Scottish Elises

firstly a big thanks to all members for having such a great forum - i have been using it for a number of months to locate and buy my first lotus.

delighted to say i managed to get a low mileage S2 tourer on Saturday and have been smiling ever since. I have been looking for one since for about six months and this is the cleanest one that I have seen. so the advice in one of the threads that recommends that it is always worth hunting around is certainly correct. i have seen some rough examples.

mine has done 23K since new, one owner and stacks of history. it has always been garaged and this is obvious from the state of the hood and window seals. looks like it has been mantained as much as possible. it has a few stone chips, but everything else is immaculate.

one thing - i am still getting used to the steering, but the wheel seems to wobble left and right under braking. it does not judder at all (the car has had recent disks and shoes) but it does require to keep a reasonable grip when breaking hard. is this expected or should i get tracking/ball joints/ steering rack looked at. i stress that nothing knocks or judders - but the wheel does fight me a bit when breaking firmly. (i did put aside an allowance for some repairs in my budget).

well as a nebie i hope i haven't broken any of the forum protocols yet - am sure someone will put me right if i do !

here are some pictures:

I used to own an S2 Elise in exactly that colour and hood combination (silver Exige now). Still looks great to my eyes, although be warned that the red hood can take a bit of cleaning to keep it looking good.

On the steering wobble, best get it checked out by Ali at SLS http://www.scottishlotusspecialists.co.uk/ (if you haven't gathered already from reading this forum, Murray's service dept are best avoided). Doesn't sound like it should be too expensive to fix.

Mark

Looks exactly like my car, which is in fact Marks old one

ryallm wrote: I used to own an S2 Elise in exactly that colour and hood combination (silver Exige now). Still looks great to my eyes, although be warned that the red hood can take a bit of cleaning to keep it looking good.

On the steering wobble, best get it checked out by Ali at SLS http://www.scottishlotusspecialists.co.uk/ (if you haven't gathered already from reading this forum, Murray's service dept are best avoided). Doesn't sound like it should be too expensive to fix.

Mark

I intend to pay Ali a quick visit - interesting to see from the pile of service history that he was one of the MMC mechanics who serviced the car previously. So he may remember it.

How best to keep the hood clean ? Manual suggests sponging with soapy water !

A sponge will get some of the surface grit off, but over a few months and especially in winter, you'll get engrained dirt into the weave. About once a year, I do mine with a stiff brush and plenty of hot water (no detergent) in the bath believe it or not! Once its dry, 2 or 3 coats of brush on tent waterproofer works wonders. I know you can get soft top refurb kits, but i've never used one myself.

Autoglym do a 2 part clean and protect kit for roofs which works very well

steve_weegie wrote:A sponge will get some of the surface grit off, but over a few months and especially in winter, you'll get engrained dirt into the weave. About once a year, I do mine with a stiff brush and plenty of hot water (no detergent) in the bath believe it or not! Once its dry, 2 or 3 coats of brush on tent waterproofer works wonders. I know you can get soft top refurb kits, but i've never used one myself.

intention is that roof stays mostly in the boot...

but will try the old bath trick if I begin to struggle, or the soddin' crow that craps all over my other car decides to christen my lotus.

along

get the geo checked also - mention it to Ali and he can point you in the right direction

- nice motor

Nice car !!



Jinty

Welcome!!!



The Renovo range is pretty good for roofs. They do a cleaner and proofer. I think http://www.elitecarcare.co.uk sell it.