19 replies to this topic

[dumfunk]

hi guys and girls.

washed my vx the other day (i usually get it washed by the romanians) and noticed a few cracks in my front and rear clam. i also have quite bad frost achne (the car not me...)

now, does anyone know of anywhere that does new clams front and back either in fibre glass or any other material, and also if there is any way of curing the frost achne problem. my vx has to live outside so i dont want to get it fixed and then have the same problem re-occuring next winter...

 

maybe also thinking of a change of colour.......

any info is more than welcome...

cheers in advance.

                                    

[Andrew aka Stuwy]

Aftermarket front clams are available from the Hard top guy (lotushardtops.com) and they wont suffer from frost bite..

 

Rear clams are in development

[dumfunk]

site is under maintainance.......

[Goosenka]

site is under maintainance.......

Pm jonnyboy buddy

Edited by Goosenka, 04 September 2013 - 04:31 PM.

[dumfunk]

they have them on ebay...... a whole grand!! wow, wasnt expecting that...

[Andrew aka Stuwy]

they have them on ebay...... a whole grand!! wow, wasnt expecting that...

Too cheap or expensive? You are aware they made there own moulds and vauxhall charge about 5k..

[TheRealVXed]

Vauxhall front clam = £1600 FYI

[dumfunk]

 

Too cheap or expensive? You are aware they made there own moulds and vauxhall charge about 5k..

 

 

didnt expect them to be that expensive, but then i had no real idea of howe much to expect really..

[morsey]

Lotushardtops are on facebook too. You can see photos of their work.

[WrightStuff]

Vauxhall front clam = £1600 FYI

 

Vauxhall rear clam = £3500 FYI

[jonnyboy]

PM on the way buddy. Clams arent a grand to folk on here ebay fees are £150 nearly thats why they are more on there! 

 

Frostbite wont be an issue due to ours being hand made. The vac assist method used by Lotus is not good!

[Mat Jackson]

How do these clams perform with the bubbling / osmosis issues I've read so much about...

[jonnyboy]

Well they are new so we havent had a winter yet but its the same process we use for making the roofs which some have done 3 winters now.

 

The issue with osmosis is particular to the S2 Elise variants that mostly use the mass production vacuum assist method that Lotus patented. The normal hand production method of making fiberglass involves mixing resin with dry fiberglass. When the two are properly pressed and rolled together that becomes the composite material. The lotus method involves slapping the fiberglass between two plates and sucking resin up from the bottom to the top of the mold. Its ingenious and saves a hell of a lot of labour for them but ultimately the resin is not mixed with the fiberglass. You may notice the powdery consistency of the clam material when you remove the clams or take arch liners out etc. This is glass matting with no resin mixed into it which has no structural strength and critically can harbour water. The water freezes in winter and hey presto bubbling. 

 

This is not to say than normal fiberglass is invincible against all weather damage but its not something you would see appearing on a 4/5/6+ year old car like you still do with the Lotus cars. 

 

 

[theotherjonnymac]

 

Vauxhall front clam = £1600 FYI

 

Vauxhall rear clam = £3500 FYI

 

Yes that was the cost of my replacement one once it was sprayed and fitted.

[darronwall]

i bought an mvs one,for about a grand

 

never again

[dumfunk]

PM on the way buddy. Clams arent a grand to folk on here ebay fees are £150 nearly thats why they are more on there! 

 

Frostbite wont be an issue due to ours being hand made. The vac assist method used by Lotus is not good!

 

cheers jonnyboy. looks like some saving is required here, after the stage 4 is done. front clam is not bad,just a crack by the pax side mount from an impatient putting back on when we did the rad.mostly stone chips.its the rear thats very bad....

are there any lightweight racing clams out there? possibly not made of fiberglass??

[dumfunk]

i bought an mvs one,for about a grand

 

never again

 

what was wrong with the mvs one??

[TheRealVXed]

Doesn't fit properly.  Finish is poor...

[dumfunk]

Doesn't fit properly.  Finish is poor...

 

ah,ok,not good then....

[oakmere]

Clams can easily be repaired but this may not prevent the bubbling coming back. If you garage or cover the car and keep the bodywork well maintained I think it reduces the problems mentioned above. Though once the clam has shown bad bubbling it seems to return if not thoroughly dried out before painting.

Edited by oakmere, 05 September 2013 - 05:27 PM.