Emira Wheel Gap Discussion

[wallstbear]

The viewing angle depends on how close you are to an object. You're talking about viewing height which is not the same thing. Things at a distance look smaller than things close up. If you're standing 20 feet away and I take a picture of you, you'll look different than if you're standing 2 feet away from me. They also appear to flatten out at a distance, whereas up close they are more 3 dimensional.

The calculation was done based on the ratio between the rim-to-fender distance against the rim diameter.

If you thought I just literally took the number of pixels and converted into a measurement, that's not the case at all.

In terms of pixels, the gap on the green car is more than double that of the yellow car (94 pixels : 43 pixels = 2.19 times);

The adjusted measurement is merely 19% different (10.6cm : 8.9cm = 1.19).

Also, the greater the angle, the smaller the gap will appear. So the green car's tire gap would appear smaller to the eye if you are looking up at a bigger angle...

 

[TomE]

If you want to know the standard spec of the officially launched model, you'd (hopefully) trust the technical head at Lotus.

If you want to know the actual measurements of a physical object physically sitting on a race track without even knowing whether this is one of the many prototypes, photos are way more useful (and available).

Photos aren’t useful if you don’t know what they’re of! You could measure off a picture of one of the development mules from 2020 and have about the same chance of having an accurate assessment of ride height.

 

[TomE]

Based on my limited observation, Lotus is still struggling to become as efficient at execution as their bigger competitors. That's why there is all this variations in ride height, wheel models, undrivable show cars, etc. I am not complaining though. They will need some time to adapt.

The variations are because the car hasn’t gone into production yet. We’re still in pre-launch and none of the cars we’ve seen so far are production spec. Some are close and some aren’t.

They had to reveal a car a year ahead of production, to gauge demand and manage supply chain. It was a gamble and as well as prompting demand it raised expectations. Some aspects have changed and a few aren’t yet finalised or require delayed parts so they can be completed.

 

[wallstbear]

Photos aren’t useful if you don’t know what they’re of! You could measure off a picture of one of the development mules from 2020 and have about the same chance of having an accurate assessment of ride height.

True, if you are trying to find out the official ride height for the production model.

But I was not doing that. I was merely responding to someone's question in the thread: "...does the yellow car look like its sitting lower than the Green?" The answer was, "yes the yellow is sitting 2/3 inch lower."

 

[wallstbear]

The variations are because the car hasn’t gone into production yet. We’re still in pre-launch and none of the cars we’ve seen so far are production spec. Some are close and some aren’t.

They had to reveal a car a year ahead of production, to gauge demand and manage supply chain. It was a gamble and as well as prompting demand it raised expectations. Some aspects have changed and a few aren’t yet finalised or require delayed parts so they can be completed.

And I agree with you on these points. The challenges of a smaller company.

 

[Eagle7]

The calculation was done based on the ratio between the rim-to-fender distance against the rim diameter.

If you thought I just literally took the number of pixels and converted into a measurement, that's not the case at all.

In terms of pixels, the gap on the green car is more than double that of the yellow car (94 pixels : 43 pixels = 2.19 times);

The adjusted measurement is merely 19% different (10.6cm : 8.9cm = 1.19).

Also, the greater the angle, the smaller the gap will appear. So the green car's tire gap would appear smaller to the eye if you are looking up at a bigger angle...

View attachment 5690

I've simulated a tire and a surround in a 3D program. The two objects are aligned vertically which you can see in the bottom right image, and the top two images show the same two objects from the front so you can see they have the same gap around the tire object.

These are the same two objects, except as you can see on the bottom right, all I did was move the tire up to offset it from the outer object, the way a tire usually is inside the outer edge of the wheel well. Notice the difference in wheel gap in the top two images. The one on the left now looks like it has a much bigger wheel gap.

The difference in apparent wheel gap is because the camera on the left image is closer to the objects than the camera in the right image which is using a longer lens. Both images above and below have the exact same setups. The ONLY thing I changed was moving the tire upward for the bottom image. Same cameras, same distances, same everything else.

When objects that are on the same horizontal plane, but not on the same vertical plane are being viewed from different angles, the parallax effect can make their position appear to change, even though they don't actually move. In this case, it's the wheel gap that appears to change.

Now @supersix or any admin, can we please put wheel gap and ride height in it's own sub-section of the forum so those people who want to talk about it can do so, and the rest of the forum doesn't have to see it ad infinitum ad nauseam.

 

[wallstbear]

I've simulated a tire and a surround in a 3D program. The two objects are aligned vertically which you can see in the bottom right image, and the top two images show the same two objects from the front so you can see they have the same gap around the tire object.
View attachment 5695

These are the same two objects, except as you can see on the bottom right, all I did was move the tire up to offset it from the outer object, the way a tire usually is inside the outer edge of the wheel well. Notice the difference in wheel gap in the top two images. The one on the left now looks like it has a much bigger wheel gap.

The difference in apparent wheel gap is because the camera on the left image is closer to the objects than the camera in the right image which is using a longer lens. Both images above and below have the exact same setups. The ONLY thing I changed was moving the tire upward for the bottom image. Same cameras, same distances, same everything else.

View attachment 5696

When objects that are on the same horizontal plane, but not on the same vertical plane are being viewed from different angles, the parallax effect can make their position appear to change, even though they don't actually move. In this case, it's the wheel gap that appears to change.

Now @supersix or any admin, can we please put wheel gap and ride height in it's own sub-section of the forum so those people who want to talk about it can do so, and the rest of the forum doesn't have to see it ad infinitum ad nauseam.

I am curious what distance you set for the camera lens from the two wheels. Honestly been watching a lot of Amber Heard trials lately and all the bad photo touch-up jobs.

 

[Eagle7]

I am curious what distance you set for the camera lens from the two wheels. Honestly been watching a lot of Amber Heard trials lately and all the bad photo touch-up jobs.

I had already closed the program without saving the file as it was only for the one use lol, but that's why I took a screen shot of the whole modeling window that has all 4 views on one screen, so you can see them as a group. If you're familiar with a 3d modeling program, the 4 windows typically represent Perspective view, Front view, Top view, and a Side view. In the upper left corner of each window it tells you what type of view you have it set for. When you're working on a 3d model, the 4 windows let you see what's going on from different angles. This is helpful because something that may look close in one view, can show as being far away in another.

For example, let's say I'm positioning a wheel center cap in the center of a wheel, and I'm doing it in the front view window. I can place it so it looks perfect, but if I look at the side view window, I can see the center cap is actually 3 feet behind the wheel, so I have to move it in that window too, not just center it in the front view.

All 4 windows show the same object or object group.

I wasn't trying to be super precise so I honestly don't remember what the exact settings were for the cameras.

 

[freefall_junkie]

For those interested, in the latest Schmee vid there is a good close look at the front wheel gap and it looks like it is on stilts here. The picture Harry Metcalfe posted of the blue car he has on test looks similar. Seems unlikely journalists have been given cars with non-production spec suspension at this this late stage . I can't believe that is the 'bodywork shrink wrapped around the mechanicals' look that Russell Carr intended

 

[kratedisease]

OMG, the wheel gap is fine.

If you want lower just go to aftermarket.

 

[Daz]

OMG, the wheel gap is fine.

If you want lower just go to aftermarket.

Don’t worry about wheel gaps, it’s more of a worry that they’ve put the steering wheel on the wrong side at this late stage

 

[xen]

Don’t worry about wheel gaps, it’s more of a worry that they’ve put the steering wheel on the wrong side at this late stage

This is an interesting point I haven’t really seen discussed. Why are there so many LHD cars doing the rounds - so much so that some press cars are LHD?

I’d understand if they were production cars and the intent was to keep as many cars for customers but these aren’t.

Thoughts?

 

[kratedisease]

Don’t worry about wheel gaps, it’s more of a worry that they’ve put the steering wheel on the wrong side at this late stage

hahah, just imagine the dealer in UK receiving a customer car configured correctly, except for steering wheel on the wrong side !!

 

[Bilbao-Emira]

hahah, just imagine the dealer in UK receiving a customer car configured correctly, except for steering wheel on the wrong side !!

steering wheel is on the left side, which is the right side!

 

[DenzilP]

For those interested, in the latest Schmee vid there is a good close look at the front wheel gap and it looks like it is on stilts here. The picture Harry Metcalfe posted of the blue car he has on test looks similar. Seems unlikely journalists have been given cars with non-production spec suspension at this this late stage . I can't believe that is the 'bodywork shrink wrapped around the mechanicals' look that Russell Carr intended

Yes agree with you, however both cars still look good. IMHO, I think if you have a keen eye on design you will notice the gap more and yes it shows up even worse on photos than it does in the flesh. I was told by CS last week (whom went off to double check), that the wheel gap will be as per the configurator for the production cars and the photos on the lotus driving academy seem to reflect this, which personally I am happy with. Let’s hope the productions cars come out better

 

[Eagle7]

I expect the wheel gap to be uniform all the way around the tire, which is the way it should be. Enthusiasts can lower their own car later if they so choose.

Here's a snapshot from that same video later on, and it shows a nice, uniform gap. As long as the gap is no greater than the height of the tire sidewall, it will look balanced, and that's exactly what we see here.

 

[Jonhklee]

I’m one to celebrate the wheel gap, I don’t have to worry about the Emira grounding out on The slight ramp into my garage!

 

[Bilbao-Emira]

I expect the wheel gap to be uniform all the way around the tire, which is the way it should be. Enthusiasts can lower their own car later if they so choose.

Here's a snapshot from that same video later on, and it shows a nice, uniform gap. As long as the gap is no greater than the height of the tire sidewall, it will look balanced, and that's exactly what we see here.

View attachment 5860

i was starting to be a little worried about so much discussion about the wheel gap, and decided to take a few pictures of my Evora for comparison.
Got the the conclusion that much of it depends on where the picture is taking from.
IMHO, the Evora wheel gap looks ok in the flesh, and in pictures can look like different heights we've seen so far from Emira´s pictures, and definitely bigger gap than in the configurator.

Some examples of the same car:

 

[TomE]

That needs to go back to the dealer straight away to be sorted out. You've got a different wheel gap on the left and right sides judging by those rear wheel shots

 

[Bilbao-Emira]

That needs to go back to the dealer straight away to be sorted out. You've got a different wheel gap on the left and right sides judging by those rear wheel shots

And that sums up most of the problem with pictures taken from different angles1

#ForTheDifferentGaps