Lots of water in the car door

[seriously]

Washed my car today and captured a video of just how much water comes out when you open the door. When you first open the door you can hear water sloshing around inside. Weird! The other door had even more water than this. And honestly I did not put a ton of water on my car.

Then I parked my car facing downhill to see if there was any more water in there and just got a few drips.

My strong recommendation is that you open and drain your doors after any rain or car wash. I also leave my windows down to let moisture escape the same way it got in.

*Reduced video size.

 

[MajHall04]

WTF!!

 

[virtualmacho]

Drainage itself looks normal, the peculiarity is that most cars drain the water regardless of the doors being open or closed, but the Emira tends to drain when you open the doors... In any case, better to have water come out than to stay in forever. I open both doors after a wash for a few minutes while wiping dry the sills, and have no issues so far (almost 1 year ownership).

 

[seriously]

Drainage itself looks normal, the peculiarity is that most cars drain the water regardless of the doors being open or closed, but the Emira tends to drain when you open the doors... In any case, better to have water come out than to stay in forever. I open both doors after a wash for a few minutes while wiping dry the sills, and have no issues so far (almost 1 year ownership).

Yes. Only drains when car door open. I never think about opening the doors after driving through rain so that’s a potential point of failure especially for the passenger side if you never open that door. (Haven’t actually driven in rain yet.)

Conversely- I’m surprised at how much of the door and side sill area IS exposed to the outside. Essentially the entire “fat suit” is outside the door seal and exposed to dirt. When I opened my door large parts of the extended sills and under the door itself were filthy while the exterior of the car was clean. Just interesting to know and consider for maintenance.

 

[Speedy Emira]

Drainage itself looks normal, the peculiarity is that most cars drain the water regardless of the doors being open or closed, but the Emira tends to drain when you open the doors... In any case, better to have water come out than to stay in forever. I open both doors after a wash for a few minutes while wiping dry the sills, and have no issues so far (almost 1 year ownership).

I’m guessing you have a car outside of the dates with the blistering issue and late enough to get the modified doors. Interestingly I spoke to a non forum Emira owner who is going to get his paint sprayer brother to strip his doors a do 2-3 extra coats of whatever the grp sealer is just to be sure. Sounds like a great idea but we shouldn’t need to be doing this on new cars.
I haven’t noticed the water draining out but will be checking. Maybe it runs out while I’m hoovering the inside after a wash.

 

[scc.131.fe]

I’m guessing you have a car outside of the dates with the blistering issue and late enough to get the modified doors. Interestingly I spoke to a non forum Emira owner who is going to get his paint sprayer brother to strip his doors a do 2-3 extra coats of whatever the grp sealer is just to be sure. Sounds like a great idea but we shouldn’t need to be doing this on new cars.
I haven’t noticed the water draining out but will be checking. Maybe it runs out while I’m hoovering the inside after a wash.

"Non forum Emira owner"?

What does he do all day????

 

[Steve Tillett]

My original doors did that. I always parked uphill on a slope and they would fill up until opened them. I used to park it facing downhill after. Another problem caused by developing a car in Norfolk where it's flat. Like the one where the seat belts would not come out on a downhill slope.
I don't think this moisture causes the air voids in the doors. That to me is just air left behind in the compression moulding process. Extra paint will not make any difference if that air is under the surface. I had a ring of bubbles in one of my doors, which was identical to when we had a miss fill in our kart seats. We tried to rescue the moulding by putting a bit more resin in and closing the tool again. It always left this ring of bubbles. Touch wood, since they did them under warranty they have been fine.

 

[R1272]

That doesn't seem right...

 

[JClem]

I don’t think it is a coincidence that when I had my Emira (3.5 months ago now!) and was dallying it only the passenger door blistered. Opening and closing the drivers door every may have prevented the build up of water and at least delayed the blistering.

 

[Aero]

Good to see the video as I wondered if they actually had a drain spot or it just happens to drain there. I had already noticed the horrible window and door seal mating is an awful design. If you look there is a huge gap for water to get in at the rear of the door/window seal. I started putting blue tape over all the way down that window/door seal when I wash the car and avoid spraying water on the windows now and just wash the windows by hand.

 

[Steve Tillett]

This was mine.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/reknzo9ske74wtk/2023-03-14 14.05.53.mov?dl=0
And I did get the blistering about a year later. But I cannot see how the water got through the laminate. Boats sit in water for years before the surface resin breaks down and the water travels up the fibres. Also this Emira issue is largely on the top of the doors, not the bottom. Frankly, it's almost identical to the issue as I have on the RTM injected composite doors of my 25 year old S1 and I think it is as simple as air voids left in the moulding. I have never in all my years of composite production had one part with bubbles appearing under paintwork and for 20 years we have made many thousands of car body parts, as well as the seats.

 

[CHEESE]

Whoa...
Every time I wash my Emira, I open the doors to thoroughly dry the door jams and all around the inside of the doors and I've never seen this happen. Sounds like there was a door redesign from what I'm reading here.

 

[seriously]

I don’t think it is a coincidence that when I had my Emira (3.5 months ago now!) and was dallying it only the passenger door blistered. Opening and closing the drivers door every may have prevented the build up of water and at least delayed the blistering.

That’s exactly what I wondered.

 

[seriously]

Whoa...
Every time I wash my Emira, I open the doors to thoroughly dry the door jams and all around the inside of the doors and I've never seen this happen. Sounds like there was a door redesign from what I'm reading here.

That’s interesting because based on my experience this will happen 100% of the time water is on my car. There is a gap and lip on the rear end of window sill that funnels water into the door.

after a heavy rain or car wash you may hear water sloshing around in your door when you swing it open. I certainly do.

If that’s the case and it’s not draining at all I would leave your windows open to allow it to evaporate and ask your dealer about it. This is just my personal opinion if it were my car. If early doors don’t have a drain I wouldn’t be surprised if a lotus fix is to drill a hole in the bottom of the door to create one.

 

[CHEESE]

That’s interesting because based on my experience this will happen 100% of the time water is on my car. There is a gap and lip on the rear end of window sill that funnels water into the door.

after a heavy rain or car wash you may hear water sloshing around in your door when you swing it open. I certainly do.

If that’s the case and it’s not draining at all I would leave your windows open to allow it to evaporate and ask your dealer about it. This is just my personal opinion if it were my car. If early doors don’t have a drain I wouldn’t be surprised if a lotus fix is to drill a hole in the bottom of the door to create one.

I've never heard sloshing, and like I said, I've never seen any water pour out of the doors and I wash my Emira almost every week, sometimes with a power washer and sometimes not.

Whether or not there was a redesign, I'm not getting water in my doors.

 

[seriously]

I've never heard sloshing, and like I said, I've never seen any water pour out of the doors and I wash my Emira almost every week, sometimes with a power washer and sometimes not.

Whether or not there was a redesign, I'm not getting water in my doors.

appreciate the reply. adding to the forum knowledge.

 

[Aero]

I looked at my doors to confirm where the drain holes are. Mine are there in the drain spot shown in the first video at the very front of the door. The appears to be slightly curved to this low point. On mine it looked like they would drain whether the door is open or not but opening it may make the water slosh forward and drain more.
My car is a late dec23 build if those were added at some point.

 

[Steve Tillett]

I've never heard sloshing, and like I said, I've never seen any water pour out of the doors and I wash my Emira almost every week, sometimes with a power washer and sometimes not.

Whether or not there was a redesign, I'm not getting water in my doors.

I don't think it happens at all unless the car is parked nose uphill when it rains or is washed. At least that was when my car was affected.

 

[seriously]

I don't think it happens at all unless the car is parked nose uphill when it rains or is washed. At least that was when my car was affected.

My car is parked uphill when washing so it is consistent with your theory.

 

[NigeT]

I looked at my doors to confirm where the drain holes are. Mine are there in the drain spot shown in the first video at the very front of the door. The appears to be slightly curved to this low point. On mine it looked like they would drain whether the door is open or not but opening it may make the water slosh forward and drain more.
My car is a late dec23 build if those were added at some point.
View attachment 52477

I have exactly the same drain hole cut out. Mine was built June 23. When I wash the car water does drip out of the front with the door closed. I wonder if earlier doors have this cut out & whether this identifies the modified doors ?