Anyone fitted Lotus Elise S2 wheels

JB21 · September 16, 2019, 18:12

Have found a set of Elise S2 wheels but not sure they'll fit my Roadster. They are 16" ET31.5 front which would be fine but it's the rears which are 17" but offset at ET18 which will I think would be the killer?

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Is it possible to roll the rear arches?

1979scotte · September 16, 2019, 20:01

Why bother they'll only ruin the handling?

It's been done before not sure what people did about the different et.

JB21 · September 16, 2019, 20:46

Quote from: 1979scotte on September 16, 2019, 20:01Why bother they'll only ruin the handling?

It's been done before not sure what people did about the different et.

They don't ruin the handling on an Elise?

JB21 · September 16, 2019, 21:08

Quote from: JB21 on September 16, 2019, 20:46
Quote from: 1979scotte on September 16, 2019, 20:01Why bother they'll only ruin the handling?

It's been done before not sure what people did about the different et.

They don't ruin the handling on an Elise?

What the reasoning the roadster is pretty much the closest thing to an Elise on the road and having already ran 15 v 16 on track with the bigger wheels being quicker.

Gaz2405 · September 16, 2019, 23:26

I'm sure I've seen a post with someone having them on.

1979scotte · September 17, 2019, 06:23

Quote from: JB21 on September 16, 2019, 20:46
Quote from: 1979scotte on September 16, 2019, 20:01Why bother they'll only ruin the handling?

It's been done before not sure what people did about the different et.

They don't ruin the handling on an Elise?

Everyone is different.
@s12vea fits big wheels to all his 2s and @StuC loves his 17s too.
I know @shnazzle @Ardent and @tomaky don't like the bigger wheels although I believe that is for road use not on track.

For me I don't even like 205 15s on the front which I tried on my turbo car on the false assumption I needed more grip.

The most fun I've had is on stock PFL sizes car just feels more nimble. This is all on road experience not track.

The original question can probably be answered by going to willtheyfit.com but I suspect the ET is too far out.

They're not necessarily going to be better on a 2 just because they're off an elise totally different suspension much lighter car.

Sure there is a book somewhere that said the engineers wanted to fit smaller wheels anyways but the marketing boys won the argument.
What size wheels do S1 use out of curiosity?

Topdownman · September 17, 2019, 06:49

You can only roll the top 6" or so of the rear arch which I did to mine.

I struggled to get my ET35s with 225s to fit (16" rear lowered on coilovers) so I cant see how the ET18 would work.

JB21 · September 17, 2019, 07:38

Thanks to all who contributed useful info. I expected they wouldn't fit but just thought I'd ask incase there was an easy fix to get them to fit. They would protrude 2.5cm over my current OZ wheels so would needs some serious rolling, pulling and negative camber to fit.

I'll stick with what I've got for now with the FL wheels and 15" OZ's. I'm confident a bigger rear is better for Circuit driving so I'm going to do back to back tests at Oulton albeit different tyres but the NS2R'S 180 on my FL wheels were quicker than the OZ'S with AR1'S last time out.

Petrus · September 17, 2019, 08:54

Quote from: JB21 on September 17, 2019, 07:38I'm confident a bigger rear is better for Circuit driving

Why?

Larger diameter is heavier.
The side effect is lower sidewall and that may be stiffer which is a double edged blade: Better directional respons, worse compliance.However; there are higher tyres with stiffer walls vs. lower ones with softer.

You will find that the tyre is more decisive.
Just get the best rubber you can afford; will gain you more than rims.

JB21 · September 17, 2019, 09:19

Quote from: JB21 on September 17, 2019, 07:38I'm confident a bigger rear is better for Circuit driving

from experience the car feels more planted with a larger diameter rear wheel. Maybe have a watch of the below video of the Spirit MR-S that destroys pretty much anything is its path, he's doing something right and recommends 15/16 Touge racing and 16/17 ("Lotus set-up") for track albeit at varying spring rates that has already been mentioned in this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbjSVa242hc&t=1310s

tomaky · September 17, 2019, 10:20

Quote from: 1979scotte on September 17, 2019, 06:23
Quote from: JB21 on September 16, 2019, 20:46
Quote from: 1979scotte on September 16, 2019, 20:01Why bother they'll only ruin the handling?

It's been done before not sure what people did about the different et.

They don't ruin the handling on an Elise?

Everyone is different.
@s12vea fits big wheels to all his 2s and @StuC loves his 17s too.
I know @shnazzle @Ardent and @tomaky don't like the bigger wheels although I believe that is for road use not on track.

For me I don't even like 205 15s on the front which I tried on my turbo car on the false assumption I needed more grip.

The most fun I've had is on stock PFL sizes car just feels more nimble. This is all on road experience not track.

The original question can probably be answered by going to willtheyfit.com but I suspect the ET is too far out.

They're not necessarily going to be better on a 2 just because they're off an elise totally different suspension much lighter car.

Sure there is a book somewhere that said the engineers wanted to fit smaller wheels anyways but the marketing boys won the argument.
What size wheels do S1 use out of curiosity?

They were pants on track i ended up running pre fl's, they are too much rotational mass.

shnazzle · September 17, 2019, 13:38

My 1-peneth;

Elise is not an MR2. Far from it. Entirely different suspension setup, weight, balance, steering, body, etc.
If anything, the wheels are possible the last thing you should copy from an Elise.
As Tom said, they have been tried by a few and generally are just too big with the wrong offset for the MR2.
The only reason I'd go bigger diameter rear wheels and tyres is to gain a few more mph on long circuits. But you'd need very stiff suspension and forego any kind of road compliance.
You'd lose acceleration and wet balance I would imagine would be special unless you went full square (which doesn't fit). And you'd need more power. Cornering isn't anywhere near as nimble so unless you're adding heaps of power, you're robbing the mr2 of the one area it excels in vs other cars.

Depends on the circuits you're looking to drive.
If you look at the fabled Spirit MRS, he puts big 17s on for Tsukuba, which is a long, flat, high speed track. But on bumpy touge and smaller circuits, it's 15/16 or even 15/15 at times.

shnazzle · September 18, 2019, 07:39

Cleaned up thread to bring it back on topic and keep it informative. I'm sure we've all read the posts rules and behaviour by now.

Re Spirit; bear in mind he has done some serious weight reduction to that car, added a racing fuel tank and added a 2zz with ITBs and a standalone (obviously). So, it's probably pushing over 200hp at crank with a lot less weight to swing around.
I mean, who has a full titanium exhaust and roll cage?... Madness

steve447 · January 3, 2020, 15:58

Under the FWIW category I run a set of Elise wheels on my 2zz MR2 here in the US. The fronts are 16x5.5" et31 and the rears are 17 x 7.5 et38.i run 185s in the front and 225s on the rear. I picked them up for peanuts in as new condition. With lowered teins I think they look great and the ride is really good. I think they give the car a more current and sophisticated look but that's a personal thing I understand. Two up on a bumpy road there is an occasional rub on the inner liner. For driving on the freeways and around town i really like them. That being said for the track and spirited mountain driving I have a set of lightweight 15" Koenig featherweight rims which I run a square set up on with 205's all round. This give noticeably better acceleration and some handling benefits due to the lower unsprung mass, the track spec road tires are noisy as anything however.