tall after that reply. Fortunately, I'm not bothered. There's kind of a "you moron" tone to it. Anyway, I've read a lot about how hard it is to get +60 offset aftermarket wheels, so when I stumbled onto the discovery that there are actually a number of other cars out there, some of them quite popular and common, that have wheels with similar offsets, I thought it might be helpful to share that. It seems to me that there my therefore be some out there that would work. I don't know dick about wheels. Really. They're round. You put tires on them. The holes have to line up with the studs on the hub, and they come in different diameters. That's about it.

[MattDon]

Im no expert either, but as far as im aware the only thing you can realisticly change on alloy wheels is the bore, and even then its not ideal.

so key factors to look for in wheel design

offset et48-72 within 20% of the standard 60
4x100 pcd
idealy a bore of (i beleive 56.6mm) but less could be bored out and id imagine a spingot could be used if it were more
width id suggest anything that a 205 section tyre can fit over so thats 5.5-7.5" but id recomend sticking between 6-7"

the biggest single issue though i have found (vauxhall 4 stud wheels tick all the right boxes and there are plenty to choose from.... but) is caliper clearance and the only realistic way to check this unless buying new (in which case the manufacturer should be able to let you know after you give them some dimensions) is to try to fit them.

good on you for trying mate, its bloody had work, i didnt notice if you were us or uk so it may or not be of use but vauxhall (and specificly the corsa b) had a very similar fit and as mentioned in another thread the bmw mini, but as i said check caliper clearance, and the only manufacturer that i found to be helpful was compomotive, and i'll be buying my next set of wheel from them.

Good luck and keep trying.


oh and a realy good website to further your knoweledge is http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible_pg2.html

[tweetdriver63]

Im no expert either, but as far as im aware the only thing you can realisticly change on alloy wheels is the bore, and even then its not ideal.

so key factors to look for in wheel design

offset et48-72 within 20% of the standard 60
4x100 pcd
idealy a bore of (i beleive 56.6mm) but less could be bored out and id imagine a spingot could be used if it were more
width id suggest anything that a 205 section tyre can fit over so thats 5.5-7.5" but id recomend sticking between 6-7"

the biggest single issue though i have found (vauxhall 4 stud wheels tick all the right boxes and there are plenty to choose from.... but) is caliper clearance and the only realistic way to check this unless buying new (in which case the manufacturer should be able to let you know after you give them some dimensions) is to try to fit them.

good on you for trying mate, its bloody had work, i didnt notice if you were us or uk so it may or not be of use but vauxhall (and specificly the corsa b) had a very similar fit and as mentioned in another thread the bmw mini, but as i said check caliper clearance, and the only manufacturer that i found to be helpful was compomotive, and i'll be buying my next set of wheel from them.

Good luck and keep trying.


oh and a realy good website to further your knoweledge is http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible_pg2.html

Like I said, I'm not really in the market for wheels. This whole thing has gotten me interested in learning though. I've done a bunch of reading online, and here's what I think now. I think offset does affect wheel bearing longevity to an extent, but most people don't consider that an major issue, as long as the wheel/tire stays centered properly. If you get a wheel with a different width, you change offset to keep everything alligned, to maintain clearance from suspension components and fenders. For example, a 17 x 7 1/2 wheel, with +50 offset, lines up almost identically to the stock 16 x 7, +60 offset wheel. The centerline of the wheel stays in virtually the same place, and the backspace is within 3mm, while the outer edge comes out slightly wider than stock.

There's a cool calculator here.

[bobbrown]

Nice try, but the 5 stud will be an issue.
5 Stud wheels can not be converted to 4 stud.
The 5 stud issue is not insurmountable but is quite complex.
Front hubs are fairly straight forward as it has been done on Vauxhall/Opel cars.
Rear hubs would require my rear conversion which could be made in a 5 stud configuration.
Then the more complex part brakes and this I think is probably going to be the down fall of any project like this as it would require changing the discs/hats to suit a 5 stud pattern.
Not impossible but!
Wheel offset should not effect wheel bearing longevity provided it is with in some limits as the Vauxhall/Opel range of cars run a some what identical bearing setup to ours with wheels with different offsets 35 to 49mm.
The important part of retaining the offset is to maintain suspension geometry not just to get the wheels to fit.
Bob

[tweetdriver63]

Bob, doesn't it depend a little on how you drive the car? I mean, Lotus surely designed at all with a certain type of driving in mind. The way the majority of drivers would be using their cars. Somebody who's using one primarily for tracking, may actually want to change the geometry, right? Of course, they'd have to know what they're doing. Likewise, I don't think those who have mounted aftermarket wheels with the standard +40ish offset, on cars they use for everyday driving have any problems with handling, but they probably would on the track. I've read many posts by people who track/autocross, who use factory wheels when they do, for performance/handling, but off-track use aftermarket wheels because of the aesthetics. There's one guy who runs his Exige at the autocross events around here, who does just that. He has the same type of tires on both sets of rims.

[Monty]

A lesser man might feel about 2 inches tall after that reply. Fortunately, I'm not bothered. There's kind of a "you moron" tone to it. .

The statement and photo was just a laught hence why there`s a laughing smilie at the end

I was just making a point that that those wheels have the wrong width, it doesn`t take a genius to work out that it would be coslty to convert to 5 studs and at the end off the day there still the wrong offset (but there close) so the wheels only thing right about those wheels is that there round

[Elanlover]

A lesser man might feel about 2 inches tall after that reply. Fortunately, I'm not bothered. There's kind of a "you moron" tone to it. .

<Edit by moderator> the statement and photo was just a laught hence why there`s a laughing smilie at the end

I was just making a point that that those wheels have the wrong width, it doesn`t take a genius to work out that it would be coslty to convert to 5 studs and at the end off the day there still the wrong offset (but there close) so the wheels only thing right about those wheels is that there round

Actually Monty, I quite like that wheel! If only I could get it in chrome............