fu@K, Sh!+, CR^P! DAMAGE!!!!

[Bob Dz.]

THAT SUCKS!!!! Great underbody pics. Well I guess it's time to upgrade to a 2006. Can I buy the clams off of you? Let the vulturing commence. I would hope that the insurance company "totals" your car and gives you a good amount for the car. I would be afraid of any damage not seen on the outside. Yet another 2005 Elise to end up on ebay with "repairable/savage title" for sale cheap. Maybe if the worker took your back wheels off first they would have been ok?

[ewalberg]

remember this car's frame is glued together. It might still be holding together buy what and how much residual stress just got transmitted into the frame? What i mean is that while which the car is designed to take some "normal" impacts without risidual damage to the frame, dropping one like this is not "normal" and i'd be worried about the frame now having internal stresses that are going to prematurely cause a bond failure.

I think you need to look up a high performance shop. Beleive it or not, this is the kind of mistake that i think would get repeated, unless you're absolutely sure it's the same guy working on it every time.... which is impossible.

to the wheel balancing fellow, you also need to find yourself a high performance wheel balancing shop. In the end it's worth the money and saves time. The america's tire in my neighborhood can't balance a tire to save a life if it's on their standard equipment which comes with a normal balancing package. If they put them on there Road-force matching machine (which is extra every time which i didn't want to spend) it'll come out okay but, but every time i brought my car to them after 5k miles from a "good" shop they were worse when i drove out than when i drove in.

Balancing machines need maintenance and care, and America's tire was trying to get me to believe theirs were within calibration. If they were than the specs are way too loose. How do they get away with it all day long? Most drivers drive soft suspended marshmellow cars and they just can't feel that something is not that balanced. I've drivens friends honda civics that i wouldn't take on the freeway the balance was so bad and they thought it was okay for a 3 hour road trip each way.

[mikester]

Awful, sorry this happened to you . Getting your Elise repaired will probably be stressful (it really was for me and I'm sure for most of the rest of us as well), try to be calm and just keep thinking positive thoughts. In the end, it'll all work out.

[Slade]

Originally Posted by Bob Dz.

Can I buy the clams off of you?

you mean clam, right? that rear one is probably toast.

[catapult]

Wow - what a nightmare. It was good you weren't there to actually watch it fall of the hoist. I would have freaked out. Your father in law as the manager of the place must have felt pretty bad. Luckily no one was hurt. It might have hurt a tad having a car fall on your head (even if its less than 2000 lbs). You should expect Goodyear to fully compensate you for this one. This sort of thing is definitely not good for their reputation. I'd be worried about taking my winter beater there.

[_JD_]

I take my wheels in and pull the manager aside to show him the condition of the wheels before mounting the new tires and get his/her assurance that I'll get them back the same way.

It paid off before with a 330i wheel that was replaced after a "technician" dropped it.

Sorry about your situation.

[xtn]

Morons!

The B-position lift points (Is that right? Aren't the B point right behind the doors?) are pretty dang close to being the balance point of the car front-to-back. If that's where they put the rear lift plates, then as soon as they took the front wheels off....

Even after all your efforts at communucating the issue. Simply amazing! Hope they buy you a new one! They durn well should!

xtn

[wrh3]

WOW, sorry to hear and see this.....I might have lost it, FIL or not. I just had my tire shop do some tires for me and even though my buddy is the manager and I know just about all of the techs, I was sure to bring my own low profile jack with pad and show them exactly what they needed to do. I was specific about the torque spec and felt a little better when he said they already had done a few of these......and I usually stand where I can see the bay (if not in the bay, sometimes the service manager is picky due to insurance regs) as they work on the car. Again, sorry to see this, hope everything works out for the best.

[babak]

Wow, this is incredulous enough to be an April fools joke. Sorry man, this sucks.

EDIT: After looking at the pictures on your web site I'm worried about the frame now. They suspended the car from the front wishbones. Bad idea. I'm thinking you're getting a new car.

[TWCNY]

So sorry to see this!

I would DEMAND a brand new car as the frame may have been damaged.

[flyguyskt]

daaaaaaaaaaaaamn. id be thinkin carbon clams????

[Ian]

So sorry.

Looking at those pics, I wouldn't accept anything less than a new car.

What color you gonna get?

[LSUFAN]

Dude, no way!!! Remind me not to use that shop when it comes time for new tires. Crazy. Let me know if you have problems with the carrier. I'm an attorney in town. It'll be interesting to see if there is any frame damage. So what color do you want your new Lotus to be?

[MitchT]

The whole a b c remove the plate thing is kinda confusing for me, I just want to know what to do with a 4 point lift, Side lift use rear side sill, 4 pt use, ?
chinese take out menu conbination a c unless you remove rear panel?
I have a headache soo sorry for you car dude. The shop I use deals with 914 race cars so I guess they are used to rear/mid engine car.

[ivan1]

I was sure this was a transio-style joke at first...sorry about your car...I would hope the frame is damaged so you can get a new car.

Once you are over it we should have a caption this photo contest though - it is just too unvelievable a pic to pass up...

as an example :

An elise on Viagra...contact your mechanic immediately if it stays in this position for more than 4 hours...

or

I told you what would happen if you kept rubbing it with wax like that....

[®ob]

I'd make sure to get a new car out of it. I'm guessing the frame might even be bent.

[OneFastLotus]

Oh craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap!!!!!! I'm so sorry!


I'd kill someone!

[Surferjer]

Babak makes a great point. Let your dealer know what they did, because a slightly damaged chassis where the wishbones attach will mean a full off restoration (i.e. total). You WANT a new car, so tell your dealer to lay it on thick. THICK. No expense spared, worst case scenario. I hope it works out for ya.

[Slade]

agree with wanting to total it. it took the (park place ltd suggested) repair shop six months to repair mine. an '06 is looking mighty good at this point.

[pwe]

Holy crap! I'm sorry that happened!

Guess I won't be taking mine into the local tire shop the next time I need tires...