A&Q about Lotus
Q:
Originally Posted by TimMullen
The loads that a bicycle experiences are entirely different than what a front suspension mount will experience. That aluminum is too thin to weld, for the loads that it will experience.
I think you have too many words in there:
Originally Posted by TimMullen
The... front suspension mount... is too thin... for the loads that it will experience.
That's more like it. I think considering all the frameswe've seen breaking in this area, it's apparent that Lotus made the area of the frame where the suspension mounts too thin. It's too easily broken AND unfixable.
Brilliant engineering!!
A:
Originally Posted by Obsidian
Is that normal? Or will I be replacing those parts in a few years?
Naah.. Those are the uprights and they are made from a special steel type. They are made from pretty thick and solid stuff. They develop a surface corrsion layer, but don't seem to do much other than that.
There actually was a PDF floating around the net from the American Iron and Steel Institute about the S2 upright design.
The design was re-done by Lotus Engineering from the original S1 version using new stress simulation software and using new grades of steel to produce an upright that's weight-wise between the original S1 Aluminium uprights and the S1 steel uprights, but retains the same (or better) rigidity of the S1 steel versions.
An area that will require some preventive work if you keep the car longer are the wishbones. They are made from relatively thin walled steel tubes and only have a yellow zinc passivation layer as corrosion prevention.
Depending on your climate and if they salt the roads then you may need to start battling the rust monster on these.
Bye, Arno.