Poll for Those with Paint Blistering / Bubbling Defect

[JonFuller]

It's plausable that the manufacturer in Portugal has lax control of the process, meaning some batches get a more accurate resin/catalyst ratio than others, or satisfactory mixing of the resin, temp or humidity during the curing process or some other variable. These things effect GRP manufacture massively, in boatbuilding, these details have to be recorded during the build for Lloyds insurance, as they cause osmosis in boats built with shabby quality control of the process.

Looking at the data in the pol, there does seem to be periods that are more affected than others. March 2023 for example, seems to be a much worse period.

We really just don't know, hence my initial statement that we need to establish exactly whats causing it. Guessing really doesn't help.

I'm going to ask my mate at Bell & Colvill what happens to the doors that are being removed, I might try to get my hands on a pair and take a good look.

 

[Nick in Sydney]

What really pisses me off is that this has been going on for 3+ years and Lotus and has been totally silent on the issue. Crickets.

They haven't acknowledged there is a serious problem, they haven't issued any public statement on the root causes, and they haven't come up with a solution for existing cars, other than replacing panels under warranty.

One thing worth remembering though (I'm trying to stay positive) is that we have less than 60 reports of blisters on this forum. When you consider that Lotus has manufactured ~8,000 Emiras now, blistering may turn out to be limited to a relatively small number of unlucky cars. Fingers crossed.

 

[freefall_junkie]

It's plausable that the manufacturer in Portugal has lax control of the process, meaning some batches get a more accurate resin/catalyst ratio than others, or satisfactory mixing of the resin, temp or humidity during the curing process or some other variable.

I think the evidence so far does point to the issue being batch related. There are some early cars with no blistering in spite of being driven in all conditions, while others seem to get it within a few months of delivery. Interestingly I don't recall reading of a single issue of blistering in the US Emiras, so either the issue was fixed later in production or all US cars have fallen into a 'good' batch.

What really pisses me off is that this has been going on for 3+ years and Lotus and has been totally silent on the issue. Crickets.

They haven't acknowledged there is a serious problem, they haven't issued any public statement on the root causes, and they haven't come up with a solution for existing cars, other than replacing panels under warranty.

One thing worth remembering though (I'm trying to stay positive) is that we have less than 60 reports of blisters on this forum. When you consider that Lotus has manufactured ~8,000 Emiras now, blistering may turn out to be limited to a relatively small number of unlucky cars.

Unfortunately the number is almost certainly far higher than 60. When I spoke to my local dealer a few months back they had already replaced the doors on tens of cars with a backlog waiting to be done, and they were clearly expecting more. Just one dealer. I agree the way Lotus have handled this has been terrible and the situation is certain to get worse when blisters inevitably start appearing on cars out of warranty. In the UK they are now saying that the paint warranty is 3 years, not 5 as has been stated on their website until recently. This smacks to me of serious backtracking because of the ballooning warranty costs, and sod the customer.

 

[LotusTaylor]

Hi All, new here - picked up my new Lotus Emira V6 in Shadow Grey on December 21st.

Showroom car, 15 miles on it, and by the time I had driven home up until today (approx 330 miles), I now have blisters forming on both doors. I am unsure of the build date, will try to find this out.

It is booked in for an 'inspection' at the dealer on 6th, so will see what happens following that.

 

[gcmak]

I don't recall reading of a single issue of blistering in the US Emiras, so either the issue was fixed later in production or all US cars have fallen into a 'good' batch.

Post #588 - Passenger Door in Florida.

Poll for Those with Paint Blistering / Bubbling Defect

My Car went in yesterday to get the blisters sorted. I originally took it in because of the trim alignment on the passenger door, and it was Lotus who spotted the blisters and informed me they'd fix them free of charge. To this day, I still haven't spotted them, so gotta say that I was pretty...

www.emiraforum.com

 

[Foxy87]

If doors from the earliest build date to now are having this issue - it doesn’t seem like to me this is a localized problem or problem with a batch of doors - it seems to me this is an intrinsic design or production flaw with the doors - which would mean that it’s not a question of if but a question of when moisture gets into the panel and starts blistering the paint on any Emira. How could this be limited to a single batch of doors when doors produced from the very beginning of production to right now are still having this issue?

Second, since cars from initial delivery to now are still having this problem, it’s obvious Lotus has been aware of this issue and has been replacing doors on cars from mid 2023 to now. Which means that they have been aware of the defective door design, yet have continued to pump out cars with the defective doors to customers.

On top of that, Lotus has been given zero acknowledgment that the replacement doors they’re replacing the defective doors are different in any way. Since lotus has said nothing I would have to assume they are not because if they were, why wouldn’t they be using this revised design in the current build cars when they’ve known about this issue since mid 2023?

With the evidence above, I’m shocked that there hasn’t been any movement or pressure from owners toward Lotus on some sort of answer or solution to this. I understand that these cars are not perfect but accepting that replacing doors and doing the accompanying paintwork is a part of long term ownership is insane to me. IF this is an inherent design or production flaw across all doors (I can’t logically see any other possibility when cars from all build dates are having issues), what’s going to happen to values of these cars coming out of warranty once it becomes well known in another 18-24 months that this is a inherent defect with no resolution?

Its not only the doors which makes everything even worse…

 

[Foxy87]

What really pisses me off is that this has been going on for 3+ years and Lotus and has been totally silent on the issue. Crickets.

They haven't acknowledged there is a serious problem, they haven't issued any public statement on the root causes, and they haven't come up with a solution for existing cars, other than replacing panels under warranty.

One thing worth remembering though (I'm trying to stay positive) is that we have less than 60 reports of blisters on this forum. When you consider that Lotus has manufactured ~8,000 Emiras now, blistering may turn out to be limited to a relatively small number of unlucky cars. Fingers crossed.

Only a small percentage of Emira owners are registered on this forum. Already having 60 cars affected gives an idea of how big the problem is. Also my visit of the local dealer speaks volume: At least 50% (!) from the cars sitting on the lot had bubbles.

 

[Foxy87]

Hi All, new here - picked up my new Lotus Emira V6 in Shadow Grey on December 21st.

Showroom car, 15 miles on it, and by the time I had driven home up until today (approx 330 miles), I now have blisters forming on both doors. I am unsure of the build date, will try to find this out.

It is booked in for an 'inspection' at the dealer on 6th, so will see what happens following that.

oh boy, please keep us posted especially of the built date once you find out.

 

[JonFuller]

My car probably isn't a very good litmus test, as it's garaged, doesn't get used in the wet unless I get caught out, and gets washed very carefully, very rarely with a hose.... yeah I know, a garage queen.

But, does anyone reading here, treat their car similarly, and still have blisters? Or do we think this is mostly a disease of the Emiras exposed to weather? ie, parked outside and driven in the rain, washed with a hose or power washer etc.

Thoughts??

 

[Lotustoronto]

My car probably isn't a very good litmus test, as it's garaged, doesn't get used in the wet unless I get caught out, and gets washed very carefully, very rarely with a hose.... yeah I know, a garage queen.

But, does anyone reading here, treat their car similarly, and still have blisters? Or do we think this is mostly a disease of the Emiras exposed to weather? ie, parked outside and driven in the rain, washed with a hose or power washer etc.

Thoughts??

I don't think this will affect all Emira's - I do think it has more to do with QC that is happening at the composite factory (France / Portugal?) It seems that they have not figured out what is exactly causing the blistering or they have figured it out, but are not implementing the fix consistently prior to the primer being put on before it arrives at Hethel. Unfortunately it's an unknown for an Emira purchaser if they are getting a good batch or not. I don't think Lotus even knows which are good batches or bad. The fact they are approving door changes so easily leads me to believe the outsourced factory building these parts are flipping the bill on the defects.

 

[Biggles of Norwich]

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.

Simple answer is that Lotus don't make them they subcontract -:hence difficult to control quality

 

[JonFuller]

That's a very generous view.
I think they should be tearing the subcontractor to bits.

You'd like to think there would be a powerful contract in place about quality, and liability over their product.

 

[Enut]

Following this with interest as I'm in a similar position to JonFuller and many others. I've had my car for 18 months now and no evidence of paint bubbling, BUT it's kept garaged and washed carefully and rarely driven in bad weather.

ALSO the first time I drove my car I parked it on a slope and it rained heavily, the front doors literally filled up with water emptying like I'd pulled a plug out of the bath when I opened the door!

I spoke to the dealer to find out if this was normal and apparently there's a plastic bung that can be removed from the bottom of the doors to stop water building up in the doors, well I removed that bung pretty quickly, I didn't like the idea of having door filling up with water!

Have others done this? Is the problem related to water actually sitting inside the doors? Also has anyone tried drilling tiny holes in the bubbles to allow the gases to escape?

I love the car to bits, it's just a real shame that Lotus isn't being open and honest about this issue.

 

[Biggles of Norwich]

That's a very generous view.
I think they should be tearing the subcontractor to bits.

You'd like to think there would be powerful contract in place about quality, and liability over their product.

I agree, certainly once the issue had been identified and the cause established. It would depend on how tightly the manufacturing process and/or quality measures were defined.

 

[Nick in Sydney]

Simple answer is that Lotus don't make them they subcontract -:hence difficult to control quality

True, but you just described every modern vehicle. These days car are mostly assembled with sub-contracted components, not manufactured in the traditional sense.

Bosch makes the brakes, Bilstein the suspension, ZF the transmission, BBS the wheels, Recaro the seats, and so on.

 

[Rupes]

Who’s to say that the door manufacturer isn’t under intense scrutiny from Lotus? They might have agreed to replace any defective products, but only if Lotus doesn’t make a public statement about the issue.

It’s likely in both parties best interest to fix the problem as they pop up vs creating a panic over it. They wouldn’t be able to keep up with the demand for new doors if they were to handle this situation any differently than they already are.

 

[VR1]

Going to try to talk to my dealers local service dept to see if they have heard anything from lotus about doors that have a revised production process or design. This is a pretty elementary issue - should be easy to have the supplier just fix the design or the production process. The fact that they still have not changed anything yet on the production line tells me that they don’t give a damn about the end customer.

 

[Foxy87]

Going to try to talk to my dealers local service dept to see if they have heard anything from lotus about doors that have a revised production process or design. This is a pretty elementary issue - should be easy to have the supplier just fix the design or the production process. The fact that they still have not changed anything yet on the production line tells me that they don’t give a damn about the end customer.

Again, its not only the doors. They would have to change basically all the panels in the process which is likely never going to happen.