TopGear
02-20-2011, 10:30 AM
Here's some feedback based on my experience owning a Lotus Elise. The front and rear clams should be designed with replaceable lower sections in case of minor front or rear end bumps.
The entire front and rear of a Lotus Elise or Exige are single pieces - if you get a small bump front or rear it's $10-$12,000 to get the clam replaced - yikes! If you search the Lotus forums you'll see many frustrations with "replacement clams" for very minor incidents.
I ran over an armadillo which split the front clam's bottom with no damage to the crash structure. Body shop estimates to replace the clam were huge - I ended up spending a morning taking the clam off and taking it to a shop that specialized in Corvettes who fixed it perfectly for $500.
For those who want to see how the front clam works on an Elise:
http://www.sandsmuseum.com/cars/elise/experience/maintenance/frontclam/clamremoval.html
If Factory Five can incorporate a removable lower nose (which always gets scraped on any sports car) and a lower rear bumper section it would be very helpful. The other option of course is to price replacement clams reasonably.
The entire front and rear of a Lotus Elise or Exige are single pieces - if you get a small bump front or rear it's $10-$12,000 to get the clam replaced - yikes! If you search the Lotus forums you'll see many frustrations with "replacement clams" for very minor incidents.
I ran over an armadillo which split the front clam's bottom with no damage to the crash structure. Body shop estimates to replace the clam were huge - I ended up spending a morning taking the clam off and taking it to a shop that specialized in Corvettes who fixed it perfectly for $500.
For those who want to see how the front clam works on an Elise:
http://www.sandsmuseum.com/cars/elise/experience/maintenance/frontclam/clamremoval.html
If Factory Five can incorporate a removable lower nose (which always gets scraped on any sports car) and a lower rear bumper section it would be very helpful. The other option of course is to price replacement clams reasonably.