Poll for Those with Paint Blistering / Bubbling Defect

[chris.lear]

Strange - my Emira was assessed when in for a service in Sep 2024, door(s) ordered. Dealer contacted me in Dec, as doors had been received, to arrange replacement. They had two months lead time on the body shop (seems to be their standard lead time for everything), and it is in now having both doors replaced. 3 month wait for doors, 5 months total. I can only wonder if part of your wait might be down to your dealer?

My dealer is Oakmere in Northwich. Problem reported in September 2025. I chased it up when the car went into be serviced in October, to be told replacements should be here early in the New Year. I’ve chased it up a few times to be told a batch of replacement doors are arriving in May. I’m assuming they then have to be booked in to be sprayed so it could be considerably longer than 9 months depending on how many cars they have to do.

 

[chris.lear]

My dealer is Oakmere in Northwich. Problem reported in September 2025. I chased it up when the car went into be serviced in October, to be told replacements should be here early in the New Year. I’ve chased it up a few times to be told a batch of replacement doors are arriving in May. I’m assuming they then have to be booked in to be sprayed so it could be considerably longer than 9 months depending on how many cars they have to do.

Sep 2024

 

[Beachbum]

Spoke to my dealer yesterday about this. Their info from Lotus is that any car with a build date of March 2024 or later will have had the new type of doors and should not experience this issue.
Pretty certain we have had a few on here say their cars were built after that date and have had the paint blisters. Would be good for those to confirm their cars were definitely built after March 2024.
The backlog for new news on the older car is horrendous, the expression they used was "A queue longer than their arm" for customers as their dealership waiting for new doors to aarive

 

[Orchardbike]

Spoke to my dealer yesterday about this. Their info from Lotus is that any car with a build date of March 2024 or later will have had the new type of doors and should not experience this issue.
Pretty certain we have had a few on here say their cars were built after that date and have had the paint blisters. Would be good for those to confirm their cars were definitely built after March 2024.
The backlog for new news on the older car is horrendous, the expression they used was "A queue longer than their arm" for customers as their dealership waiting for new doors to aarive

Pretty sure that March 2024, was the last time I saw my car!

 

[Beachbum]

Pretty sure that March 2024, was the last time I saw my car!

Yeah, but with your car, the doors are ok. Its everything else thats the issue

 

[Orchardbike]

Yeah, but with your car, the doors are ok. Its everything else thats the issue

Oh no, the doors are not OK on my car, they’re just another item on the list of failed items……

 

[Beachbum]

Oh no, the doors are not OK on my car, they’re just another item on the list of failed items……

Bloody hell mate. How are you still sane?

 

[Orchardbike]

Bloody hell mate. How are you still sane?

Hard drugs and alcohol……

 

[geoffbland]

Orchardbike is going to end up with the fabled "Emira of Theseus"

 

[Tobiasz17azs]

Mine is November / 2023
Nothing yet everything perfect what’s are the chances for blisters?

 

[AJ194]

Not even picked mine up yet and it's having its drivers door replaced lol, new car but not sure on its date of manufacture

 

[Beachbum]

Not even picked mine up yet and it's having its drivers door replaced lol, new car but not sure on its date of manufacture

How is that even possible? Lotus HQ messed up royally on that one

 

[AJ194]

How is that even possible? Lotus HQ messed up royally on that one

They said they only noticed it when they did the pdi checks, I'm assuming it's got the latest spec doors aswell so there's still problems

 

[Orchardbike]

They said they only noticed it when they did the pdi checks, I'm assuming it's got the latest spec doors aswell so there's still problems

Jeeezus

 

[Nick in Sydney]

This video about McLaren paint issues is interesting from an Emira POV. Having visited Hethel, I've always wondered whether poor storage of the Teijin panels could be the cause of the blistering paint.

 

[Beachbum]

The initial issues with the Elise panels was put down to poor storage. No idea if that was ever proven, but it was shown that they were stored outside

 

[seriously]

Fascinating detective work.

 

[Kimmax]

I’ve just had both doors replaced.

Doors ordered in early October 2024, and they were delivered in the first week of March.

The dealer then took care of everything, including the full disassembly, getting the doors painted, and assembling everything. They also performed a full service, oil change, recalls, etc. alongside the work.

They promised me the work would be completed in time for the April 1st, for me the start of the season, and they delivered!

The results are top-notch. Given that my car is Verdant Green - probably the hardest color to match - I honestly expected to notice some difference between the newly painted doors and the remaining bodywork, a subtle “if you know it, you see it” type of difference. But I can’t spot anything. The doors look completely OEM to me. I had perfect panel gaps before and they managed to keep it that way. I’m really satisfied with the result.

There was some back-and-forth, but Lotus also covered the ceramic coating of the doors.

In my case, the bubbling started slowly on one side. It’s a daily-driven car, parked in the garage. I suspect the bubbling intensified when the sun really hammered one side of the door and heated it up. The second door seemed to show signs of bubbling after spending just one day outside in the sun. Given that it’s likely caused by trapped moisture, that doesn’t seem too far-fetched.

I can only hope that anyone with this issue on one side gets it on the other side as well so that both doors can be replaced at once.