Poll for Those with Paint Blistering / Bubbling Defect

[Gooner]

How do you know it has already had a paint fix under warranty, did they admit that?
My dealer said the car has never had warranty issues before but how do I know that is correct?

Now I’ve gone over the car with a fine tooth comb having seen the bubbles, in the right light and from the right angle, there is a fairly visible line where they will have sanded to (clearly not a straight line), before then spraying. It’s now quite obvious because I know it’s there - the paint hasn’t been fully blended in between the old and the new.

 

[freefall_junkie]

So, what is everyone now thinking about the cause and likely progression of the problem? A few batches of faulty panels affecting a relatively small number of cars, perhaps <30 ? Or a ticking time bomb potentially affecting a far greater number? It's obviously a nightmare for those who have the problem, but I think (hope!) the former is more likely given there must be several thousand Emiras out there now, many in the UK driven in wet conditions. Would we not have seen hundreds of cars affected by now if there was an inherent problem with the materials or construction of all door panels?

 

[Gooner]

So, what is everyone now thinking about the cause and likely progression of the problem? A few batches of faulty panels affecting a relatively small number of cars, perhaps <30 ? Or a ticking time bomb potentially affecting a far greater number? It's obviously a nightmare for those who have the problem, but I think (hope!) the former is more likely given there must be several thousand Emiras out there now, many in the UK driven in wet conditions. Would we not have seen hundreds of cars affected by now if there was an inherent problem with the materials or construction of all door

We’ve got ~25% of all voters with issues here. Clearly this will be a fair bit higher than the average as people are coming here with problems, but even if you assume it’s well overdone, I’d say you can still expect a fairly high number of cars to be affected.

Plus there are a decent amount of cars out there which are still very new but this issue can crop up after some time.

This is actually the issue that concerns me the most - how will other panels fair over time? Will they end up with issues after the warranty period etc?

 

[Nellie]

Hi mate

Did you contact Lotus direct or you local service centre?

Hi Gooner,

I went via Lotus Silverstone who are just up the road from me, they surveyed the car to check for any sign elsewhere, photographed the issues and then processed the claim on my behalf.

Nellie

 

[Gooner]

Hi Gooner,

I went via Lotus Silverstone who are just up the road from me, they surveyed the car to check for any sign elsewhere, photographed the issues and then processed the claim on my behalf.

Nellie

Thanks Nellie.

Literally just got off the phone from them. The guy I spoke to (in sales rather than service as they are all off today), said they’d had 5 or 6 come through and are generally now just replacing doors.

Photos sent and hopefully the warranty claim will start tomorrow when the service team are back in.

 

[Nellie]

Thanks Nellie.

Literally just got off the phone from them. The guy I spoke to (in sales rather than service as they are all off today), said they’d had 5 or 6 come through and are generally now just replacing doors.

Photos sent and hopefully the warranty claim will start tomorrow when the service team are back in.

Godfrey is the guy to speak with, he has been really helpful

 

[Gooner]

Godfrey is the guy to speak with, he has been really helpful

He’s off until Wednesday, but I’ll be jumping on him first thing once he’s back

 

[Rupes]

So if they're replacing "old" doors, one would assume that the "new" door is based on some new QC or manufacturing process that won't allow this to happen again, right?

How do we find out if this is true?

 

[Porter]

So if they're replacing "old" doors, one would assume that the "new" door is based on some new QC or manufacturing process that won't allow this to happen again, right?

How do we find out if this is true?

You don't. Unless you're somehow able to convince a Lotus factory rep to give you information that they aren't providing to their own dealers, you'll get nothing new from any source that is meaningfully verifiable. The marketplace is essentially devoid of anything resembling accurate information on this topic.

 

[Gooner]

The only information I’ve had is that it seems to be affecting early Emiras. This is from 2 separate dealerships. How true that is

The poll here also shows issues with later cars, albeit it much smaller numbers. Could just be that the issue hasn’t had enough time to surface on newer cars, could be that it’s “fixed”.

I also noted that Lotus offers a 5 year warranty on paint, so at least there is plenty of time for issues to surface before it’s out of warranty.

 

[kitkat]

The only information I’ve had is that it seems to be affecting early Emiras. This is from 2 separate dealerships. How true that is

The poll here also shows issues with later cars, albeit it much smaller numbers. Could just be that the issue hasn’t had enough time to surface on newer cars, could be that it’s “fixed”.

I also noted that Lotus offers a 5 year warranty on paint, so at least there is plenty of time for issues to surface before it’s out of warranty.

Dealerships will say anything to reassure you, there are people with later build dates with issues, including someone in the USA.

 

[Rupes]

I also noted that Lotus offers a 5 year warranty on paint, so at least there is plenty of time for issues to surface before it’s out of warranty.

That assumes they have the financial means to continue to provide warranty repairs. This is a very costly repair, and for a bigger brand this wouldn't concern me, but for Lotus, it does.

 

[freefall_junkie]

I also noted that Lotus offers a 5 year warranty on paint, so at least there is plenty of time for issues to surface before it’s out of wawarranty.

I wasn't aware of that, good to know - I thought it was just 3 years. I noticed that the extended warranty post 3 years specifically excludes paint. I'll need to have a read through the original warranty wording to see if I can find the 5 year paint reference My car doesn’t have the problem, but it is a relatively early build so it is a concern.

 

[Gooner]

I wasn't aware of that, good to know - I thought it was just 3 years. I noticed that the extended warranty post 3 years specifically excludes paint. I'll need to have a read through the original warranty wording to see if I can find the 5 year paint reference My car doesn’t have the problem, but it is a relatively early build so it is a concern.

I also hadn’t realised they offered a longer warranty but I saw this on the Lotus website.

“In addition to the basic warranty, the paint of your Emira is covered for 5 years, regardless of how much you drive. Your Emira's main chassis and body panels are guaranteed against corrosion for 12 years”.

 

[Magicman]

15mths in and got my first drivers door bubbles, you'd think you'd be ok after this long!

How quickly are lotus replacing these and anyone had colour match issues?

 

[kennyn]

15mths in and got my first drivers door bubbles, you'd think you'd be ok after this long!

The Exige that I had before my Emira developed paint bubbles after 2.5 years it was approved as a warranty claim and the rear end was painted for sale when I traded it in. The Emira developed bubbles within a couple of months...so much for the state-of-the-art production line and paint facilities.

 

[Gooner]

15mths in and got my first drivers door bubbles, you'd think you'd be ok after this long!

How quickly are lotus replacing these and anyone had colour match issues?

Almost identical to the time line for my first bubbles, only I have them on both doors!

Appeared on Saturday, almost 15 months to the day since it was registered.

Warrantly claim now in but not yet approved as the warranty team are all on training I believe. I've been told it'll be 6 weeks + but passenger doors seem to be harder to get hold of than the drivers side..............

 

[Magicman]

Almost identical to the time line for my first bubbles, only I have them on both doors!

Appeared on Saturday, almost 15 months to the day since it was registered.......

Warrantly claim now in but not yet approved as the warranty team are all on training I believe. I've been told it'll be 6 weeks + but passenger doors seem to be harder to get hold of than the drivers side..............

Brilliant....

That's my other concern, I can only see it on the drivers door, if it starts in a few months time on the passenger door and I have to start it all again !

 

[kitkat]

The Exige that I had before my Emira developed paint bubbles after 2.5 years it was approved as a warranty claim and the rear end was painted for sale when I traded it in. The Emira developed bubbles within a couple of months...so much for the state-of-the-art production line and paint facilities.

Those state of the art paint machine press releases are always about cost savings. How to consistently save money and paint cars with less paint.

But this issue isn’t even with paint, it’s just faulty composite panels.

 

[Rupes]

The Exige that I had before my Emira developed paint bubbles after 2.5 years it was approved as a warranty claim and the rear end was painted for sale when I traded it in. The Emira developed bubbles within a couple of months...so much for the state-of-the-art production line and paint facilities.

But this issue isn’t even with paint, it’s just faulty composite panels.

How does a car company go from one generation (Exige) to the next (Emira) and not correct an issue like this? It must cost them millions in repairs and creates such negative customer sentiment. How hard is it to not have a faulty composite panel, and why do some seem to not have this issue when others do not (not trying to ask rhetorically, either)?

Honestly, this issue is my biggest fear with the car. Rest of the issues feel relatively minor or just inconvenient in comparison.