Poll for Those with Paint Blistering / Bubbling Defect

[Orchardbike]

My 2015 Evora 400 had bubbling on the rear, drivers side wheel arch. My 2023 Emira has it (badly) on both doors. I’m waiting for Colchester to confirm Lotus accept it’s a warranty issue and confirm timescale.

 

[Foxy87]

Yes but what if the blisters show after the 3 year paint warranty? Or the doors got replaced but the blisters appear again after a certain time?

I guess we will see in one or two years…

 

[VR1]

Is there still no fix for this issue? Lotus is just replacing the defective doors with more defective doors? If so these cars are going to take a hard hit value wise once they come out of warranty….

What’s the point of having them replace the doors with the same doors again? Seems like you’d just have the same issue again. I’ve been waiting for Lotus to get all the kinks on this car worked out but at this point it seems I’m just going to go with a GTS 4.0 at this rate if this keeps dragging on for a few more months.

The Emira is the *only* car that interests me (the 4.0 is a bit of a distant second), but it seems Lotus has no intention of fixing this issue (based on 2024+ build date cars still having this issue). Owning a car that requires a $5-10k door replacement every 12-18 months is of no interest to me. Hopefully Lotus comes up with a solution in the next few weeks/months instead of screwing over customers or some aftermarket company comes up with CF door skins.

Unfortunately I’ve already booked airline tickets from the US to the UK late next summer for my GF and I to do the factory tour with how excited I was to get an Emira next year :/. Seems I got lured in by the Lotus marketing team

 

[Foxy87]

I am in the exact same boat as you. GTS 4.0 is a distant second. But this paint problem is really scratching my head. Plus on facebook group someone just posted he now has bubbles on the rear quater (after Lotus already changed doors). This is getting ridicolous.

 

[seriously]

So today I checked out all the emiras which where sitting on the lot of my close Lotus dealer (4mins drive from my home). There were about 10 Emiras sitting outside of which about 5 had paint blisterings on either one or two doors. I checked them not very carefully and they were also covered in snow so there is a good chance that more than 5 cars of the 10 were affected. There were i4s and V6, didnt make any difference.

This really is concerning for someone who wants to buy used. I didnt plan to buy new but I dont know if buying used is still even an option. I only want this car and no other, so I am kind of in a dilemma…

Might going to confront the dealer next year and see what they are doing against it.

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Doesn’t feel like the best storage condition. But yes I hear you on the paint blistering issue and questioning whether it is truly fixed or not.

 

[Beardedbradley]

Sadly it appears to be the best way to store them whilst still under warranty.

 

[JonFuller]

I think we need to establish exactly what's causing this blistering (as it appears that Lotus are not too interested).

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that a bean-counter at Lotus has decided that changing the doors on the ones that are affected, 'once' during warranty, is the cheapest option to get beyond the 3 years & bollox to anything happening beyond that legal responsibility!

It's a shame that the failing of a component manufactured by a 3rd party, could give Lotus such a bad rep... They have enough on their plate with their own shortcomings & failings, they don't need any help!

Anyways, Is it water permeating from/through the panels from behind?
Or is it some chemical reaction that's happening within the skin after an amount of time from production, or under certain humidity / temperature situations?

At least if it were the simpler thing of moisture somehow getting through the skin (Osmosis??), sealing the inside of the door skin with 2k paint or some similar sealing compound could potentially fix the issue (all be it a bandaid), but if it's some weird reaction going on withing the composite skin laminate itself, that'd be rather worrying especially as it appears that the later cars are far from exempt from this problem.

 

[Foxy87]

As of now it looks like its not only the doors. Cant imagine what all the owners will do once warraty ran out. Really on the fence between buying new, used or buying at all…

 

[MR69ALB]

Hi,
McLaren also suffered this issue on the 570s (and early 720’s) i had the doors and the rear quarter panels replaced under warranty (2020 model) it was to do with using the wrong primer (bean counters in accounts at McLaren) on the aluminium, if my car is affected out of warranty then it is a relatively simple fix and not too expensive to have the offending panel or door sanded and sealed with the appropriate primer and get it re painted.

 

[kitkat]

Hi,
McLaren also suffered this issue on the 570s (and early 720’s) i had the doors and the rear quarter panels replaced under warranty (2020 model) it was to do with using the wrong primer (bean counters in accounts at McLaren) on the aluminium, if my car is affected out of warranty then it is a relatively simple fix and not too expensive to have the offending panel or door sanded and sealed with the appropriate primer and get it re painted.

Replacing the panel is the appropriate step for Lotus.

 

[Sasquatch]

The paint blisters are generally due to ‘gassing off’ of the fibre glass.
No saying it won’t happen with new doors.
I also understand any extended Lotus warranty after the manufacture warranty runs out will specifically exclude paint issues.

 

[VR1]

I am in the exact same boat as you. GTS 4.0 is a distant second. But this paint problem is really scratching my head. Plus on facebook group someone just posted he now has bubbles on the rear quater (after Lotus already changed doors). This is getting ridicolous.

Yup… I’m shocked that they’ve been able to essentially leave owners and perspective owners in the dark about this for nearly 2 years about this

 

[MR69ALB]

Replacing the panel is the appropriate step for Lotus.

Not disagreeing but if the replacement doors or panels are the same and start to blister again out of warranty then i was just pointing out that its not the end of the world financially speaking and I certainly would not let the if it might or it could put me off purchasing such a wonderful car and miss out on years of driving.

 

[Beachbum]

I think I mentioned this previously, but this is not a unique issue to the Emira. Lotus suffered this exact same issue with the S2 Elise.
The concern has to be, if they learnt what to do for the Elise, why they are now suffering the same issue with the Emira. Its as if they have learnt nothing in the intervening years.

 

[kitkat]

Not disagreeing but if the replacement doors or panels are the same and start to blister again out of warranty then i was just pointing out that its not the end of the world financially speaking and I certainly would not let the if it might or it could put me off purchasing such a wonderful car and miss out on years of driving.

Oh I'm almost certain the replacements will also blister. Out of warranty the concern is Lotus still being around with replacement doors or fenders - and of course cost. Not sure about your metro area but replacing and repainting a panel for me would cost a good $10K+ USD, and that's ignoring any sunk cost in any PPF that was applied. Not really something I want to be doing every few years.

 

[MR69ALB]

Oh I'm almost certain the replacements will also blister. Out of warranty the concern is Lotus still being around with replacement doors or fenders - and of course cost. Not sure about your metro area but replacing and repainting a panel for me would cost a good $10K+ USD, and that's ignoring any sunk cost in any PPF that was applied. Not really something I want to be doing every few years.

Why replace ?
A good shop with the right primer applied will sort the problem for ever.
For $10K i could get 3 Emira’s repaired on every panel and fully repainted

 

[JonFuller]

Hi,
McLaren also suffered this issue on the 570s (and early 720’s) i had the doors and the rear quarter panels replaced under warranty (2020 model) it was to do with using the wrong primer (bean counters in accounts at McLaren) on the aluminium, if my car is affected out of warranty then it is a relatively simple fix and not too expensive to have the offending panel or door sanded and sealed with the appropriate primer and get it re painted.

I'm not sure I agree here.
Am I right in thinking the McLarens are an alloy skin? I thought they sufferred bubbling from corrosion of the alloy skin? bad prep, or bad primer would deff cause that.
Stripping, and re etch-priming Aluminium is very different to doing the same with composite (some form of fibre reinforced plastic), especially if it turns out the problem we're seeing is a chemical issue happening within that composite, reacting/gassing/whatever.
A new coat of primer or sealer won't necessarily fix/stop that, it would likely just carry on doing it's thing, and busting through the new primer/paint again.

 

[JonFuller]

I'm intending to change my door speakers at some point soon. Whilst I have the door cards off, I will look into getting decent access and sealing the inner surface of the door skin, and dealing with anywhere that looks to be a water trap. (mine doesn't have any bubbling at all (yet), but I prefer condoms to abortions.
Of course, if it turns out the issue is a reaction happening within the composite laminate, sealing the inner skin could be a complete waste of time & money, but I'm somewhat of an expert at that.