A&Q about Lotus
Q:
i find it absolutely criminal the price they are asking for wheels! maybe i read these all wrong but it looks like they are all 300-400 each from sector11 and blackwatch and tirerack. WHY? you can go buy a SET of wheels for a hon/yota for under 400$. same bolt pattern only difference is maybe the offset to clear the front brake caliper. some of the "cheaper" wheels will even do that. so with a bit of help from a decent wheel shop you can get numerous wheels and tires for like 800$. the price of just front wheels?
what am i missing here? maybe they are a few pounds lighter but come on. like thats going to actually make a difference on the street! what now you can only go 0-60 in 4.8 secs?
A:
Part of the difference is the Lotus already comes with pretty good alloy wheels. If you want to upgrade, you are either looking for a fancier, stronger, lighter, or otherwise better and more expensive wheel that the car already has.
A chunk of pure alloy metal sufficient to make a wheel is somewhat expensive, but the equipment needed to actually forge the chunk of metal into a wheel is terribly expensive. Add some finishing labor and materials, and each wheel can easily be a few hundred bucks by the time it makes it to retail.
John
A:
"you can go buy a SET of wheels for a hon/yota for under 400$. " = cast wheels just like the base wheels on the elise. forged are stronger and more expensive.
you always get two of three... cheap/light/strong
A:
the number of projected sales also influence price.. most of the vendors had to get custom offsets made for our cars, we don't share with hondas.. If that were true our wheels would be sub 1,000.. Maybe you should look at the Rotas offered by Blackwatch Racing..
but even so, prices for forged aftermarket wheels on honda are relatively the same price..
A:
Actully if you compare to wheels for other highligh and exotics the wheels for the Elise are a steel I had 19" wheels on my last car $1,300 each for the front and $1,500 each for the rears. at $1,500 or $2,000 for a whole set I think your making out like a bandit!!!!1
Edit: and FYI the factory LSS wheels are I belive $500 each for fronts and $700 each for the rears or close to that.
A:
Originally Posted by jhnmdahl
A chunk of pure alloy metal sufficient to make a wheel is somewhat expensive, but the equipment needed to actually forge the chunk of metal into a wheel is terribly expensive. Add some finishing labor and materials, and each wheel can easily be a few hundred bucks by the time it makes it to retail.
Agreed, John. I just got four standard Elise wheels refinished (finishing only) and the tab is $480. It's worth the price for the various aftermarket wheels, if they are truly an improvement in strength/lightness, or both. No gripes here. Video at eleven (pics to follow).
A:
I have a MINI. To get 16"x6.5" SSR I paid in the neighborhood of $300 per wheel. I could have paid less, and in fact did, for another set. There is little or no gain other than looks in terms of performance if the wheels are not much lighter. If you can loose 3 or 4 lbs off each wheel you have come up with cost effective way of increasing the cars performance - so long as the wheels stay together across speed bumps and pot holes. I lost about 9 lbs of wheel weight at each corner going from MINI 16" to SSR 16" wheels. The other set I mentioned I lost only 5 pounds a wheel. The car starts, stops, and turns much faster as the wheels get lighter.
By the way, no I do not run the SSRs on the street.
John
A:
Enkei's are $950 for 4
Team Dynamics are $850 for 4
Rotas are $650 for 4
What is it exactly that you want?
A:
is RAC monolites the lightest wheel in the Elise market so far?
A:
Originally Posted by gameson
is RAC monolites the lightest wheel in the Elise market so far?
The SSR's are lighter.
A:
i can live with 650 a set but most of our options are closer to 1600 a set. yet i have found nice cast sets at our local shop that will work for 96 each. weight is about the same as a base car. i actually don't like most of the expensive wheels looks anyway just a rant i guess. like the oil filter. if it comes from a lotus dealer it 20 bucks but toyota sells the same filter for like 10!! gouging anyone??
A:
Originally Posted by flyguyskt
like the oil filter. if it comes from a lotus dealer it 20 bucks but toyota sells the same filter for like 10!! gouging anyone??
At a guess:
Lotus UK buys the filter from Toyota.
Lotus USA buys the filter from Lotus UK.
Each individual dealer buys the filter from Lotus USA.
Everybody makes a buck.
We don't need to go into great detail on the efficiencies of Toyota's parts network vs. those of Lotus, do we? I'd bet a big Toyota dealership has a larger stock warehouse than Lotus USA does...
I agree though, it would be interesting to know what the Lotus Dealer's cost on the part is vs. the Toyota dealer's cost.
A:
Originally Posted by StarLight111
Actully if you compare to wheels for other highligh and exotics the wheels for the Elise are a steel I had 19" wheels on my last car $1,300 each for the front and $1,500 each for the rears. at $1,500 or $2,000 for a whole set I think your making out like a bandit!!!!1
Yup... I was browsing Fikse's site earlier today and actually heard my wallet squeal!
A:
I was wondering earlier today what the result would be if Lotus Engineering met with a major wheel manufacturer, studied the process, determined the optimum style of spokes and size for strength and lightness, and came up with a product.
A:
Originally Posted by flyguyskt
i find it absolutely criminal the price they are asking for wheels! maybe i read these all wrong but it looks like they are all 300-400 each from sector11 and blackwatch and tirerack. WHY?
The wheels you're looking at are probably lightweight 1-piece forged/machined wheels (e.g. volk te37 /ce28n, rac monolites, ssr competition, etc.), which are more expensive to produce than simple cast aluminum wheels (e.g. rota slipstreams). The time of production and expense of the machines used is reflected in the cost of the wheels. A forging press and cnc milling machine are expensive stuff.
Personally, I think $300-400 for a lightweight wheel is a decent price. Go with lightweight 3-piece forged/spun wheels and you're looking at four times that price.
A:
Originally Posted by codymac
Yup... I was browsing Fikse's site earlier today and actually heard my wallet squeal!
I just got a slightly used set of 18x8.5 Fikse Profil 10s for my TT. I practically wet myself at the price I got them for!
A:
Originally Posted by JnC
I was wondering earlier today what the result would be if Lotus Engineering met with a major wheel manufacturer, studied the process, determined the optimum style of spokes and size for strength and lightness, and came up with a product.
I've thought a lot about wheel design myself. It seems to me that in order to get the most efficient (i.e. lightweight) wheel, you would have to have a different design for each bolt pattern, or at least for each lug quantity (4-lug, 5-lug, or 6-lug). I think a starspoke pattern would work best (or alternatively, a mesh pattern), because you're essentially triangulating the spokes and putting most of the load in tension or compression rather than in shear. You'll want your # of spokes to be a multiple of the number of lugs for simplicity of design. For the Elise, you're looking at either a 4-spoke star or mesh, an 8-spoke radial, or an 8-spoke mesh (e.g. BBS RGRs). Once you settle on a spoke/lug setup, you can drastically cut away at the hub area, where lots of excess aluminum is packed on to wheels to allow for multiple bolt-patterns.
A:
Here's the basic design that I'm thinking of. Doesn't look so hot in a 4-spoke, but would probably be super-light.
A:
Watch out everyone, Steve's talking to himself again.
A:
I like this wheel
I wonder if there is this style in same color for Elise. IT's similar to the C5 corvette wheel