Scottish Elises

Ok, fresh paint on the front of my S1. The question is whether to paint protect or not. S1 results are not as straightforward as S2, so potential blemishes and gaps.

Thoughts? Leave as is and just paint again in a few years? Or is it a no brained?

Obviously not following Tut on a road run again will make it last longer!

Borrow my Car Bra Ferg, would use it on the new car, but it is a S1 design.

tut

A bra!? I never realised you were such a someone who cares for their vehicle so as to ensure its value is retained and they dont drive a shed!

Ribbing S2 owners aside, I'm not massively into car bras. I've got a week before it'll be back on the road and I need to decide to delay for paint protection if I'm going to do it. I can imagine Sod's law will mean the first run I'll do will gather a fresh stone chip.

Obviously I never bothered with N3, but when Ian took over N1 I made him use it on road runs. If you have one then why not use it, only on road runs of course which are what do the damage.

If it fits on the new car then I would use it.

tut

Armourfend or equivalent is well worth it IMHO. If you don't it'll be pebbledashed before you know it

Actually makes sense for the road run Tut now you mention it. Still not my thing though.

(Noticed the EFA, is that an auto interpreter built into the forum?)

Sure is.

I went through the same thoughts after the last touch up. I had it fitted before and stone chip damage was minimal in the protected areas despite 8 years of road abuse.

I gave up trying to find a company that could supply and fit at a reasonable price. There is a lotus part which covers below the bonnet area, I ordered it, but on inspection found it didn't cover nearly enough area. Paintguard were the only company that would supply for me to fit myself. The main bonnet area was around £130 and I made templates for the front of the wings, lower sills and rear arches. Total cost was very reasonable. Fitting is a bit tricky, but you do get better with practice and the use of a hair drier.

I did a DIY fit of the Lotus kit followed up with a buy and make my own kit for some of the gaps in the lotus kit on my S2 - link here http://www.scottishelises.com/phpbb/vie ... 10&t=34918
My opinion I thought it was very worthwhile for the £40 or so spend I had especially when I see the state of the non protected bits only 2 years later !! Lotus kit had a bit too many gaps but I'd happily still spend £100 or so next time to get a sheet of film and cut it myself (or even better find someone who has access to the film and can cut it to a template). It isn't and wouldn't be a perfect job but I wouldn't be considering spending the £400-£600 or whatever for a professional job, too many other places to spend that amount of money !!

Some good points there guys. Hadn't really considered DIY especially on the S1 which even the pros I've spoken to are not exactly keen to take on.

But Isn you make a lot of sense saying that the money saved can be spent elsewhere.

It's definitely a job that you need to take your time over. The paint shield website shows how to do templates and fit. They should have templates for the front though.

The trick to fitting is plenty of water applied via a squinty bottle. As long as you keep applying water you can keep adjusting until its positioned. If it needs a little stretch, i found fitting it roughly then heating with the hair drier then refitting seemed to get it in shape. Small bubbles will disappear over a few weeks.