My 380 Cup!

[The Pits]

Sounds like a job for a decent dust cover. Bibs can sort you out! 

[Bibs]

https://www.thelotusforums.com/shop/35-car-covers 

[sieger]

5 hours ago, mark248am said:

its always dusty here so our building care taker has a dry rag he uses to wipe the dust off all the car. I should probably get car protection film done on parts that have stickers...

Saw a recent Mr JWW YouTube vid where he was in Dubai driving around....and there was so much sand on the streets!!!

He got his PPF done by some mob in Dubai, and I reckon it’d be a good idea for some added protection for your car too. 

[mark248am]

Managed to take some photos of the car today since the weather was good. I noticed the seat warmer button doesn't work. I'm guessing its there just to fill in the empty spot?

 

 

[stephenwhyte]

Fantastic photo of a stunning car - thanks for sharing!

[Bibs]

Amazing pics, would you mind if I shared them on our social?

[mark248am]

13 minutes ago, Bibs said:

Amazing pics, would you mind if I shared them on our social?

 

Of course not, my instagram is @mark248am

[Bibs]

 Thank you

[mark248am]

Some quick updates:

1) I found out last night the factory shipped the cup with a standard battery and not a lithium one. I was bothered at first but then realized standard battery is just more practical for me anyway since I live in an apartment building and don't think we have any power sockets in the basement which I could use to trickle charge. The weight penalty sucks but I guess I'll try and cut down on croissants every morning. 

2) The 380 Cup stickers on the side of the car I can see the tiny little corners start to peel. I've only had the car for 6 days and washed it twice so don't think they'll last. So heading today to get a quote for film protection that way the stickers would be covered. 

3) Finally, I think I'm gonna end up ordering the harness bar and seatbelt harness from seriously lotus. This will probably be the only mod I perform on the car. I hate the stereo but the fact it has a built-in mic is practical and I can't find another stereo that has the same thing. So it's staying for now.

4) The dealer had tires inflated wrong, should be 29 front 32 rear but tires are currently inflated to 27 front and 30 rear.

[mark248am]

Went to get an estimate on the film protection on the car and while I was pointing out the places I needed to protect I realize all the matt black parts on the car were actually just stickers. Originally thought they were painted but turns out its just your everyday vinyl sticker. Kinda sucks on a car that costs this much since I can't see this lasting long before it starts peeling.

 

[BatMobile]

Lovely lovely car Mark.

That is odd but then it should be easy to replace if any get scratched or damaged. You would hope they wouldn't lift but you might be getting more PPF than you first thought! 

Saw this on youtube and it looks an incredibly capable car

 

 

[NW76]

We had a long discussion on the Sport Auto Nordschleife Laptime... this clearly is a missed opportunity for me as the 380 Cup is capable of a much better time.

There is now a well know Porsche / BMW tuner in Germany (Laptime Performance) that will go after the laptime in his 380 Sport and is pretty confident that with very few modifications (not power or aero ... just wheels and suspension) he will easily be able to do better. Its the owner (Simon) btw. that bought a 380 Sport as his toy ... which I found pretty cool for a know BMW / Porsche Tuner ;-) .... we will see what he comes up with... 

Here is the whole story but its all in German ;-(

 

 

 

[The Pits]

All of the matt black parts on the Cup 380 decals now? They were all painted on the original V6 Cup. However decals are another layer of PPF really so no bad thing, accepting that some have a strong aversion to decals.

Is the black rear panel really a decal?

[mark248am]

1 hour ago, The Pits said:

All of the matt black parts on the Cup 380 decals now? They were all painted on the original V6 Cup. However decals are another layer of PPF really so no bad thing, accepting that some have a strong aversion to decals.

Is the black rear panel really a decal?

The problem with decals is that they peel, so true it’s offering protection but it’s protecting the blue paint underneath not black paint. So I still have to get protection on top of the black decal. But, I’m guessing if I decide to remove or replace the film protection 5 years from now then the decals will also peel off with the film. Not sure what I should do to try and keep my cup looking this way for down the line. But for sure I need to cover the cup 380 stickers around the car since I kinda feel my cup 380 one in orange would start peeling by next week.

[SFO]

I guess it’s cheaper to stick matt black rather than paint it separately. 

[NW76]

Seriously? Decals?!?! 

[stephenwhyte]

Problem though as I see it is, that if you PPF the matt decals you’ll end up with a gloss look instead of matt........

[mark248am]

7 hours ago, stephenwhyte said:

Problem though as I see it is, that if you PPF the matt decals you’ll end up with a gloss look instead of matt........

Not if u ppf the matt decals with a matt film. 

[stephenwhyte]

1 hour ago, mark248am said:

Not if u ppf the matt decals with a matt film. 

Ah I have wondered for a while if there was such a product - thanks for confirming there is

[BAS]

1 hour ago, mark248am said:

Not if u ppf the matt decals with a matt film. 

I assume since the decals are already matt even if you apply a gloss film it would still be matt.

Matt film over matt might give you more matt finish and would definitely make the 380 cup decals a matt look as well (which are gloss)

[mark248am]

51 minutes ago, stephenwhyte said:

Ah I have wondered for a while if there was such a product - thanks for confirming there is

https://stek-usa.com/dynomatt.html

So 1 week in and my cup 380 stickers are starting to peel off. Need to get in touch with the dealer and see if I could order a bunch of these.

 

[mark248am]

so just got an update from my dealer about the battery. turns out that Lotus isn't shipping cars to the GCC with the Lithium battery hence why mine came with a standard battery. I guess its because of the high temperatures here in the summer.

[Arun_D]

Are you really sure they've stopped painting all those parts in matt black, your photos certainly don't look like vinyl. The rear transom especially would be  process nightmare to apply. I ref the nice photo of your rear tow strap and the lower edge of the pain where black creeps over a tiny 90degreee edge to meet the blue paint. I'm sure vinyl would have lifted there by now.

 

Regarding PPF, go for as matt as you can on matt. Gloss on matt would look gloss. Mine has some matt parts protected with 'matt' film and look satin.

[GFWilliams]

Tyre pressures are interesting, are you're in a hot climate you might benefit from slightly lower pressures as they'll heat up so easily.  On track Lotus suggest 2.0 front and 2.2 rear, same for the road, cold. But of course that guideline is for all regions so has to work in the cold UK as well.  If I were you I'd monitor after a drive during the day and see what they get up to. If they run too high pressures when hotter you'll get uneven wear and less grip

[mark248am]

Hopefully, if the weather is clear this weekend will take a ton of new shots with my sony camera, been using my iPhone so far.

One cool fix from my Exige S is this little part. Used to use velcro to stay connected to the roof but velcro didn't do a good job and used to keep falling or moving. Now it screws into the roof. Not sure if its like this with the 350 and 380 as well.