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lotus jacking point damage

12K views 66 replies 31 participants last post by  wupwise 
#1 ·
i damaged my car yesterday jacking it up from point a to remove the tire is the repairable or no thanks Dean could i bend the aluminium back to where it was.
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#2 ·
Call a paintless dent guy, he may be able to glue pull it, however the fiberglass looks cracked.

Next time, you need to pt the jack on rivet area, the outer edge is soft and that's what happens.
 
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#3 ·
Best bet is to report this to your insurance company. They will most likely total the car :(.

Hah! I've seen much worse, but the good news is that it doesn't look like it damaged the fiberglass. Do you happen to have a photo of the jack that you used?
 
#8 ·
Yeah just that direction an inch makes the support a lot stronger. I actually think that sticker might be in the wrong place? Is that the OEM sticker or one made by GGLC? Just curious that I saw some different in a quick google search.
 
#32 ·
anyone can make a mistake like that jack stand was placed where sticker was i jacked the car in all other jack points as i was changing tires the frame only bent on one side ( **** happens!!
Just so I understand, the damage seen is from the jack stack? So you jacked up the car, placed a jack stand where the sticker was located then proceeded to jack up at the other stickered points and as the car rose it crumpled where the jack stand was placed? Is that is true? If so, it sounds like you used the wrong type of jack stand. Round flat surface stands and using pucks when jacking up the car will not result in the damage you experienced..

Please clarify if I got this wrong?

Just trying to help others explain how this could happen and what to do to avoid this from happening to others.
These car are not that fragile but there is a process to adhere to when servicing.
Thanks for sharing
 
#21 ·
[sigh] One of the reasons I recommend against hockey puck is that my nice chunk of wood is less slippery and covers a much larger area (~5" x 8").

Both of these factors are significant and result in much smaller chance of a mishap.
 
#24 ·
In my mind, the contributing factors to having an “accident” when lifting your car using a floor jack, is purely human error, it‘s got nothing to do with whether you use a piece of wood, a hockey puck or some other magic contraption in between the lift points and the jack. Paying attention to what you are doing is paramount, make sure not to lift the car too high so the angle becomes too much and making sure the jack rolls in under the car as you lift. If you have those two thing under control, then nothing bad is going to happen. That said, I lift using a hockey puck and bring one side up high enough to get my double wide 6”x6” under the wheels, then go to the other side and lift to get two double wide 6”x6” under and the back to the first side and repeat.
I have been do this for a very long time on both my Porsche and now the Lotus as well with no problems what so ever.
 
#25 ·
Don't agree, but thanks.

Yes, human error, but a sizable piece of wood affords a much greater margin of "error".
 
#26 ·
I can see you feel very strongly about that piece of wood. 🤪
 
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#27 ·
Perceptive. Should I post a photo??

This discussion has been going on about 15 yrs. In that time, no one reported any problem with wood; only with dumb-ass pucks.

Uh, I have no photo of beloved block. But this device is for my XRS. Guess what it's made of...
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#28 ·
Be glad this is all that happened. I busted the fiberglass a good many years ago, an awful crack-crunch sound.

I don’t like hockey pucks much either, especially ones with paper logos etc on them. Just plain slippery.

My deal was simply because I did not get the jack positioned far enough inboard, that simple. I have lifted that car probably 100 times though, so a pretty good percentage of non idiot experiences.

Put several rows of black tape over the wound and ran track only for at least two years. Eventually a track mishap led to bigger repairs and we replaced the whole panel.
 
#29 ·
I don't think hot glue will be strong enough to pull the aluminum. I just went out and used a wide hard sharp edged tool I will not name due to ridicule it will entice, between the sill and the aluminum. I was able to deform the aluminum without cracking the glass. Your results may vary. Another option is to epoxy a pull stud. Carefully grind it off without overheating things when you are done.
 
#30 ·
I need to look at the ops pics again, but I jack mine up with a harbor freight jack with no problems. Also I even jack the front by putting the jack in the center of where the front structure has a beam across for the front suspension. Understanding where the frame and body are strong can allow lift points
 
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