leave it to the "professionals"! reason #45

[ed]

full story here


got to feel sorry for him....

[Sanjøy]

got to feel sorry for him....

"Guess I'll have to take the 911"

Not that sorry

[Stephen]

ed,
The link is not working for me can you cut & paste?

[simon]

Looks to me like he stuck it on a lift and didn't balance it. So it's a 'what not to do' when making use of Lawrence's lift

[ed]

fu@K, Sh!+, CR^P! DAMAGE!!!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First of all, I did EVERYTHING I was supposed to except stick around and watch.

Dropped my Elise off to the local Goodyear shop to have new F1G3s installed. My Father-in-law is the service manager and has been for 10 years. He is out on medical leave, but he met me at the shop this morning, because he understands the uniqueness of the car.

I handed them the tire tools and opened the Owner's Manual to the jacking instructions so they would be clear. We went over all the instructions and they assured me I was in good hands.

We (my father-in-law and I both left)

1 hour later I get a call about the "accident" and that I needed to come down...

WTF!

So this is what I found...



It get's better. They said they read the manual, but not to the point where it spoke about the 4-point lift. After the crash, they continued reading. Yipee for me.

The damage is inclusive of the rear clam, front clam, underneath the driver's door, and a nice puncture through the bottom diffuser around the passenger seat area.

More pics here... http://www.my914-6.com/crap

When I was there, they had a wrecker attached with a winch to the front end so it wouldn't come crashing down. After it cleared the lift, the front end swung around and crashed into some tool chests.

I'm mostly worried about the rear structure... the puncture underneath and the loss of value of the car (it's paid off free and clear)!

I've already called Dimmit in Clearwater and they are expecting the vehicle. Goodyear has filed the claim with their carrier and has promised to fully cover the repair. Luckly my FIL was there as a witness.

What else do I need to be concerned about in the repair/insurance claim? Diminished value, loss of use (not my primary vehicle), etc.

Dammit!!!! And I have the Central Florida Lotus Fun Run on Saturday which I've been organizing. Guess I'll have to drive the 911.

[Lawrence]

We nearly lost a car way back, danger time is when the front wheel is removed and the balance point moves back a few millimetres. I just caught the car as it started to rise....phew!!!

With the weights and the transmission jack it's ever so stable now.

[campbell]

I'm horrified...it is actually fairly easy for this to happen if you are not thinking carefully, but as Lawrence says, the Hoymotorsport facility is fully set up for Elise levitation and even has a custom-made carbon black balancer module for the top of the hydraulically assisted rear support extension arm doobery. Nylatron coated and lifetime guaranteed against frost damage.

[bertieduff]

If that had been an S1 then that would be a shame

You'd better not look at Simon's 'flames' post then......they're torching the feckers over there

Poor guy though....that's a nightmare.

(1 out of 10 for putting a cover on the drivers seat, to be fair)

[Sanjøy]

Imagine if he was in the drivers seat pumping hte brakes ....!

[jamie]

There is a lesson to be learnt from this.
I recently had new tyres fitted and the guy was about to lift it at the front and put a axle stand under the wishbone
There are so many thinks that they can get wrong
I just stood there and watched them like a hawk you have to....

[campbell]

I remember running out to stop the mobile tyre man from jacking my car by a wishbone, but he calmly responded "just edging this side up an inch to get the main jack under your jacking point sir, I see this car is on lowered suspension"

I let him off.


Simple lesson is take the car only to a place you trust, based either on

a) having worked on Elises before

or

b) having worked on yours under specific instruction (including - don't jack the wishbones, or lift by the clam, or stand on the wheelbrace to tighten me bolts and other memorable hits!)

or

c) clear recommendation from the Lotus Community

[Tom]

I am now confused.....(shut it...). Recently i visited Stu in his shop and saw his car sitting quite happily on stands on the ends of the wishbones(just off the ends actually). Does this mean that the wishbones/axle stands thing is just an urban myth, and not based on sound engineering/physics jiggery pokery???

[campbell]

He will be using The Force

[robin]

I am now confused.....(shut it...). Recently i visited Stu in his shop and saw his car sitting quite happily on stands on the ends of the wishbones(just off the ends actually). Does this mean that the wishbones/axle stands thing is just an urban myth, and not based on sound engineering/physics jiggery pokery???

If you jack it up under the damper mount then it's fine because the car weight goes straight through damper/spring and onto jack.

If you jack it up under outboard ball joint, it's fine, because that is where the car is normally suspended, after all.

If you jack it up on just one of the two wishbone arms you can bend the arm.

They bend anyway if you take off and land over hump backs too heavily.

Cheers,
Robin

[Rich H]

Basically if the weight of the car is transmited to the ground through points designed to take the load it will be fine. All other points inbetween (Wishbones, floors, sills, fiberglass, etc) will just bend/fold/crack/fall off.

I frequently put axle stands under the ends of the chassis rails just behind the fire wall, not reccomended (Mainly because there is a brake line running around it!) but it works and is good, strong and thick, also you can get to it with the undertrays on.

Watched the guy do my MOT with the car jacked up on the 2 blue stickers (Good stuff, he even asked!) but nowhere else... The car was only 2" off the deck but was see-sawing about with him under it... What a tit. Didn't mind though as a. it wasn't going any where and b. it wasn't me under it, it was a professional mechanic....! (and c. it passed!)

Rich