Poll for Those with Paint Blistering / Bubbling Defect

[Speedy Emira]

OK. I washed my car today and opened the doors to clean up the door jams. Water came out of the door drain holes like a waterfall. I have no idea why there is so much water in the doors in the first place but this has me thinking that if you don’t open the doors and let the water fully drain you definitely have water in your doors after a wash or rain.

Sounds odd but going forward I am going

to open the doors on my car to let the water drain out after any water encounters.

Life with Lotus.

This is odd because despite having the blistered door issue I’ve not had water rush out the drain holes ever and I always clean the door shuts
Can you see where the water is coming from and if it lines up with a rubber seal or something?
Do you only have one drain hole? I’m wondering if you only have one opening the door may change the angle and make water run in that direction maybe.

Either way when mine goes in I’m going to get photographs of the inside and outside of both doors once stripped out to show the exact differences between the offending types and the final uprated doors used on new builds.

 

[seriously]

This is odd because despite having the blistered door issue I’ve not had water rush out the drain holes ever and I always clean the door shuts
Can you see where the water is coming from and if it lines up with a rubber seal or something?
Do you only have one drain hole? I’m wondering if you only have one opening the door may change the angle and make water run in that direction maybe.

Either way when mine goes in I’m going to get photographs of the inside and outside of both doors once stripped out to show the exact differences between the offending types and the final uprated doors used on new builds.

The water was clearly coming out of the front of the door only after I opened the door. Another poster showed the picture of the hole that I think all emiras will have. I’ll take a closer look tomorrow to see what kind of holes I have but it was definitely draining out of the front. It was really odd because I have never had a car that has done this. Like why?

The other thing that was odd was that as an experiment I rolled the windows fully down to let the doors “dry” better. When I rolled the windows up later that day they had dried water spots on them. I find this a bit odd because normally when you roll the windows down on a freshly washed car you’ll get streaks not water spots. Maybe this is because my windows are ceramic coated? Not sure…

 

[virtualmacho]

So, we should wash our cars facing downhill ?

 

[seriously]

So, we should wash our cars facing downhill ?

Ironically my car was even to slightly uphill. And the doors still drained.

 

[Tobiasz17azs]

Looks like we shouldn’t wash our cars at all lol . This is bullshit

 

[Shahaf2911]

I don’t believe it has anything to do with the drainage of the doors as the blisters (at least from what I’ve seen) are almost always or always at the top part of the doors rather than on the bottom parts where water can accumulate.
I wish that was the cause as it would be way simpler than a defective door.

 

[seriously]

I don’t believe it has anything to do with the drainage of the doors as the blisters (at least from what I’ve seen) are almost always or always at the top part of the doors rather than on the bottom parts where water can accumulate.
I wish that was the cause as it would be way simpler than a defective door.

My hypothesis is that water enters these doors very easily so a drain was included to evacuate the water. However they only work when the door is opened so you could conceivably be storing water in your doors unknowingly. Over time as that water heats up and evaporates it can produce paint blisters on the top edge of the panels when moisture is trying to escape.

 

[Rupes]

Let's start a Gofundme to sponsor an engineer to visit Teijin Automotive Technologies and get some answers for us!

 

[Kimmax]

Over time as that water heats up and evaporates it can produce paint blisters on the top edge of the panels when moisture is trying to escape.

I think this is a good guess. As I said I didn’t have the issue for many many kilometers, but in all that time it wasn’t really hot outside (Germany lol) and/or the car was stored in the relatively cool garage coincidentally.
I washed the car one or two days before the blisters appeared and the following days were indeed hot and the car was outside in the sun.

 

[seriously]

I think this is a good guess. As I said I didn’t have the issue for many many kilometers, but in all that time it wasn’t really hot outside (Germany lol) and/or the car was stored in the relatively cool garage coincidentally.
I washed the car one or two days before the blisters appeared and the following days were indeed hot and the car was outside in the sun.

Sorry to hear that. But it’s an interesting anecdote. Highly conceivable that lotus would not have tested under those atmospheric conditions and missed this possibility.

I *think* people who got blistering mostly experienced this after leaving the car outside right? It would actually be helpful to hear people’s stories of what they did before they got blisters. Might see a pattern emerge.

 

[luciddaydream]

My car has paint blistering in the "O" of LOTUS in the back.
Is it true that this panel can be repainted at a local shop?

I am tempted to just pay some cash and have it fixed isntead of see my car be taken away for long time at lotus.

 

[Tobiasz17azs]

paint quality on these cars are really shity . Wondering how rough are your edges guys

 

[Tobiasz17azs]

Window seals both sides there is a gap maybe that’s why water getting there ?

 

[seriously]

I also noticed while washing my car that there is a rubber lip at the rear edge of the window seal before the door meets the rear quarter panel. This lip catches water and kind of drains it into the door itself from what I recall.

 

[Tobiasz17azs]

Would you mind taking a photo ? Is that normal ?

I also noticed while washing my car that there is a rubber lip at the rear edge of the window seal before the door meets the rear quarter panel. This lip catches water and kind of drains it into the door itself from what I recall.

 

[seriously]

Would you mind taking a photo ? Is that normal ?

 

[virtualmacho]

Same here. No bubbling yet.

 

[Tobiasz17azs]

Dealership ordered new seals . Both sides are like that

 

[Lotus64]

Window seals both sides there is a gap maybe that’s why water getting there ?

Seems like the same weatherstripping used for the seat cushion fix could be used to push the seal flat against the window and close the gap. Not sure if that would remedy the blistering issue but the gap definetly should not be there.

Hopefully new seals won't have the same gap.

 

[Rupes]

I would think some gap to allow moisture to escpe isn't a bad thing. No way you prevent 100% of water from getting in there.

I also don't think any of us really have a clue about how to remedy this, lol. I've just accepted it might happen, and if it does, I'll get it fixed or move on. Those of you fretting over it preemptively should probably consider moving on now. Not worth the stress, it's just supposed to be a fun car.