Perfect. Thank you very much
Andy, wet flat off, etch primer, gloss black spray and clear lacquer. Around £25 for paint.
Been wet painted it will last longer than anodising and if it gets chipped or scratched flat off and do again
I have them on the shelf right now …
Fantastic progress and attention to detail 
Really enjoying catching up with this build thread, keep it coming 
+1 … appreciate the effort put in by all rebuilders
What ceramic coating will you go for out of interest?
I’ve had it done before but just wondered as I think of fibreglass as a breathing thing and ceramic coating surely prevents that to a point? I know very little about anything!
Agreed!
There is a lot of confusion and media chatter about the situation with VAT and Duty on purchases from EU suppliers. Much of this is inaccurate and seems to be based on misunderstandings.
The above link describes the process. Basically any order below £135 in value should have UK VAT charged by the retailer and this should be shown clearly on the commercial invoice accompanying the package. VAT should not then be charged at entry to the UK. Effectively the price will be in line with a UK purchase, ie. VAT paid at point of sale.
Above £135 value the supplier does not add VAT. Again this should be shown on the commercial invoice. VAT will then be charged at import so, basically, the total cost would be similar to a UK purchase.
However, if the value is above a certain value Import Duty is also payable. This was also £135 but I’m not sure if it has changed. The rate for goods up to £630 is 2.5%. Above that rates change and depend on the type of goods.
In a way this shouldn’t make the goods more expensive than if they were imported commercially and then retailed, since the importer would have to pay the duty anyway.
The other cost to make an allowance for is the fee charged by the courier for processing the paperwork. Most couriers will actually have paid any taxes at the point of import, then will invoice the purchaser for them. This may seem a pain, but it makes the import process much swifter since what are termed low value goods are cleared in bulk.
Business imports, where the importers are VAT registered, require an EORI number and the EU seller would not charge VAT.
Hope that helps!
I expect it’ll be Gtechniq CSL topped with Exov4 on the paint and carbon, and HALO on the PPF. I’ll also use Gyeon Q2 Rim on the wheels, and I think CarPRO FlyByForte
As for coatings I could go on about forever… Short story is all coating don’t have a perfect chemical bond so gaps remain, but even if they didn’t, a cured fibreglass or carbon part covered with paint should be so cured that its irrelevant.
But, as far as breathing and venting of paint and fibreglass, here’s my take and I’m sure there are many different variation of it but I’ve research to death on this so I understand what I’m doing when prepping and detailing cars:
SORRY IN ADVANCE, ITS A LONG WORDY POST, BUT HOPEFULLY MAKES SENSE
What is venting or breathing:
Many people state paint should be able to breath, and you hear the same for fibreglass (and by default carbon due to the physical similarities) - breathing really is just venting, as the solvents that are used as carriers for the paint or adhesive. And you would be absolutely right, if this process is still happening by preventing the solvent gasses escaping you will have issues.
It would be just the same as spots on skin, it can’t naturally vent, gets blocked, pressure builds - then raises the surface and eventually that pressure is too much it bursts resulting in a cavity. You will see this in carbon parts that have been refinished badly, they throw clear coat on it, solvent hasn’t vented and then throw more lacquer on - eventually the solvent has to bubble out creating little pinprick defects.
So yes if there is still curing happening, paint, GRP, Carbon all has to vent, or breath. But the big difference over the past is that all of these material cure much much quicker these days.
Paint venting
Working through the material, the paint in the past would cure with a far higher amount of evaporation as opposed to chemical bonding, meaning that a 1960’s paint would take months, and to certain extent never really cure it would remain in a plasticised state. Nowadays most OEM’s are 1k paints that are baked on the line, or 2k’s that are sprayed in the line for plastic bumpers as you can only take bumpers etc up to 90degrees. 2k cures by means of a chemical reaction primarily (with some evaporation) which sets hard, very very hard.
I mention all of the above for a reason, its a material you shouldn’t cover before it’s finished venting so linked to your concern, and because a 2k paint locks in hard - that also would prevent venting from anything beneath it (see early comment of pinpricks on refinished carbon)
Fibreglass
So then GRP: That also has seen an evolution from the times that Lotus were cutting edge. In the old days it was chopped up glass, laid in a resin which cured via evaporation, That needed to vent, so would vent for years. But now Fibreglass is very different you have hand laid glass with resin (but cures differently from the old days), variations on Resin Transfer Moulding, lotus nowadays use VARTM (Vacuum assisted resin transfer molding).
Processes and chemicals have changed. But overall you get a much much faster cure time - which means you are no longer venting like GRP would do in the old days.
There are variations in the process lotus use in their cars. The majority of the current cars in production use VARTM (single sided mould, dry fibre, resin injection and sucked through via vacuum), or RFI (matched die mold, resin drown through via autoclaving)
The S2 (and I think S1) exiges are hand laid so are thicker and heavier. Its for these reasons the Exige is less effected by ‘osmosis’ issues in the paint. Hand laid clams had a consistent top and bottom layer cure, they cure hard. So if the matting was dry then no trapped moisture, no need to vent the moisture. However the doors, and the Elise clams are VARTM which has an inconsistent cure when made badly. This can lead to moisture ingress from the rear, which comes out through the top and bursts through the paint. I mention this as the background is the GRP should be completely sealed by itself, it should not be venting any more. If it’s not cured solid it will attract moisture.
Conclusion (just jump here)
So short story on the GRP is it doesn’t (shouldn’t) vent as it is cured but the time it leaves the factory, the paint also wouldn’t be venting as that is also cured. So if it still needs to vent or breath in any meaningful way, then something is wrong and it should be sorted as you would get.
Both resin and paint cure by chemical reaction and evaporation. 1k is more evaporation thats why you bake it, Resin and 2k more chemical reaction that evaporation (though still some). So factory paint on metal cars thats been baked should be cured by the time it leaves the factory gates, accelerated by heat. Resin products (Fibreglass, Carbon) would be cured by the time it leaves the factory, and 2k paint again would be cured by the time it leaves the factory. 2k paint also would be the same. Dupont state that if mixed correctly you can seal paint after 2 hours, it can be that quick. Account for even bad prep or mixing if you don’t have full cure within 2 weeks you never will have full cure. And by full cure I mean 99%
With all that being said, a ceramic, wax sealant, or PPF will all allow a certain amount of venting of any latent gas so the final 1% can get thought if still there (that 1% would only be there due to less than optimal bake, mixing etc)
Cheers all, if others are getting something out of it I’ll carry on
Should go without saying. I think many people read and don’t post too, so don’t be discouraged if it goes a bit quiet.
Thanks for the reply, appreciate that.
Out of interest Frank at Option 1 has seen my car twice and I’ve been very happy with his work and communication. Sorry to hear things didn’t work out with yourself.
No issue with Frank, I still would recommend his work. But with Covid making life harder, being a few hours away just meant it wasn’t practical in the current circumstances. If he was as close to me as Oakmere none of the issues would have even factored. Frank knows his stuff without doubt and I have never seen a bad job coming out of Option 1
In a post covid world if I wanted another respray he’d without doubt be on the list. Anyone with Osmosis issues on the paint for instance, he would be the only place I would go to!
I’m used to muttering to myself, so I wouldn’t notice for a while!
The My10 Cup 260 wheels were about the lightest at the time (I think they claimed they were the lightest of any production car) and the whilst they are needed to make it a proper Cup 260, I’m not really in love with them. But they are growing on me.
So I wanted to grab a spare set, as a Lotus without a spare wheels isn’t on. I thought about a 240r set, but the orginal cup wheels were similar just machines out, so wouldn’t really be another look. After lots of debate with myself, mainly looking at Americans cars (lets be honest they are a little more willing to try out new things than brits on a lotus) I decided I wanted the Elise 250/260cup wheels, and was going to pick them up from Seriously Dave when the time was right.
I’ve grown to fall out of love of black wheels, so started thinking about a colour change so second hand sets seemed ideal as you can only get them in black.
Borrowed a friends set and then photoshop a few colours:
Bronze:
Gold:
Black:
Grey:
Silver:
For me the lighter wheel, the better the concave elements on the in the wheels is shown off, the darker colours just hides it, so the lighter colours are winners for me…
Silver is most likely, at the moment, but probably a slightly darker more impactful silver, but not quite shadow chrome.
Being really pedantic about wheels I don’t need to get them refinished much, so need to find someone I can trust
I kept an eye out and managed to pic up a bargain forged set for well under a grand, it was buying off a bloke in Poland I’d never met, who had no posting history and kept going quiet… So with absolutely no alarm bells ringing I excitedly sent him my money then looked up the buyer protection on PayPal.
But to his credit less than a week later DPD dropped these badboys off, with well worm A048’s - OEM spec forged wheels in black from a 250Cup - happy days!
Now to pick the correct shade, get them refinished and pick some tyres…
So with absolutely no alarm bells ringing I excitedly sent him my money then looked up the buyer protection on PayPal.
That made me laugh. Lots.
I’ve very much become a fan of gunmetal\titanium wheels, dark enough to not look constantly dirty, yet light enough to look add visual brightness you get from silver wheels
Its definitely between Hi Power Silver or gunmetal, but I keep changing my mind! I just need to toss a coin I think!
Ditto
Simon@Oakmere just sent through some more pics - alls looking good. Should be able to see it tomorrow before going into final finish.
I have a new splitter sitting at home to fit, the one thats fitted at the moment is my manky one with a repair in from the previous owner
Hopefully the factory need no longer than 5 months to print a set of bloody stickers, but I said that at 1, 2 , 3 and 4 months. I was going to leave them off because they are a bit, well, chav I suppose, but it now looks a bit naked without them!
Factory keep saying any day now, in the time its taken for them to print a sheet of stickers the car has been stripped of subframe, suspension, all of that refurbed, all fittings replaced, clam been on and off 3 times, all rads changed, heater and aircon service, interior completely stripped, complete back to chassis respray and a billion other things - and it still looks like that will beat their ability to print a sheet of stickers. Good to see some things never change at Lotus!