Going to be doing a Lotus.....

[Stuff]

My friends father asked me to "clean up" his Lotus Elise this weekend. I just have a few questions about the car and wanted to get some input from anyone who has done one before.



1. I ordered some 303 protectant to do the top with. What’s the best way to put that stuff on? Spraying it might be a little messy. Also could you use this stuff on wheel wells?



2. The interior and exterior both have a bunch of aluminum. AIO on that stuff maybe?



3. There are also a lot of exposed plastic piece. Like the louvers over the engine. Any recommendations on what to do with those?



4. How is that paint? Rock hard, Honda soft? I have the complete Sonus and Menzerna line up any recommendations?



5. LSPs. Not sure what to use. I don’t have a very big arsenal. I have been having bad luck with SG on the last couple of details (odd haze left over). Maybe just AIO and p21s? That’s about all I have other than some GC. But the AIO/p21s is not the worlds most durable. But then again he does not drive the car much. As you can see I`m confused.



Thanks a lot for any help guys. This is probably the must expensive car I have worked on and I don’t want to mess it up.

[Stuff]

I`m stupid. Thing is a hard top. What was I thinking. I did a little searching around and could not find much. One guy said they paint is very hard to work with and could be thin is places. I might just not polish it depending on how bad it is. I forgot to ask it has a clear bar. Should I clay that? Any LSPs for it? Thanks.

[Mobilejay]

go to the search and type elise. go down to WX51 TXR almost at the bottom and hes got a black one he did and the write up is good

[benvegas]

I used to own an Lotus Elise, it was too tiny, so I quickly sold it. That said, detail like any other car, paint is average nothing special. The multiple plastic pieces make it a big pain for certain tasks, but just avoid them and you`ll be fine. Neat thing is with the bare bones interior, you can clean that very quickly with just a quick detailer.



-Ben

[benvegas]

Oh, and dont worry about messing it up. Despite that it has a Lotus badge, it`s nothing more than a 4-cylinder toyota that weighs very little. It looks cute and agressive, but that`s just the shape of the body panels nothing more.

[lemans23]

And the fact that the owner would kick his *** if he did mess it up ;)

[porterror]

yeah lotus elise only < 45k. There are a ton of cars on the road much more expensive.



Now an Exige...that`s a different story

[Stuff]

go to the search and type elise. go down to WX51 TXR almost at the bottom and hes got a black one he did and the write up is good



Thanks a lot. On my first search I did not find that one. I noticed in the pictures that the car has stickers that say "Lotus" on them. Should I just mask those off? I searched around about the clear bra. Sound like I might just use AIO on it but not polish or clay it.

[benvegas]

Clear bras are just big plastic strips, call me crazy but I just use a window cleaner on them. As for masking off the body plastic parts, it`s probably a great idea if you`re doing any polishing just because the plastic isnt super smooth plastic, it has a little texture to it and removal of any overspray or specks from a buffer that fly on it are a real pain in the butt to remove.



Seriously though, you have just as much of a chance to screw up this Lotus than you would a Honda Accord.



Every time I hear Lotus I keep thinking how mine had 100 miles on it and the side mirror fell off the car while driving on the highway. The factory forgot to screw it into the body, it was just holding itself in place. I hated that car, sold it with 288 miles on it. :)

[backwoods_lex]

Do you have a lot of experience with detailing cars?

[Stuff]

Do you have a lot of experience with detailing cars?



Eh. I fully done about a half a dozen cars. Its just that this one is a little different. It has somethings that I`m not use to like all the little vents, clear bra, decals etc. I know how to do all the basics. Its just that I was a little confused on some asspects of the car. Thanks a lot guys for all your help. I think I have a better idea of what to do now. I will try to get some pics up when I`m all done.

[backwoods_lex]

Good luck with the detail man. You should take some pics and post them when your done.