feckin council, feckin pothole's feck feckity....

[Elanlover]

Blair,
Thanks for looking. Armed with your photo and info, I might have to take a gamble also.

I asked at the local tyre place today about straightening my dinged S2 alloy, and they weren’t hopeful. They pointed me in the direction of a very expensive wheel refinisher near Aberdeen which I have tried to avoid in the past on grounds of cost.

John

I had to have mine bored out a bit more but to be honest, I can't remember if I did it because the bore was too small for the stock hub OR if it was because I had recently installed custom 17" wheels with a larger bore requiring concentric rings and, therefore, wanted to make sure the spare's bore was the same as the bore on the new wheels.

If it was the latter then the bore will be too big for stock which is good. All you need to do is buy some concentric rings to match the bore of the spare and the stock hub and you're in business. They are pretty cheap.

[John_W]

I finally got a suitable spare wheel to fit over my modified brakes (PNM rears and Wilwood fronts). The standard spare will not fit over either of these types, nor can it be made to do so through the use of spacers.

I therefore followed Blair's example and got one like he shows in his pictures. It took me a long time to find one, but I finally saw one on ebay at a price I was willing to take a risk that it might not fit. I bought a "2003-2005 Honda Civic Hybrid spare wheel and tyre 125 70 15" for £59.99 + £5.99 postage from a breaker in England who advertises on ebay as symondsautosalvage. There have been others advertised for around £100, but I was unwilling to pay that much for something that might turn out not to be suitable.

My experience last year with the potholes on Skye, resulting in a bent wheel and destroyed tyre, meant that I was unwilling to undertake our month on the continent this summer just relying on useless cans of foam to fix punctures, and I wanted a spare wheel. I am happy to report that the Honda wheel fits perfectly over both the set of 15" wheel PNM calipers I have on the rear of the car and the 15" wheel Wilwood 4-pots I have on the front. So if anybody feels like buying one of the £100+ versions which are on sale, at least you know that it will fit (over 15" brakes at least, although there is ample clearance and I suspect that it will also fit the 16" brakes).

The centre bore of the Honda wheel was slightly small to go over Elan hub, but all it needed was to file/grind out the centre bore slightly (no more than half a mm). If you want to do it properly and have a machine shop near you, I'm sure they would do it very quickly, but it took me less time to file it out than to drive to a machine shop.

It fits in the original space in the boot, but note that it has to be deflated (so you need to carry an electric pump - I do anyway), and even then it is a tight squeeze and it sticks up maybe an inch higher than the original. It's also a vile colour, but I don't intend to have to drive on it for long.

John

[lotusflasherman]

When I was fitting the HiSpec brake conversion I went to 264mm diam x 10mm thick rear discs commensurate with the increase in size at the front.
(Need to have hubs with removable discs and HiSpec to supply correct separator for Ultralite Calipers but it's a really significant improvement.)

264x10 nsr.jpg

I run 17" x 7 BBS wheels so was amazed when the original spacesaver spare fitted at the rear. I never tried it on the front as I would not fit spacesaver there anyway. It would go on rear and the rear full size would go to the front to deal with a front flat.

spare on 264.jpg

[Fredjohn]

Well done John, but not quite. I also fitted this wheel some 10 months ago, but had to machine the rim about 2mm or so (radius) to clear my PNM/Hi-Spec rear calipers. Not sure which "brand" they are, but are definitely Golf Mk4 calipers. Maybe my mounting bracket is slightly different to yours??

I also had to machine out the centre hole slightly to fit, and not fully inflate the tyre when in the boot.

Whichever, it is a great improvement and means I now have a tidy boot. And my car is yellow, so no problem with the colour!!

[John_W]

How do you mean PNM/HiSpec rear calipers?
My rear calipers are PNM.

[Rambo]

It's also a vile colour, but I don't intend to have to drive on it

I'm sure Clemo would totally disagree with you John

PS - you could always buy a silver Halfords rattle can if it's causing you to lose your beauty sleep

[clemo]

It's also a vile colour, but I don't intend to have to drive on it

I'm sure Clemo would totally disagree with you John

PS - you could always buy a silver Halfords rattle can if it's causing you to lose your beauty sleep

Was thinking of doing mine this colour ... could swap .

[biffobear]

Well done John, but not quite. I also fitted this wheel some 10 months ago, but had to machine the rim about 2mm or so (radius) to clear my PNM/Hi-Spec rear calipers. Not sure which "brand" they are, but are definitely Golf Mk4 calipers. Maybe my mounting bracket is slightly different to yours??

I also had to machine out the centre hole slightly to fit, and not fully inflate the tyre when in the boot.

Whichever, it is a great improvement and means I now have a tidy boot. And my car is yellow, so no problem with the colour!!

Damn! wish I had bought a yellow car now.

[Rambo]

You could always get the car resprayed. Or, a cheaper alternative, is to get it wrapped

And an even cheaper alternative is to spray the yellow Honda spacesaver wheel to match the existing colour of your OEM wheels