Lotus waist trim

My car has two styles of waist trim- there is a plain square trim fitted to the nose and a stepped profile attached to the doors and around the boot. The parts list gives two styles of trim- a stepped profile being the earliest so I am assuming that at some point the nose trim has been replaced on this car using the later style. There is some damage to the nose trim which I have infilled with acetoxy silicone black rtv sealant- this actually gives a reasonably smooth repair and it will do until later.

Nose trim infill- maybe a little more needed but much better than a gaping hole!

Stepped trim to rear of car

Older style ridged trim fitted to rear of car from doors backwards.


Newer style square trim fitted around nose of car- doors forwards.

The trim is missing completely from the driver's door but the mounting strip is in position. The mount is cut a little too short I think, as it would leave the ends of the trim unsupported. Perhaps another explanation for the early departure of this trim. The ends of the rail are cut and chamfered so I dont think its broken, I think it was just fitted that way!

Drivers door- trim strip missing but mounting rail is in position. Note that it ends short of the door edge by some distance!

Since this car is already a montage of styles- and since it will all need to be replaced with the correct style if/when I get it resprayed, I thought it wasn't worth investing in the correct trim just for this door. This sort of material must be very common and I think owes a lot to Mr Chapman's interest in GRP boat construction. I therefore sourced some from alternative (non-Lotus) suppliers and found 0.85mm square style trim at  £3.35 per meter. (U Channel Edge Trim 8.5mm x 8mm TMH8SQ Edgetrims.co.uk). Its pretty much the same as the later style trim but not a perfect match. Its is thinner than the real trim and doesnt require heating to soften it before application. This I think is a good thing since it should mean that it won't shrink quite so much after application.

The waistline  trim is held on with polyurethane adhesive Puroflex 40 (PU40) widely used as a sealant and glue in the caravan industry and widely available around £4 a tube. I got mine OTC from Toolshack.

There is no trace of adhesive on the door trim mounting strip- which either means adhesive isnt really needed for the correct trim... or more likely explains why there is no trim on this door!

Fitting trim by hand (cold) to determine length

I pushed it on by hand so I could cut it to a generous length. I then applied a bead of sealant along the trim strip.

bead of sealant/adhesive along outside and top of the mounting rail.

I put the glue on the mounting strip: the SJS guide below suggests putting it on the trim; I'm not sure which would be best.
I also filled in the ends of the trim strip where it will project past the mounting strip. It might not work, but I'm hoping it will stick to the doorskin here and won't need to be cut off quite as short as the mounting strip. In any event when I trim it to length after 24 hrs the ends should give a nice solid texture.


The trim is then applied again by pushing it into the sealant and then smoothing it down with a wallpaper roller.

 This causes the sealant to bulge out a bit- I probably used too much, but it seems a good idea to fill in the gap between trim and door skin.

Trim rollered on- some sealant has squeezed out.

Ends left projecting- I will cut to length when the trim has had a chance to shrink if its going to do so.

The excess sealant can be wiped off with white spirit leaving the trim to set onto the door. I will leave it for 24 hrs and then cut the ends at a chamfered angle- hopefully further towards the edges of the door, but if this region is still unsupported I may have to cut closer to the ends of the underlying mounting strip.

Door strip applied- left to set overnight before trimming.

... Eventually I had to revisit this and unify the trim style around the car as well as replacing the trim around the nose. You will find this described here.

Hints & tips... taken from SJSportscars website....


Instructions for waistline fitting. Remove the old trim. This should be simply a matter of pulling. Be a little careful, sometimes it is possible some repaired sections might come away with the trim. Paint can also come off, if it was done poorly last time. Clean off the remains of any old adhesive. In the case of the door sections, make sure the carrier strips are secure and in one piece. These are often held to the doors with small self tapping screws which can go rusty creating a lump in the trim. You should consider replacing these with the currently recommended countersunk pop-rivets, SJ075W0011. Sand the vertical face of the body lip with course sand paper. The new trim is made soft and workable with a heat-gun. It will melt or burn, if you get it too hot. Put a section on the car and then gently shape and push on to the lip. Secure with lots of strips of masking tape. Do not pull these too tight, they can cause dents in the finished trim. You need to use a lot of the strips of tape. Do not stretch the trim as you apply it. Over the years that it will last, it will shrink, it will also shrink a little as it cools, so do not stretch it now. On the Esprit S1 & 2 the front wing section needs to be trimmed in thickness so it sits flatter against the body as it goes under the front bumper. Do not attempt to join any section of trim, it will not work! When you have the complete car covered, and the ends trimmed, slightly too long, leave the car overnight to cool. Gently take the trim off and you will find it will stay in the correct shape. With a small piece of left-over trim, gauge how much of the Polyurethane adhesive SJ075B0007 to put into the groove of the trim. This will vary as the size and depth of the lip does change. You need enough to touch the flat face of the body which you sanded earlier but not so much as it comes out. Apply adhesive in the groove of each section of trim and attach to the car. Check as you go, that the glue is making contact to the flat face of the body as planned. Hold each piece in place on the car with lots of tape as before. When you are happy, leave over-night to set. Remove all the tape and trim the ends at the required angle. Theses are around 30 degrees, except for the front of the doors, which need around 60 degrees. Fill the open holes in the ends with more adhesive and smooth off. Steve Roberts