The Lotus Cars Community banner
  • Hi there! Why not register as a user to enjoy all of the benefits of the site? You may register here. When you register, please pick a username that is non-commercial. If you use a name that appears on any search engine commercially, you must pick another name, whether it applies to you or not. Commercial usernames are for supporting vendor use only. If you want to become a supporting vendor and grow your business, please follow this link. Thanks!

Lotus Body Damage Repair Needed...help plz

3K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  Spartacus 
#1 ·
Good afternoon forum,

I got my tires installed at Discount Tire in Bothell, WA last weekend and the jack slipped off the front jack point and cracked the fender fiberglass behind the front passenger wheel. Discount Tire has taken full responsibility of the damage.

They agreed to take care of the damages provided I go to a shop to get an estimate for repairs. Can anybody suggest a shop near me (Bothell, WA) where I can get a good repair job? This may need a new fender and arctic silver paint. Or this may need fiberglass patching and painting. Or, should I just ask Discount Tire to cut me a check and I can get some GUT vented fenders and a paint job?

First time uploading pics so forgive me if I did them incorrectly. I've attached the Discount Tire policy/procedure when Discount Tire is liable for vehicle damage for FYI.
 

Attachments

See less See more
3
#5 · (Edited)
I'm sorry this happened to you. This is about 2 minutes from my house. I'm glad I've never used these guys now.

Try giving Tru-Line, Cantrell Motorsports and Ishii Motor Industries a call and see who they recommend.

For future reference, you want to use Tru-line for mounting tires and aligning your Lotus.
 
#7 ·
Thank you, forum. I'll investigate into said body shops for estimates.

Me73, Thanks for the recommendation for mounting and alignment. I just moved up from southern california. In So. Cal. Discount Tire is known as American Tire. They've always been meticulous and their attention to detail was above average. They were the only tire shop (that I have experience with) that torques wheels instead of impacting the nuts/bolts onto the hubs. Anyways, irrelevant now. I'll take my AE86 and 01 Corolla there but no longer my Elise.

Motogeek, is Bel Red Auto that Spartacus recommended the name you were trying to recall?

Has anybody ever heard of Bel-Kirk Auto?

The damage is non visible unless you look for it, neither is it structural, and neither is fiberglass missing. More of a tear than anything.

Spartacus, $5k? Really? Awesome! If that's the case, I just might request cash instead.
 
#10 ·
Hope your repairs are simple. My wife got a flat one day and went to Mavis Discount Tire. After spending a considerable amount of time in there they tell her the tire cannot be fixed.
They offer her the choice to buy one tire or four. She really needed new tires anyway so she purchased four new ones. When she went to pay the bill they charged her for an alignment. She saw them put the tires on the car and drive it out of the shop, no alignment done. :huh:
She questioned why they charged her and the manager came up with some lame excuse. :shrug:
So they pulled it back in an 'aligned' it. A few weeks ago I replaced the front struts and when I pulled the wheels off the old original wheel weights were still on the rims! :facepalm
They also replaced a lug nut that didn't have the correct outside diameter of 21mm to fit the factory lug nut removal tool. If you got a flat along side the road your screwed. -eek-

Robert
 
#11 ·
Wow Type82. That's tragic as to what happened with the flat. I assume that she was driving a vehicle with no spare when the blow-out occurred (ie. Lotus Elise/Exige)? I used to take my rims off my car and directly have a tire shop mount and balance them...then haul them back and I'll torque/install the wheels myself. Just thought to save myself a bit of work since I live in an apartment now.
 
#13 ·
Hey Forum,

Sit-rep....I received a quote from Bel-Red auto for about $6700. This includes metallic paint, new fender, removal of Starshield and entire front end, blend paint, clear coat panels (rocker, fender, and entire clamshell), and re-application of starshield.

Discount Tire reviewed the detailed and itemized quote from Bel-Red, and contacted Bel-Red directly. Discount has taken full accountability and is sending me the check for the bill.

My thinking...vehicle has about 54k miles and the previous owner did not have starshield installed = chipped rockers and fenders (I installed Starshield after my purchase). If I have the fenders blended, passenger fender will look showroom and driver's side will be as-is. Should I order some fenders, have them painted Arctic Silver, and install them myself? Or is it really recommended to have the paint blended? I've never compared my paint to a brand new Arctic Silver Elise so I'm not sure how faded my paint is. If I decide to purchase fenders, I'll probably opt for either Exige fenders or GUT fenders (wider vented fenders). Thoughts?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top