430 Cup Front Grill

[Martin Duursma 8]

Hi all,

I've had my 430 Cup for a couple of years now and mainly use it for track work. The car has been working a treat but one of the frustrating things is that I am constantly needing to repair damage to the front grill. After a day on the track and chasing down some of the slower cars, any rubber that comes off the car in front will dent the front grill. Seems the metal used is too soft for the job. The fix is to hook some wire behind and bend the grill back and apply some black paint. Did not have this issue on my previous V6 S as it had a plastic grill.

Anyone else having this issue and ideas on how to address?

 

[Robjo 5]

Yep, same issue and same fix...

[Jaffa 4]

Had the same problem with the front smaller side panels a couple of times when road debris has been flicked up and impacted the grills.
Like you have had to resort to pulling back out and retouching. I was surprised how soft the wire used in the grills are. Theoretically I suppose one could try to replace the grills with a stronger gauge wire but then run the risk of transferring more impact force to the surrounding clamshell area itself.

Edited December 30, 2020 by Jaffa
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[Martin Duursma 8]

On 30/12/2020 at 17:05, Jaffa said:

Had the same problem with the front smaller side panels a couple of times when road debris has been flicked up and impacted the grills.
Like you have had to resort to pulling back out and retouching. I was surprised how soft the wire used in the grills are. Theoretically I suppose one could try to replace the grills with a stronger gauge wire but then run the risk of transferring more impact force to the surrounding clamshell area itself.

Yep, also had that problem with the side air intake grills. The Australian lotus dealer made a custom heavier gauge side grill and solved the problem for me. But still have no solution for the front grill, I think it's a lotus factory issue, they need to come up with a stronger front grill solution for the 430.