[LotusManDan]

So some kid thought that it would be a good idea to turn into oncoming traffic to pass me on the left of the left hand tuning lane rather than use the right hand passing lane. long story short his license is clipped and he has a court appearance.

My lotus sustained some body damaged not terrible mostly small cracks and tire scuffed from his pickup. I cant find any one that will touche the thing. One guy said remove all the parts and ill paint them. But he don't want to want repair the old ones. So i am on the hunt for a front an rear clam and the marker lights. Any suggestions? I thought of buying carbon fiber ones and having them painted just cause the originals take forever to get and are super expensive anyone been down this road or have resources to get me some clams?

 

[SCamper]

Oh damn. Sorry to see this. Good luck with the repair. Where are you located? Sector111 in Temecula, CA has a selection. Check with them.

Alex

 

[bri3d]

Hard to see in those pictures but you should probably be shopping around to see if anyone else can do a repair.

Rear doesn't look too bad but again pictures of the outside don't really tell the story.

I think Sector111 only sell a "race" front clam with no headlight buckets.

The OnRails Engineering people (Lowtush) are working on a replica front clam : http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f259/elise-front-clams-who-needs-one-225914/ .

Otherwise I think you're on the long wait list with everyone else who's broken a clam recently...

 

[sturgeongeneral]

Try contacting Rob at Dieschwerks in San Jose. He should have some used ones.

 

[qu1Z]

Now that I've seen clams in worse shape get repairs, that totally looks repairable.

 

[cyow5]

Like I was told with mine - everything fiberglass is repairable by someone good enough. If his insurance is paying though, I'd just replace them. You can also email the pics to lotus' after sales, and they can advise you since it is technically a crash structure.


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[GR82DRV]

While they might be "small cracks" he pretty much trashed the entire left side of your car, including your LSS wheels. Don't settle without a thorough accounting of damage.

On the positive side, judging from the rubber marks he did just run a blow down the entire side of your car and didn't strike the frame.

 

[<@¿@>]

Why don't you go to a boat shop? They work with fiberglass all of the time... I bet they'll repair it better and faster than any auto body place...

 

[LotusManDan]

So far non of the local shops what to touch it. I am kinda scared to put it in the hands of some of these body guys i don't think they do as much fiberglass as i thought they did.

Anyone ever bought them Carbon Fiber clams and painted them ? There cheaper than the OEMs don't under stand how that works. would it be worth buying them then have them painted?

 

[oldmansan]

So far non of the local shops what to touch it. I am kinda scared to put it in the hands of some of these body guys i don't think they do as much fiberglass as i thought they did.

Anyone ever bought them Carbon Fiber clams and painted them ? There cheaper than the OEMs don't under stand how that works. would it be worth buying them then have them painted?

You haven't said where you're at. Hard to advise a shop without that information.

The carbon clams are heavier from what I've read. Sector has race clams that are lighter than stock and supposedly cheaper.

San

 

[Aedo]

The front looks marginal... but the rear looks repairable...

Like I was told with mine - everything fiberglass is repairable by someone good enough. If his insurance is paying though, I'd just replace them. You can also email the pics to lotus' after sales, and they can advise you since it is technically a crash structure.

The problem is that spares are simply not available.

Why don't you go to a boat shop? They work with fiberglass all of the time... I bet they'll repair it better and faster than any auto body place...

Have you ever had a glass boat repaired? Weight isn't something that boat shops are too worried about!!

So far non of the local shops what to touch it. I am kinda scared to put it in the hands of some of these body guys i don't think they do as much fiberglass as i thought they did.

Anyone ever bought them Carbon Fiber clams and painted them ? There cheaper than the OEMs don't under stand how that works. would it be worth buying them then have them painted?

All reports of non-OEM clams come back "loads of work required to get them to fit"...

Come to think of it... I had my front replaced last year with an OEM clam and the shop had to remove and replace the headlight buckets to get them to fit properly!!!

...
The carbon clams are heavier from what I've read.

They are made for looks not performance and are CF over glass...

...
Sector has race clams that are lighter than stock and supposedly cheaper.

The problem with race clams, other than lack of headlight buckets, is lack of boot and a greater requirement to "fettle"...

 

[MotoGeek]

Since when are passing lanes on the right?

 

[LotusManDan]

When your in the left lane desinated for turning ONLY and the accident investigator measures your skids and determines that your incompetent and you tripled the speed limit.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Sorry, beautiful car.

That is easily $15-20K in damage and could be totaled if new OEM clams are needed. Don't forget to have the suspension checked. The surface cracks aren't the total extent of the damage.

 

[LotusManDan]

Any key areas to check ?