[Tpup]

"I've read about galvanic corrosion that can occur between the aluminum chassis and various fasteners that are attached to it."

Is this Elise specific or just in general? I have owned an Exige for a little less then 3 years and have not had that problem, nor have I every heard it from another owner (I have frequented the European forums for Exige/Elise for a long time). The only "Elise" corrosion issue I am aware of is one that has occurred on some cars to the floor. This seems to be caused by moisture under the rubber mat that is trapped. I don't have the rubber mats in my car and have not had the problem.

"I've also read on a few websites about different attempts to address this issue, including swapping fasteners for stainless steel, etc. "

The stainless fastener issue you may be talking about is the use of non-stainless bolts, hose clips, etc that Lotus puts on production cars. These do rust and many people swap them out for stainless. Some of the 3rd party vendors sell kits that include everything you need to go 100% stainless. This has nothing to do with the Elise chassis, the Esprit has the same problem. I have many rusted screws/bolts/hose clips on my car. I replace them as I get around to it, I'm not in a hurry.

"The basic question is if this truly is an 'issue' at all. Is there anyone who has owned an Elise for a fairly long period (at least a few years) out there that can shed some light on this?"

I don't think it's a big issue, however, I'll defer to someone who has an Elise as a daily driver for longer than I have had mine...

Good luck.
Roy

 

[Goose]

Thanks, Tpup.

It's good to hear from somebody on this question who actually has owned an Elise/Exige for some time. As I suspected, my concerns appear to be unfounded, and I'm glad that this has not been a problem for you.

I will say that, having owned an older Esprit, the problem (if it did exist) would be specific the Elise/Exige. The corrosion to which I was referring occurs when dissimilar metals are fastened together, as with mild steel bolts into an aluminum chassis. The Esprit is not saddled with this corrosion concern, as its backbone chassis is also mild steel.

Thanks again for the information!

 

[Tpup]

Hey Goose,

My comment about the Esprit was refering to the bolts and fasteners. On my Esprit, some of the bolts rusted, like the ones that held on the rear deck lid. Nothing major, just normal rust on non-stanless bolts. Not related to the chassis...

Which Esprit do/did you own? Great cars imo!

Roy

 

[Prolene]

You can read about stainless steel fasteners on an alumimun chassis here.

 

[Goose]

Roy/everybody,

I just re-read my last response and wanted to apologize - I didn't mean to sound critical. (gotta work on my writing skills )

In answer to your question, I had a well-worn '86 Turbo Esprit (the one with Bosch fuel injection and plastic injector lines). As far as I could tell, I was its fourth owner - it had about 35,000 miles when I got it. After pouring far too much into it, I wound up selling it. I guess you could say I got it just perfect -- for the next guy.

I must say that I probably am pretty well-aquainted with that particular model, if anybody has questions. Come to think of it, I could probably put the scare into any Lotus newbies out there who are expecting Honda-like reliability!