Interior Exterior
Q:
I have witnessed many of the Elise's at autcrosses either taped to the hill or the star shield with cones ground into the section from the middle just below the door to in front of the rear wheel.
Everyone complains about how hard it is to clean cones and crap out of the star shield. What if you did not have to clean it out.......or take an hour every Saturday wrapping you car in SILLY blue tape???
I can design a very durable product that you could put on autocross / track day your car then at the end of the day peal off and re-use the following weekend would there be any interest???
If the response appears to be high enough I will get started on the design. i am hoping the target price to be around 100.00.
Let me know,
Thanks
PatS
A:
I'd take a look at !!! How many times can it be re-used ??
A:
My quess would be about every season you would want a new set.... How many uses would depend on how clean you can keep the adhesive on the back side. If you put it on a dirty car it will pick up the dirt and the next time it will not stick as well.......as they say the process keeps repeating until the stick is gone.
The adhesive I am looking at is repositionable so its designed for many applications and removals.
The goal is to keep the Elise lower rocker and in front of the rear wheels from becoming scratched or marked. If everything works out the way I want it to the product could be left on the car as it will look good as well.
Later
A:
Hey Pat,
How are ya? Would you be able to stick this thing on top of the starshield? Are you planning on making a piece for the front as well? Or have I been doing all that taping in the front for nothing?
Jacob
BRP Elise from EVO school at Fontana
A:
I would buy a set.
I HATE buffing out the marks from the film.
I second Jacob's point. The number one area is that bit in front of the rear wheels, but I would also suggest offering a front kit. It would only need to cover the sides of the front, not too big of an area.
A:
Yep, you should be able to stick this over the paint or over star shield.
The material I am looking into does not conform to curves very well so going around the nose would be out.....but maybe pieces for the front corners.....
I hope you are going to the Fonatana meet with all the other Elise guys.
Thanks
pat
A:
I might be interested, Pat. Right now I'm starting to cover those sections with stickers to help, but after I get my starshield replaced this winter I'll try harder to keep it nice. Then I'd be a customer for sure.
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I'm interested. Like others said front coverage would be nice to have, too.
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Yeah that area is in the danger zone...you can see some marks are under the tape...had to add this blue tape to my car as someone was hunting for cones that day last September...
A:
I had aftermarket 3M film put on my car, and the installer cut and installed a piece larger than the pre-cut Starshield pieces that came with the car for the area in front of the rear wheels. Since the Starshield pieces were just sitting around, I asked her to put them on top of the pieces she cut. I figured if 1 layer of Starshield was good, 2 layers would be better in that high abuse area. She put the edge of the 2nd layer right on the edge of the curve so it isn't so apparent there are 2 layers. In other words, the edges aren't on top of each other.
A month ago I went to a track event and whacked a cone, leaving a few black streaks in front of the rear wheel which were unremovable even with a lot of scrubbing, solvents, etc. I called the installer back and she pulled the factory piece off the top of the 1st layer easily. The base layer didn't go anywhere, and wow, was it clean and fresh after living under the pre-cut layer since new.
A new 2nd layer then went back on to protect the car from future cone hits. This cost $40 (with a few other fixes here and there). Cheap bodywork, I guess. A few rock nicks on the outer layer didn't penetrate to the inner layer, so I feel the 2nd layer was worth it. And heck, it was just sitting around anyway.
Not to rain on an entrepreneur's parade, but this is another option. This also reinforces elise77's assertion that you can put (and take back off) another layer on top of Starshield (and 3M equivalents). I like the idea of the top layer being thicker and thus more protective, which is what elise77 seems to be talking about. Since it would be more noticeable (esp after dirt would start to stick underneath), it's nice that it's removable. Guess that's a plus and minus, realistically.
We could theoretically put 10 layers of film on, then just peel 'em off just like motocross racers do.
A:
I replaced the starsheild on my side rockers with much thicker Lamin-x and it has held up really well. I spun and plowed into a cone really hard at the last auto-x and there wasn't even a mark on it. The starshield shreds much faster on the rockers so I intend on using this as it lasts 10x longer.
A:
Will it protect from this?
Sorry Stan; I couldn't resist.
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Will it protect from this?
Sorry Stan; I couldn't resist.
Too bad its only star shield....not super strength shield....
A:
Out of convenience, I would be more interested if you could pre-cut something that can be thrown away after each session. Something more or less as durable as 3M tape. But your solution may offer better protection even though keeping the adhesive side clean may be a bit of a pain, so I'll be anxiously waiting to see what you come up with...
Edit: One thing to keep in mind is that the area in front of the rear wheels does have some curvature, so the material will have to be somewhat flexible like the clear bra material. That, or you simply drape over some of the curves/bumps in the side sill and have somewhat of a bubble underneath.
- J
A:
BTC,
I can't speak for every situation but when I parked my car from the run where I slammed into a cone I walked around the passenger side expecting to see an image like yours. (Graphite too) I couldn't believe there was no damage. I watched the video someone took and it appears to have hit square into the panel. I'm not sure what the speed was but I was at about 8K RPMS in 1st when a slight adjustment got me over rotating. Apparently my hands weren't quick enough with the steering so I put both feet down and tried to minimize the damage. I'm not sure which mil film is on mine but I believe it's about 5 to 8 times thicker than the starshield.
By the way, it took about 20 minutes per side to apply.
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In all fairness, what Stan hit would have dented a steel car. No protection item would have prevented this damage.
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As Dan previously mentioned, we do have a great solution for protecting the side rockers better. It is designed as a one-time application, but the film is strong and thick enough to last a lot longer than the starshield film. Dan has run numerous track events and spirited mountain driving since the initial application. It looks just a perfect and clear as day it was installed.
http://lamin-x.com/ecommerce/os/cata...42c7c31a84ffce
A:
I could cut a layer of vinyl easily, they have a low tack easy to remove version. I wouldn't try to use it multiple times but for a one time track day as requested about it wouldn't be a problem. I'm guessing price would be about $30??? I'd have to look into more. It would be temporary though and made to remove after the track day was done. I've applied decals over the starshield and removed later so it wouldn't be a problem.
But this is Elise77's thread so I don't need to throw rocks on his game if this is what he is planning.
A:
As Dan previously mentioned, we do have a great solution for protecting the side rockers better. It is designed as a one-time application, but the film is strong and thick enough to last a lot longer than the starshield film. Dan has run numerous track events and spirited mountain driving since the initial application. It looks just a perfect and clear as day it was installed.
http://lamin-x.com/ecommerce/os/cata...42c7c31a84ffce
Can this product be installed over the starshield, or would I have to remove the starshield first? Does it wrap up onto the sill? Thanks.