During the Superbowl halftime someone backed over my car, to a point 18 inches from the windshield. The trailer hitch of their truck compressed the car, avoiding damage to the fenders but gouging the clam from the badge to mid way of the “chicken wire” vents. Question: does the clam need to be removed to look for damage beneath it from the weight of the truck? Also, will the clam need to be replaced if it is deeply gouged but not torn through? The car has 14 miles on it. The person who backed over it asked “why did you park behind me in the driveway?”.
the loading on your clam will have been taken initially on the mounting points - check them to see if they have cracked.
I would also check the radiator to see if there is any damage if the clam has bent down enough to touch that (probably not).
All fibreglass can be repaired so that probably not too much of an issue.
I would just check shutlines and reference points from the clam to ground around the front of the car to see if there is any indication that more damage has been done.
that sucks majorly. I know how angry/upset i was when someone put a scrape on the front of mine… and that was after a lot more miles than 14! i never knew who did it… but i trust the culprit is not hesitating to pay for the repair to yours?
I think their initial comment was just out of embarassment and shock. It was dark and the car is black, but still…
I am worried that the damage to the fiberglass will be evident with repairs in the years to come. And I hope to keep this car a long time (but then I said that about a lot of other cars in the past!)I was told by the dealer that the clam is “glued” to the frame and was wondering how one would know if this attachment has been weakened. On the other hand, they said to take the clam off usually destroys it. Would it not be better to spend $2500 and get a new clam put on, and use the old one for a coffee table?
I could post up some pictures if I could figure out how, couldn’t find it in the FAQ.
Their insurance company will pay for the damages. I wonder if this incident will depreciate the car substantially?
Really sorry to hear this
Do NOT mess around repairing the existing clam, INSIST upon a new clam. The other person’s insurance will pay for the work, won’t it?
As Pesky says, get a new clam. It’s a no brainer.
Repair work can be perfect if done properly, and wouldn’t even get noticed from the inside, but if your dealer is already telling you that it’s glued to the chassis… it already tells you how much you can trust their work.
So, no experience, better not attempt to repair.
Because these cars are not welded and any damaged fibreglass cannot damage the chassis, tehre is no danger of the car suffering, therefore depreciating when you change something.
BTW, the clam is held on by bolts and brackets. The front crash structure is glued. But if that’s damaged, they’ll need to unglue it from the chassis and glue in another one.
Thanks for the information! These cars are new to the US so the dealer’s experience will be nonexistent. Fortunately, the insurance company also has no experience (the car was not even in their system, the adjuster said he had never had that happen in 33 years) and they will do whatever the dealer tells them to do. They use a body shop next door to the dealer that is supposed to do good work. I guess the glued on parts are ok, the damage occured from the Lotus badge backward toward the windshield. But the central “rib” of fiberglass between the vents (chicken wire) was scraped along the edge to the point it took the edge down to a 45 degree angle and almost broke through the fiberglass in one small area. Also, one of the headlight covers has a gouge in it, I was told the unit costs a thousand dollars to replace as you can’t just replace the lens cover alone.
So difficult having the car and not being able to drive it after waiting so long.
Do NOT mess around repairing the existing clam, INSIST upon a new clam. The other person’s insurance will pay for the work, won’t it?
I think you need to post some photos 1st before anyone can decide that the clam is a writeoff. A new clam would be nice , but I doubt the insurance company will agree to one if it does not justify it. and fibreglass is easily repaired to as good as new.
Either your dealer is a moron with regard to how it fixes, or you misunderstood what they told you.
Sorry to be dense, but I cannot locate the instructions for uploading and posting pics on this forum. The dealer won’t have the car until Thursday, they are 3 hours away and I will be dropping it off (ironically on the way to a track event). Is the Elise clam secured in a different fashion, maybe that is what they are going on?
A new clam would be nice , but I doubt the insurance company will agree to one if it does not justify it.
It is not too hard to get a (decent!) Ins Co to write off a clam, in my experience (not my car, I hasten to add).
How hard is it to take the clam on and off? I do a lot of track days and it would almost be worth an hour or two of work not to have to tape off the front of my car for the track and to keep one more pristine. Although I did find this new latex stuff you paint on and then peel off afterward that has potential. But having already cracked a windshield, replaced a rim and destroyed the starshield on my Elise I can see the value in an extra clam. I didn’t bother with starshield on the Exige. It just made it harder to fix the rock chips and offered very little protection on the Elise. It would be nice if there were a silver lining somewhere in this cloud.
As the damage to the clam is right in my line of sight I would think it would be hard to get it perfect enough not to notice the repair. I am in favor of insisting on a new clam, my only reluctance being how much longer the car will be out of commission while waiting on the part, the extra work and extra painting. Also, I think they have to file a damage report on the vehicle if they do a repair that extensive.
It is good news that at least the frame and underpinnings of the car were probably not damaged by the unusual stress load. Adds new meaning to the term downforce.
It is not too hard to get a (decent!) Ins Co to write off a clam, in my experience (not my car, I hasten to add).
I’ll file that one away…it may come in handy in the future!
How hard is it to take the clam on and off? I do a lot of track days and it would almost be worth an hour or two of work not to have to tape off the front of my car for the track and to keep one more pristine.
I think this would be a little OTT…and possibly you have more chance of damaging your clam taking it on/off & leaving it in the pitlane than you would do driving the car.
Remember, you will only get stonechips from following a car in front…a trackday isn’t a race so there is no need to be tucked up under another car.
As the damage to the clam is right in my line of sight I would think it would be hard to get it perfect enough not to notice the repair.
I know its flogging a dead horse but a good repair will not be noticeable!
I am in favor of insisting on a new clam, my only reluctance being how much longer the car will be out of commission while waiting on the part, the extra work and extra painting.
Shouldn’t it mean your car is out of commission less time? After all, they can do all the work on the new clam and you only need to go in to have them swapped over. The headlights might take a little longer - or I think you mentioned one was damaged, so that’s a new one.
Sorry to be dense, but I cannot locate the instructions for uploading and posting pics on this forum.
Open an account with a site like PHOTOBUCKET, upload photos from your pc to the site, cut & paste the photo url and insert it in space that pops up after you click on the “image” button in the section to the right of the smiley faces…hope that not …
[image]hthttp://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f205/cobra9696
No, not that photobucket, the previous photobucket!
Anyway, yes, the clam is attached in the same way as your federal Elise, and if the UK Elise is anything to go by, you could have it off in about 2 hours, just applying common sense.
As pointed, having another clam is a moot point, unless you can manage to get a new clam under insurance AND get to keep the damaged one, which you could fix whenever convenient and keep it, just in case…
As pointed, having another clam is a moot point, unless you can manage to get a new clam under insurance AND get to keep the damaged one, which you could fix whenever convenient and keep it, just in case… [/quote]
Yes, now you are with me!
I am getting closer to having the photo up, having trouble with this cut and paste business.
[image]http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f205/cobra9696/E[/image]
![http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f205/cobra9696/Exigegouge.jpg[/image]](http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f205/cobra9696/Exigegouge.jpg%5B/image%5D){kind=link}
Thanks Bob, I think I was putting it under image instead of URL. Anyway, that gouge is where his trailer hitch was sitting on top of my car. Shame I didn’t get a picture of that, but he pulled forward pretty quickly no doubt. He must have had the car pretty much pinned to the ground as the initial contact was at the Lotus emblem, and it pushed the car down as it rode up on the car.
Doesn’t look that bad - you could cover it with a vinyl…a stripe kit and keep the insurance money.
[image]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d121/stevegreen101/JapaneseTrailExige008.jpg[/image]
![http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d121/stevegreen101/JapaneseTrailExige008.jpg[/image]](http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d121/stevegreen101/JapaneseTrailExige008.jpg%5B/image%5D){kind=link}