Who is planning on wheel spacers right out of the gate?

[NicolasB]

The pictures of the blue car on the Lotus webpage looks amazing because the wheels are flush with the fenders and the car is lowered enough that there is no wheel gap. I have done high-quality wheel spacers in the past on my Audis and they make a big difference as far as aesthetics. Perhaps some spacers with some of those lowering cups for the springs would make this thing have the stance they advertise it to have??

See the advertised vs. actual below:

 

[DerTheDer]

Not worth the hassle yet, we have not even seen a actual production car. Will see my my Emira gets here in November. Can adjust by then.

 

[digilotus]

I think the white car looks fine! The pictures above are from ground level upwards.. that will accentuate any wheel arch to tyre gap. Looking at things in real life top-down I suspect it will look just fine.

 

[virtualmacho]

Considering afterwards, not necessarily right out of the gate. Can wait until we see how the actual car looks.

 

[Autopsy]

It bugs me as well and after learning how much effort went into setting up the suspension geometry I'm even more torn between looks and riding right. I surely hope there will be factory lowering option from lotus, even if they were just rebranded & overpriced items!

 

[daveparky84]

The pictures of the blue car on the Lotus webpage looks amazing because the wheels are flush with the fenders and the car is lowered enough that there is no wheel gap. I have done high-quality wheel spacers in the past on my Audis and they make a big difference as far as aesthetics. Perhaps some spacers with some of those lowering cups for the springs would make this thing have the stance they advertise it to have??

See the advertised vs. actual below:
View attachment 3633

View attachment 3634

So I believe the First Edition is actually lower? I seem to remember reading that somewhere.. You can see in Shmee's walkaround video here of the FE that its sitting lower than the white car.. The front wheels look bang on.. i guess the rears could be spaced slightly but I think this video from Shmee gives a great look at how it sits.. This white car just doesn't look right in a lot of ways.. best to wait for final FE reviews I think.

 

[Autopsy]

So I believe the First Edition is actually lower? I seem to remember reading that somewhere.. You can see in Shmee's walkaround video here of the FE that its sitting lower than the white car.. The front wheels look bang on.. i guess the rears could be spaced slightly but I think this video from Shmee gives a great look at how it sits.. This white car just doesn't look right in a lot of ways.. best to wait for final FE reviews I think.

The blue show car is lowered and with at least 5mm spacers each corner. The white 007 car, same as the dark grey dynamic prototype car touring around the world, are how the production cars will be like. Thus this topic.

 

[daveparky84]

The blue show car is lowered and with at least 5mm spacers each corner. The white 007 car, same as the dark grey dynamic prototype car touring around the world, are how the production cars will be like. Thus this topic.

Yes but I believe the First Edition (blue car) is actually lowered already due to one of the included "packs" that will be optional in base models. The white car isn't a First Edition spec car so Im guessing maybe its more reflective of what a base model will look like. Sorry if i wasn't clear. Im not sure any of this is confirmed yet anyway.. need to see what the base model options are to fully know what first edition is getting.. the white car definitely looks too high to me.

 

[Autopsy]

Yes but I believe the First Edition (blue car) is actually lowered already due to one of the included "packs" that will be optional in base models. The white car isn't a First Edition spec car so Im guessing maybe its more reflective of what a base model will look like. Sorry if i wasn't clear. Im not sure any of this is confirmed yet anyway.. need to see what the base model options are to fully know what first edition is getting.. the white car definitely looks too high to me.

Can you please point me to a source? My understanding is they will ride the same, FE and base, as no pack involving ride height were mentioned anywhere and putting spacers on from factory for an package or special edition is almost never heard of. On the other hand putting spacers and shorter springs on show cars to make them look better for car shows are common practice.

 

[daveparky84]

Can you please point me to a source? My understanding is they will ride the same, FE and base, as no pack involving ride height were mentioned anywhere and putting spacers on from factory for an package or special edition is almost never heard of. On the other hand utting spacers and shorter springs on show cars to make them look better are common practice.

Dont have a source I said above I remember reading it somewhere but maybe Im wrong. Again no way to know until it's actually out at this stage.

 

[TomE]

The blue show car is 20mm lowered versus production height and also has spacers. The grey prototype is slightly above production height (5mm or so).

The ride height will be the same for Sports and Touring suspensions, First and Base Editions, V6 and i4. It's in one of the Gavan Kershaw interviews - Smoking Tire podcast I think.

 

[daveparky84]

The blue show car is 20mm lowered versus production height and also has spacers. The grey prototype is slightly above production height (5mm or so).

The ride height will be the same for Sports and Touring suspensions, First and Base Editions, V6 and i4. It's in one of the Gavan Kershaw interviews - Smoking Tire podcast I think.

Ok thanks for clearing up. Apologies for mis-information.

 

[Wolfram]

I don't get this - how would the blue car even be drivable? There'd be no suspension travel. FWIW the wheel spacing on the white VP looks perfect. Why would you even want to buy a car that majors on its suspension setup, then completely alter it?

 

[eclat2emira]

The blue show car is 20mm lowered versus production height and also has spacers. The grey prototype is slightly above production height (5mm or so).

The ride height will be the same for Sports and Touring suspensions, First and Base Editions, V6 and i4. It's in one of the Gavan Kershaw interviews - Smoking Tire podcast I think.

Ahhh, some clarity and sanity from Tom as usual!

 

[Autopsy]

I don't get this - how would the blue car even be drivable? There'd be no suspension travel. FWIW the wheel spacing on the white VP looks perfect. Why would you even want to buy a car that majors on its suspension setup, then completely alter it?

Maybe because it looks better? Come on even lotus admits this by altering the show car by themself.
Production car's ride height is always a compromise between looking good and not scraping everywhere. With that said, I certainly appericate the expertise and effort went into setting the factory set up and hesitatant of ruining it.
So an factory lowerd option would be best of both worlds.

 

[xen]

Ignorant question here...

would adding spacers, let's assume the exact same as on the show car, affect the car's handling?

I quite like the show car look

 

[FederGigant]

I don't get this - how would the blue car even be drivable? There'd be no suspension travel. FWIW the wheel spacing on the white VP looks perfect. Why would you even want to buy a car that majors on its suspension setup, then completely alter it?

Funny enough, the show car is not even close to what I would call deep. There would be no issue at all with driving it and close to zero percent chance to scrape anywhere. There is also a lot of travel left. There might be room for another 4 cm down, then we could call it deep. However I don't like this look, when the tire sits underneath the fender. And it would obviously ruin the driving experience.

 

[4GIV8M3]

@xen an f1 driver wouldnt notice the difference.

 

[FederGigant]

@xen an f1 driver wouldnt notice the difference.

So you already finished from being ashamed by your silly posts? Great news!

 

[TomE]

I don't get this - how would the blue car even be drivable? There'd be no suspension travel. FWIW the wheel spacing on the white VP looks perfect. Why would you even want to buy a car that majors on its suspension setup, then completely alter it?

The blue car is a show car and has no engine. It's powered by electric motors so it can be moved about, at about walking pace. It's a common trick by many manufacturers to have their show cars lowered and with spacers, it gives a slightly more aggressive stance.