Poll for Those with Paint Blistering / Bubbling Defect

[JimH]

Spot the difference :

UK page :

Lotus Cars Official Site

www.lotuscars.com

(UK .pdf version below for perpetuity)

US Page : https://www.lotuscars.com/en-US/lotus-warranty/emira

 

[Speedy Emira]

Manufacturers will also see variances in paint, I doubt just replacing a panel with one oem painted is gonna match any better than a professional’s expertise at matching and blending.

I had total ppf on mine and you can see the blisters that come up clearly as if the ppf wasn't there. I doubt it is any worse from trapped moisture because unless the blisters are burst the moisture will be trapped forever.

What I can say after having this issue for nearly 3 months is the hot weather does not make them go down at all and in fact I have had more come out on the weeks that are hot and dry and well as cold and wet. It appears once it has soaked through the panel there is no stopping it getting worse. Originally I had around 10 come out and not I have 100 at least, some being 7 inches down from the top ledge.

I guess if you have a flat colour like yellow it will be more likely to match than mine being Nimbus Grey. Lotus are supplying me blank new doors and it will be blended in to every neighbouring panel. As I have a standard paint imperfection that needs sorting on the rear quarter I need paintwork on both wings, both doors, both rear quarters and the boot lid. I have been informed it will be blended in and I am not to accept the car back unless it is spot on. I know it can be matched because when I bought the car I had some chips on the front panel which I had sprayed/blended and the whole panel lacquered. The result was a perfect invisible repair.

 

[Gizmo750]

The result was a perfect invisible repair.

This is good to hear and bodes well for those needing paintwork

 

[Rupes]

I decided to contact Lotus directly to find out what actions had been taken regarding this problem. Here is the intell I received. “ Modified Doors have been fitted at production since 14-06-2023. The way to identify if there are the later spec doors is to check the primer on the inside of the doors, to see if it’s Black/Blue is correct. If it’s white it’s the old spec door.”

@SJones your post was helpful, has anyone else heard the same?

 

[Speedy Emira]

This is good to hear and bodes well for those needing paintwork

Let's see what mine turns out like and hopefully all cars going through Hendy will have the same level of after care.

 

[SJones]

In

@SJones your post was helpful, has anyone else heard the same?

I would really like to hear from those who have had bubbles on their rear fenders- where did they occur? Randomly scattered or in a line like the doors?

 

[Raskits]

My Vivid Red vin#1253 has a paint blisters now showing at front left bumper. My car arrived at the port 04/20 and picked up at Boardwalk lotus a month ago. Dropped off the car to Galpin earlier this week for Fuel sensor issue and when I got it back to inspect it, I found new blisters or cracks. These cracks were not present on Monday during dropoff and today just showed up during my inspection. Also showed advisor before driving off to document the issue.

Any suggestions how to move forward? Should I have them replace with whole new front bumper or repaint?

 

[981KMAN]

@Raskits Sorry to see this. It sucks. I was hoping that Lotus had solved this issue prior to cars sent to North America.

 

[grezex]

Ugh, sorry this has happened to you. Looks like no PPF on your car?
I almost feel the cars wrapped with PPF ends up delaying the inevitable, when it needs to be removed, good bye paint...

 

[B r I a n]

My Vivid Red vin#1253 has a paint blisters now showing at front left bumper. My car arrived at the port 04/20 and picked up at Boardwalk lotus a month ago. Dropped off the car to Galpin earlier this week for Fuel sensor issue and when I got it back to inspect it, I found new blisters or cracks. These cracks were not present on Monday during dropoff and today just showed up during my inspection. Also showed advisor before driving off to document the issue.

Any suggestions how to move forward? Should I have them replace with whole new front bumper or repaint?

View attachment 47573View attachment 47574

I am not a paint expert, but that that does not look like paint blistering to me.
It looks like it if from panel stress from being hit/pushed by something.

 

[Nick in Sydney]

I am not a paint expert, but that that does not look like paint blistering to me.
It looks like it if from panel stress from being hit/pushed by something.

agree, it looks different to the "normal" paint blistering seen on other Emiras

 

[Raskits]

I am not a paint expert, but that that does not look like paint blistering to me.
It looks like it if from panel stress from being hit/pushed by something.

I surely hope this is not from service tech doing. Did find it odd that 30miles was added to my car when I picked it up. Can't really think the need to be driven so far just to check why my fuel gauge is stuck at 1/3... unless a mandatory test? Who knows..don't want to think about it that way. Might make my blood boil.

It doesn't seem to appear like an external damage. I tried pushing it in that part of bumper and won't budge. That part of bumper is hard And had no play.. Hard to see but at the center of each cracks is a bubble. Like something is pushing it out. There's about 4 of them but hard to see

 

[seriously]

I surely hope this is not from service tech doing. Did find it odd that 30miles was added to my car when I picked it up. Can't really think the need to be driven so far just to check why my fuel gauge is stuck at 1/3... unless a mandatory test? Who knows..don't want to think about it that way. Might make my blood boil

Fuel gauge issue might have to drive the car to see how it reacts.

 

[Raskits]

Fuel gauge issue might have to drive the car to see how it reacts.

Your right to think of it got to see the needle go down at least.

 

[Rupes]

I am not a paint expert, but that that does not look like paint blistering to me.
It looks like it if from panel stress from being hit/pushed by something.

Agreed. My understanding is the troublesome panels with this car were made by the same manufacturer, and that manufacturer does not make the front bumper.

I’m sure someone here with more experience on this subject can confirm.

 

[Hethel Merman]

Perhaps they are prepped and painted by the same manufacturer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Gooner]

Agreed. My understanding is the troublesome panels with this car were made by the same manufacturer, and that manufacturer does not make the front bumper.

I’m sure someone here with more experience on this subject can confirm.

This is correct. The panels that have been an issue thus far are made by Teijin Automotive Technologies and they only make the doors, rear quarters and the inner, outter and lower shells of the tailgate.

All the info so far indicates that the panels are the issue, not the paint. This therefore could be a separate (and unfortunate) issue. It also looks very different given the presence of cracks in the paint that I’ve not seen on any other examples of paint blistering.

 

[Speedy Emira]

In

I would really like to hear from those who have had bubbles on their rear fenders- where did they occur? Randomly scattered or in a line like the doors?

Mine has 3 very small dots on the top about 1 inch from the rear hatch lid.

 

[Speedy Emira]

Let's see what mine turns out like and hopefully all cars going through Hendy will have the same level of after care.

I have been chasing my repair as it’s all well and good getting told about a good solution and service but no good if nothing happens.
I’m not going to any more car meets due to the embarrassment of explaining the 100+ blisters on the panels.
I was phoned yesterday by the dealer and they apologised for the delay but now Lotus have said they want to replace the rear quarter and they haven’t got a date for one being available yet.
They are going to ring back again today after another chat with Herhel and then I can ask about the others things on the list like the air con which is really annoying.

On a separate note regarding the ppf post I can confirm all of the blisters on the worst door came out after the ppf so it doesn’t protect or delay it. It does indicate it’s an issue the water getting in from the inside.

 

[Speedy Emira]

Latest update is I’m now waiting for a new rear quarter with no date of availability so they are going to book it in to sort out the air conditioning. It is probably 2 issues, the first being the resister that fails and the second is potentially low on gas as it has been the case on some coming from the factory low, but there are 2 seals to check for leakage. The resister issue gets sorted with a new part but until you get the revised shield the problem will return and there are none available due to all cars getting this fix.
I spoke to the top boss at the dealer who enlightened me on what the Head Engineer at Hethel had told him about the blisters. Apparently the rumour of panels being left outside isn’t true. The panels had 2 issues, one being they should have been resin coated on the inside and the second there were no drain holes in the bottom allowing the water to sit on a ledge that slowly absorbed water. All replacement doors are the new ones that shouldn’t get the problem again. It’s a pain but at least it looks like the problem will have a permanent fix.