OK so what is it that makes my car eat headlight access panels (the plastic liner at the front of the wheel arch)?
I fitted a brand new panel to the near side before the Spa trip, and upon inspection I see it’s been worn right through already. The off side panel (also recently new) seems to have survived for now.
So what causes it, and is there anything I can do to prevent it happening again?
You are going to eat the nearside more than the offside on a clockwise track.
Given that your tyre size was standard, it’s suspension travel for a given ride height.
Assuming that your headlights and liners are where they should be, you either stiffen up ,ride higher ( I had to put mine back up a fraction), or accept the headlights as disposable items.
Gave up with mine they just have big holes in them now 
Drive bloody slower !!
Well yeah you’re all saying what I thought!
Oh well, guess I’ll just put up with holes 
Lotus’ product test program obviously wasn’t that in depth
on the road with standard suspension I doubt you could ever rub a hole in them, on track and lowered is a different story. I suspect Lotus wasn’t too bothered about testing against what we do
They wouldn’t know where to start when anticipating some modders work 
[quote=tim_marra][/quote]
They wouldn’t know where to start when anticipating some modders work [/quote]
Thats all well and good, but as it stands my car only has factory fitted ‘mods’, running standard tyre sizes, and adjustable suspension that came with the car - set to an even 120mm all round, so only 10mm(?) below stock!
And used on track
Mine ate through the access panels and even the headlight units leaving reservoirs of water that I had to wick out using kitchen roll.
I cut little plastic strips from an empty coke bottle and glued them in place to re-seal the headlight units. Then i cut sections to shape from a biscuit tin lid and riveted them over the holes in the access panels to stop them wearing through again.
That was two years ago and no problems in the meantime. Plus I think the added parts are nicely in tune with the cars overall bill of materials.
Was that an Ali or CF biscuit tin?
[quote=motorhead]
I cut little plastic strips from an empty coke bottle and glued them in place to re-seal the headlight units. Then i cut sections to shape from a biscuit tin lid and riveted them over the holes . [/quote]
Picked this up off Blue Peter?
This being a no-expenses-spared job, the lid was source from a tin of Fox’s classic. None of your cheapo biccies here…
I forgot to mention the hair drier and funnel wedged into each unit via the bulb aperture an hour or so to try and dehumidify them. Pretty sophisticated operation all round, I think you’ll agree
Pic I found from a meet the day before yesterday - I drove through a fair bit of rain on the way and it rained while I was there but no condensation so I think my high tech repair job is holding up nicely. Front left was the most affected, needless to say.
nice car…
Woah that car looks low!
Good work on drying the headlight unit - been there, done that!
on a second look if you still have the biscuit tin you should make a full size front plate. Just in case
That is low, wish I could run mine that low but the local nimby crowd have decided there is huge need for traffic calming and sleeping police men everywhere
Thats is low for an s2, looks like its running about 100 mm at the front…
Have you swapped out you fronupper wishbones? Id be a bit concerned about the upper ball jionts more than the wheel arch liners…
it’s actually nearer 110mm, but yeah maybe a bit low. with the 7/8" arb a lot of the roll is gone so there’s actually negligible contact with the liners even on a dry trackday. the real contact used to happen when i had the 3/4" one which is a lot less rigid.
nothing else done with the suspension bar the nitron one-ways with eibach springs and a custom geo for a little extra rear moveability when pressing on. all joints looking perfectly ok.
the biggest inconvenience is dealing with the odd mammoth speed bump and most multi-storey car parks including the one at work are out of bounds.
luckily the local tesco which runs a standing feature on world beers has quite a gently ramped underground park.