My 'New' Car

[Steve Walker]

Decided to refurb my sill pads with Plastidip - a synthetic rubber paint. Didn't figure on how hard Lotus made it to get the bloody things off intact, though the driver's side one had helpfully detached of its own accord!

 

 

 

[corydoras]

Is that a foot operated dip switch I can see in the top right of the first pic?

[Steve Walker]

No, it's a plastic stud which screws into the floor to hold the mat in place.

[Steve Walker]

I'm giving serious thought to applying the same stuff to that crappy plastic shroud on the gear lever and handbrake.

[corydoras]

So is the build quality poor on them Steve. I've never seen a Lotus close up.

[Steve Walker]

Colin Chapman once said "Any car which holds together for more than a race is too heavy" and I think the engineers took him seriously!

 

No, I'm being unkind. The mechanical bits are simple and robust, albeit built around the compromises needed when you buy in things like engines. The interior is minimal, I like that, but some of the materials are just cheap. If I had more money than sense, there are some beautiful carbon fibre replacements available for much of the interior trim. They wouldn't be significantly lighter than the bits they replace, nor would their increased strength be of any use, but they'd look nicer. When I have some spare cash, I will get it retrimmed with leather and alcantara on the nasty materials, though. Which will add a bit of weight, but probably not as much as I removed when I replaced the exhaust. God knows why that was so heavy, it was ridiculous.