Poll for Those with Paint Blistering / Bubbling Defect

[Beachbum]

After pushing them very hard on this I was told quite categorically by Lotus CS that the warranty is 3 years not 5, applicable to all Emiras regardless of build date. Shameless backtracking by Lotus if you ask me. It will inevitably be tested as early cars start turning 3 years old, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lotus facing some kind of legal action.

No way that is legal in the UK. The warranty will be what was offered at the time of purchase. They cannot change the warranty duration or what it covers at a later date.

 

[Tobiasz17azs]

All so irritating. I have the Emira in my garage as it’s not my daily. It’s raining here today and I’m starting to think I should use it in the rain to provoke this blistering issue. Car has done 7k miles. I’m the second owner. Got 9 months warranty left. It’s possible it’s never been left in the rain overnight…

so I understand you’re not planing to
Wash your car too

 

[Lotus64]

so I understand you’re not planing to
Wash your car too

After a car wash, it gets dried.
Meanwhile, the rain / snow will sit on the paint surface, the seals and inside the door for much longer keeping moisture trapped.

 

[John_Matrix]

That’s my understanding. Wash is brief. Maybe to provoke this you need the panel exposed to rain for a few hours? Mine is an early car and it hasn’t happened. Maybe I’m lucky/ maybe the car has never been left in rain overnight? If ALL cars did it you’d think they’d recall.

 

[Simon]

My Sept 2023 Shadow Grey Emira has developed the dreaded bubbling on both doors, as so many others have. After a bit of back and forth, Lotus have approved both doors to be replaced and it’ll go to some place in Beaconsfield to be done.

I have PPF on the front wings (which will obviously need to be blended) and ceramic coating on the doors and rear wings. I’ve asked that Lotus approve the same company I used to apply the PPF and coating to re-do this (so I can be sure it is high quality and consistent with the other panels) but they’re saying they will only approve their own workshop to do this.

Has anyone had recent experience of this with Lotus Silverstone / Lotus HQ - am I fighting a losing battle?!

 

[Man.v.Cars]

After pushing them very hard on this I was told quite categorically by Lotus CS that the warranty is 3 years not 5, applicable to all Emiras regardless of build date. Shameless backtracking by Lotus if you ask me. It will inevitably be tested as early cars start turning 3 years old, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lotus facing some kind of legal action.

They haven't got a leg to stand on, as I've repeatedly told them. Irrespective of if you bought from a 3rd party, the car was sold direct by Lotus and part of the information provided was a 5 yr paint warranty (3 yrs outside of the UK). It was a part of the decision making process and so under English law formed a part of the contract. It was also on the site for almost 3 years and only changed the day before the contacted me to see it had been a 'mistake'.

They admit by their actions, replacing foc panels & doors, that it is an inherent fault and so is covered by a 6yr 'warranty' under the Consumer Protection Act 2015.

I'm waiting for further response from them as I've had something back from them that at the moment I can't reveal but will if they don't respond shortly. If I still own the car after 3 years, big if, I'll be litigating in the Small Claims Court for anything that goes wrong that they've replaced in cars in the past for free eg gearbox, clutch, rear panels, tailgate. There are so many inherent faults from manufacture, most would be expensive repairs, that I think they'd struggle to win. A few cases of being taken to court will change their minds due to cost of defending and losing.

 

[Rupes]

After a car wash, it gets dried.
Meanwhile, the rain / snow will sit on the paint surface, the seals and inside the door for much longer keeping moisture trapped.

The blistering is caused from trapped moisture inside the door and not because of water sitting on the exterior of the paint. Washing definitely will allow water to enter the door and get trapped, and you can see this when you open your door and water comes pouring out the lower front door drain.

I don't know how I feel about intentionally trying to speed up and cause the blistering to happen by leaving the car in the elements when it otherwise wouldn't be. You're assuming your original doors are bad and a fix or update was made on the replacement doors. I haven't seen any evidence to support this, and people who have had their doors replaced have also had their second doors replaced due to blistering too!

So instead, we should think of this as a "batch" related issue where some will never experience this, and others will - regardless of when your car was manufactured. You might have doors now that are from a good batch, but you're exposing them to elements prematurely just to speed up a process that might have taken a decade or longer under normal conditions to appear.

I'm operating under the assumption that my doors are a good batch, and will try and keep the originals with some minor inconveniences (see my post here on using fans after a wash) rather than try and speed it up for another unproven fix. Something no one else is talking about either, but something I would definitely look for - I actually think the future used car market will look for all original parts too making those without replacements more desirable.

 

[Lotus64]

Washing definitely will allow water to enter the door and get trapped, and you can see this when you open your door and water comes pouring out the lower front door drain.

A wash is usually accompanied by opening the doors, drying the door sills, a blow dry and/or a brief drive, at least in my experience. These actions remove moisture in the door. You can also limit the amount of water that gets sprayed on the seals during a wash. That's less exposure to moisture than sitting in the rain and snow.