Where did you buy it?
Was it a salvage? write off? which category?
This might indicate you what the insurance thought of the damage already.
Something has hit it in the side.The plastic is damaged all down the side and the door.The chassis is also damaged where the wheel mounts on.After reading all that will it be safe when repaired.
LotusLover
It depends on the extent of the damage and what is needed to repair it. Post some pics and/or get your Lotus Dealer to have a look. You must already have got a repairer/bodyshop to have a look ehhh ??? what did they say?
And also, what are the answers to Uldis questions above? All the body panels can be replaced but the chassis damage needs close consideration. Are you talking about the front suspension mount or rear suspension mount?
Or is it like one of those dinky toys where the wheels mount directly onto the chassis??
Just to add to this debate:
I bought my car 2 months ago, 190 upgrade, removable wheel,short shift gearchange, re-upholstered two-tone leather, all alloy fixings, never tracked (yet) mint throughout with ONLY 5,629 MILES. looks and drives like new .Price �22995. I think anyone looking to buy an Exige already has fairly good knowledge of what these are all about, and one thing you learn is that an accident damaged model is not the way to go. I`m sure most people would rather pay 2-3k more and have a real straight one. Having said that I don’t doubt yours has been repaired well but would you honestly go out and spend 19k and gamble that there will be no future problems? without the further problems of re-selling on.
I bought mine out of the auto trader on a private sale.The suspension has ripped out of the chassis at the front at the top.I have taken it to a garage who said they could ‘sikaflex weld’ a new piece of aluminium.I havent got a digital camera so i cant take any pictures.The man i bought it off said it is category b if that helps to gauge the amount of damage.
Post deleted by Admin5
Ive just read all this for the first time.If im going to get treated like evosal for having a damaged car i dont think ill be on here much.Your attitude seems to stink.
ehh… ??? … … strange …
We weren’t.
And we didn’t.
Got tired of pretending to be a different person?
It can be seen on the writing style that you and EVOSAL are the same.
Besides, nobody buys a damaged Elise without having a clue on how severe it is and what to do.
And if they were as lost as to do it, they would go to the BBS for help.
And if they didn’t and for some reason would choose this site, what are the odds that he choses this very same thread?
With the same writing style?
Slim to none.
Bye bye!
PS - hope to see you some day driving your Exige. Maybe you can teach me a thing or two?
This is a fantadtic thread, I mean it’s got intrigue, accident damage, trainspotting, advise on parker use and now it seems possible impersonation of a Lotus enthusiast. I really hope that lotuslover isn’t evosal 'cos if he is, what a complete fairy cake.
Lotuslover aka Sid Obvious from Neepsend (Sheffield)! - as if you were believed heh heh
Peter hope you going to NYLOC dinner next Tues!
Oh an Evo see your Exige is still on sale on Autotrader…
Your attitude seems to stink.
only smell round here is farmyards…
Oh dear, if the suspension has been ripped out at the front then the chassis is knackered and not repairable due the stresses involved.
CATEGORY B MEANS THE CAR MUST NEVER REAPPEAR ON THE ROAD and can only be broken for spares.
BTW With CAT B the law requires you to crush the chassis once salvagable parts have been removed
…a garage who said they could ‘sikaflex weld’ a new piece of aluminium…
This sounds really dodgy. Silkaflex is a black “mastic” like sealant/adhesive which Lotus use in a few places around the car such as holding mesh vents in place, and attaching the polycarbonate part of the engine cover to its fibreglass frame. It’s good sticky stuff, but for repairing an aluminium chassis? That seems weird.
I’ve no wish to upset any fellow enthusiasts, but I really wouldn’t touch this car with a bargepole. One aluminium has been bent, it is severely weakened, and one of the key points to the Elise’s bonded aluminium tub is that the suspension mounts are much more precisely located than pretty much any other car. The suspension is extremely sensitive to any alignment issues, and I really wouldn’t want to drive this car unless it gets a new tub.
I dont really get much internet access so ive only just read these replies.I can asure you i have nothing to do with evosal! Sorry if my post offended or wound anyone up but after reading all the section i thought maybe i would be frowned upon for having repaired a car.It seems i maybe jumped the gun with buying my elise without researching it first.Once again i can assure you i am not evosal under a different name and appologise again if i have wound anyone up with my comment.Your continued help with my repair would be appriciated.
Some of the old members remember for sure that i crashed a Exige. The crash was really bad, front left suspension mounts and wishbone mounts were completely destroyed and also the door mont was at 45 degrees.
I sold the car to a guy who wanted to build a race car.
He repaire the chassis replacing some aluminium fron parts with normal home made aluminium pieces. At the end the car worked but had problems in on wishbone mounts because it is a relly stressed point. He had to adjust the thing using steel bars to achieve a good stiffnes. The car is still running since but it is not an easy and nice job to do i can tell u. It will not be very easy to find a material with the same stiffness as the one used on the chassis.
Anyway a repair is possible, but i would never buy a car with such a damage.
Nicolas
Lotuslover,
I suppose the point here is, if your car was a CAT B write off, it is illegal for you to repair the car for road use, not that you repaired a car, there is nothing wrong with that if there is no major damage to the chassis.
To be honest with you, i would check your legal standing on being sold a CAT B car for repair, you may be able to get your money back if it wasn’t sipulated that it had to be crushed after the parts were taken off.
Sorry for the bad news
Category B: A vehicle from which spare parts may be salvaged, but the bodyshell should be crushed and the car should never return to the road.
IIRC cat B’s are not on sale to Joe Public but only to authorised vehicle dismantlers?
Oops sorry Phil missed your earlier post
LotusLover
Why do I get the feeling that you are not being absolutely up-front with us?
You go from having the naivety of a child who’s wondering how come they can’t fix their toy with some glue. To telling us you don’t want to play anymore and we are all tossers.
Additionally, from what i read regarding cat B write-offs… there is no way you bought this simply from autotrader with a view to making it roadworthy.
Much less you offend us… and more a case of we seem to keep offending you.
If your car has suspension mounting point ‘ripped’ off it then you need to strip the car down (everything off)… crush the chassis… buy a new chassis from Lotus and put all your stripped off bits back on… from the way you portray yourself on this BBS, I don’t think you have the wherewithall to do this.
This has been an interesting and informative thread… but its starting to get a bit like a twilight zone episode.
awerabest…
Yeh Rox have to agree - logged on this morning and there was a new post from Evosal on this thread about buying a mountain bike and using the graemlins - it now seems to have disappeared! - wierd world we live in or perhaps it was something I drank last night
Hi guys,
As we are all suppose to be armchair entusiasts what do you reckon about the new driving position!!!
Robbo
Fab You should be wearing a Parker tho’… it’s a wee bit chilly these days…