Poll for Those with Paint Blistering / Bubbling Defect

[Yas.totti10]

Things to check. Window alignment important as it will whistle if not done properly. Panel gaps. Mirror flush. Check behind door handles for missing paint and any sanding blending in marks near the fresh air intake. I had all these issues and had to have the door painted twice. It’s doesn’t end there as my other door started blistering.

Very useful!

Mine is to go in end of January

 

[Joel]

Just noted some blistering on the top lip of my passenger door. What's the process here? Report to my nearest dealer and they'll put a new door on? What about ceramic coating?

 

[Panda47]

Just noted some blistering on the top lip of my passenger door. What's the process here? Report to my nearest dealer and they'll put a new door on? What about ceramic coating?

Does the blistering happen on all colors or just one in particular

 

[scoates]

So I picked my car up from the bodyshop on Saturday and all in all it seems like a very successful replacement. Checked the door in different lights and the paint match with the original Magma Red seems very good - can't tell a difference and the reflections all match the same way. When I collected the car the upper seal between the window and the roof had been pulled down, potentially the door was closed before the window was dropping (disconnected battery?) but the person showing me the car and the repair got it all sorted in a matter of seconds. The panel gaps were great, the mirror has been attached properly, no signs of any sanding or blending marks although there was a little polish still around the door handle but it buffed off easily, and there was what seemed to be excess lacquer droplets or something around the boot/engine shut line on the rear wing but they just scraped off leaving a perfect finish underneath. All in all can't fault the repair.

For me the process went as follows: First noticed the paint bubbling on 4th May 2023 (car delivered 15th Nov 2022) and sent an email with pictures to the dealer and Lotus Customer Care on the same day. I heard back from Lotus Glasgow's service manager on the 5th. On the 9th of May they asked for the VIN of the car and were in contact with Lotus directly, and a local bodyshop to progress with a repair. On the 10th of May I was contacted by the bodyshop and arranged to come by for them to inspect the car. At the bodyshop they recognised the issue straight away as they had seen it on another car with a similar material type and they initially repainted them only for the issue to return and it was full replacement that was needed, and they communicated that back to Lotus.

My next update was on June 14th when I learned that Lotus had approved the new door, and the bodyshop would be in touch to arrange a date to get the replacement done. There was then silence on the door until 16th of October when I was called by the bodyshop to say the door was due in imminently and an appointment was set for it to be dropped off on the 13th of November and the job was due to take around 6 days. On the 21st Nov I was called and told the door seals had failed and about an inch of water was sitting inside the door and so the seals need replaced and are on back order with no ETA. Furthermore due to the paint blending the factory PPF would also need replaced and was also on back order, but luckily a local company was able to replace this. On the 8th of Dec they said that one of the three seals had arrived with the rest expected in a few days, and then the car was finally ready to collect on the 14th.

Other than waiting a long time the whole process was relatively pain free and I didn't need to chase up the dealer or Lotus much at all. It may have happened faster with more pestering, but it was all done eventually and in my case at least appears to be a good quality repair.

 

[Panda47]

So I picked my car up from the bodyshop on Saturday and all in all it seems like a very successful replacement. Checked the door in different lights and the paint match seems very good - can't tell a difference and the reflections all match the same way. When I collected the car the upper seal between the window and the roof had been pulled down, potentially the door was closed before the window was dropping (disconnected battery?) but the person showing me the car and the repair got it all sorted in a matter of seconds. The panel gaps were great, the mirror has been attached properly, no signs of any sanding or blending marks although there was a little polish still around the door handle but it buffed off easily, and there was what seemed to be excess lacquer droplets or something around the boot/engine shut line on the rear wing but they just scraped off leaving a perfect finish underneath. All in all can't fault the repair.

For me the process went as follows: First noticed the paint bubbling on 4th May 2023 (car delivered 15th Nov 2022) and sent an email with pictures to the dealer and Lotus Customer Care on the same day. I heard back from Lotus Glasgow's service manager on the 5th. On the 9th of May they asked for the VIN of the car and were in contact with Lotus directly, and a local bodyshop to progress with a repair. On the 10th of May I was contacted by the bodyshop and arranged to come by for them to inspect the car. At the bodyshop they recognised the issue straight away as they had seen it on another car with a similar material type and they initially repainted them only for the issue to return and it was full replacement that was needed, and they communicated that back to Lotus.

My next update was on June 14th when I learned that Lotus had approved the new door, and the bodyshop would be in touch to arrange a date to get the replacement done. There was then silence on the door until 16th of October when I was called by the bodyshop to say the door was due in imminently and an appointment was set for it to be dropped off on the 13th of November and the job was due to take around 6 days. On the 21st Nov I was called and told the door seals had failed and about an inch of water was sitting inside the door and so the seals need replaced and are on back order with no ETA. Furthermore due to the paint blending the factory PPF would also need replaced and was also on back order, but luckily a local company was able to replace this. On the 8th of Dec they said that one of the three seals had arrived with the rest expected in a few days, and then the car was finally ready to collect on the 14th.

Other than waiting a long time the whole process was relatively pain free and I didn't need to chase up the dealer or Lotus much at all. It may have happened faster with more pestering, but it was all done eventually and in my case at least appears to be a good quality repair.

Good to hear a satisfactory experience,what colour is your car.

 

[scoates]

Good to hear a satisfactory experience,what colour is your car.

Magma Red. Sorry forgot to put it in the post, will update it!

 

[frazzer]

My passenger side door has has blistering for a few months. But the past few weeks I've noticed it come up on the drivers side too and the passenger side has gotten worse. Official delivery was Feb '23, though I picked it up in May. Hopefully get B&C it sort it early 24.

 

[Porter]

Does the blistering happen on all colors or just one in particular

Good to hear a satisfactory experience,what colour is your car.

To be clear, this is not a paint defect. It has nothing to do with the way the car was painted at the factory.

This problem is caused by a defect in the door panel itself causing moisture retention in the composite material of the panel, and it doesn't matter what coating was applied over the top, it will fail.

 

[Nellie]

Well I now have the full suite of Emira defects as both my passenger and drivers doors have started bubbling just under the mirrors on both sides, just spotted it this morning.

Just as well I love this car as its testing my patience somewhat, off back to dealer tomorrow where I am becoming a regular for photos and to start the warranty process

Hopefully this will be the last problem to be fixed

 

[Nellie]

Well I now have the full suite of Emira defects as both my passenger and drivers doors have started bubbling just under the mirrors on both sides, just spotted it this morning.

Just as well I love this car as its testing my patience somewhat, off back to dealer tomorrow where I am becoming a regular for photos and to start the warranty process

Hopefully this will be the last problem to be fixed

So an update, my bubbling completely disappeared the following day.

Interestingly the car lives outside and with the repeated cold days I think moisture in the door substrate is causing the paint to swell/bubble when its cold/freezing and then as the car warms up through the day it reduces and goes flat again.

There is currently no paint damage caused by this but I have it on record with my dealer in case it surfaces later and becomes paint damage.

Its hard to photo when its there but you can just make out the distortion caused by the bubbles if you have a straight line reflection as a reference

 

[Wonza]

So an update, my bubbling completely disappeared the following day.

Interestingly the car lives outside and with the repeated cold days I think moisture in the door substrate is causing the paint to swell/bubble when its cold/freezing and then as the car warms up through the day it reduces and goes flat again.

There is currently no paint damage caused by this but I have it on record with my dealer in case it surfaces later and becomes paint damage.

Its hard to photo when its there but you can just make out the distortion caused by the bubbles if you have a straight line reflection as a reference

I’d get it checked out anyway. Don’t leave it. It takes them weeks to get it authorised by Lotus and months to get stock of the doors and then weeks for the dealers to schedule a respray of both doors. Is yours a an early build (late 2022) car?

 

[Magma]

So an update, my bubbling completely disappeared the following day.

Interestingly the car lives outside and with the repeated cold days I think moisture in the door substrate is causing the paint to swell/bubble when its cold/freezing and then as the car warms up through the day it reduces and goes flat again.

There is currently no paint damage caused by this but I have it on record with my dealer in case it surfaces later and becomes paint damage.

Its hard to photo when its there but you can just make out the distortion caused by the bubbles if you have a straight line reflection as a reference

If I recall, when Mercedes was having issues with paint blistering on their Mars red cars, the issues would come and go for some effected cars. I can't remember why, but the paint was definitely effected, so I expect these bubbles will reappear, unfortunately.

 

[Lotustoronto]

Has anyone measured the paint thickness with a meter? Curious to what the overall thickness is and how uniform it is painted?

 

[FlashingBlade]

Just to update on my paint blistering, my dealer is telling me that Lotus has changed its 'systems' which is making it more difficult for them to get warranty repairs authorised. My car went in for assessment in early December, and I'm still waiting for the authorisation to be given for the door to be replaced.

 

[kitkat]

Couple more reports from Facebook people, only naming first names and build dates:

Christopher: February 2023 Build
David: October 2023 Build

Not sure if they’re on here or not.

 

[freefall_junkie]

Apologies if I have missed it, but I don't recall seeing an explanation of exactly why the blisters are occurring. Obviously moisture is getting behind the door panel where it shouldn't be, but why? Is this caused by the outer door skin not being bonded to the structure of the door properly? Or an issue with the door skin itself? I have seen mention of seals failing, but I don't know what seals these would be. Lower window seals are never 100% perfect, why is why all car doors have drain holes at the bottom (the Emira actually has a single large hole at the front of the door), so I assume it is nothing to do with these. Anyone know?

Also I'm wondering if this has so far been limited to a relatively small number of cars which have a manufacturing defect in the door, or could the defect be far more widespread and the issue has so far only manifested itself in cars which are parked outside or frequently driven in the rain. Interesting that it is now showing up in cars with a relatively recent build like October 2023.

 

[virtualmacho]

Could it be relative to the weather during shipment of the panels from Portugal to Hethel?
The composite material is mixed in France, formed into body panels in Portugal, and painted in the UK (Hethel).

 

[Wonza]

I wonder if Lotus has changed its processes. I heard that an owner recently on Facebook said they changed the doors (assuming it was painted at the factory) and it’s perfect. Which I’m genuinely happy for him if the paint matches the rest of the bodywork.

Or do they mean, they got a new door skin from Lotus, old one stripped down, rebuilt back up, mounted onto car, resprayed and blended in with the surrounding panels (that’s what happened with mine). Mine was painted twice as it was never quite the same afterwards.

 

[Porter]

Couple more reports from Facebook people, only naming first names and build dates:

Christopher: February 2023 Build
David: October 2023 Build

Not sure if they’re on here or not.

Ohhh, that's not good. October '23 is WAY after the date that this was supposedly remedied in the supply chain.

 

[DaaS]

Could it be relative to the weather during shipment of the panels from Portugal to Hethel?
The composite material is mixed in France, formed into body panels in Portugal, and painted in the UK (Hethel).

I remember reading an article suggesting that a US based company provided the composite panels.

Teijin Automotive Technologies supplies exterior body panels to Lotus Emira

The new premium sports car features exterior doors and panels made from Teijin Automotive Technologies’ compression molded TCA Ultra Lite material.

www.compositesworld.com