Paint blistering issue update

[Orchardbike]

I’ve been told by a paint shop and a PPF applier that 2 weeks is enough on fresh paint.

 

[Beachbum]

There is a famous (true) story concerning the engine failures on the Porsche 991 GT3 - Porsche Club America PCA basically kicked up a massive fuss, met with Porsche executives, and eventually Porsche granted a 10 year engine warranty - worldwide - on the cars. I think the same approach is required with the paint here. We need a co-ordinated response from Lotus owners clubs worldwide. At the very least it should be possible to negotiate a global honouring of the 5 year paint warranty that Lotus is trying to renege on. This will be good for their business as it will help support residual values once 3 yr warranty expires. If people are looking at new door replacements left right and center they are going to take a big hit after 3 years as it stands.

Whilst I agree about the 3yr/5yr issue with Lotus. I think that Lotus are trying to get out of it by saying the issue is not the paint, but the doors and that the paint is just a symptom, not the cause
The doors will have a 3yr warranty
The one thing that may prove impossible for Lotus to overcome though, will be the fact that this can be shown to be a manufacturing defect, that they know about, but continue to use, thus making warranties irrelevant. The Law, at least in the UK, will be very much in favour of the consumer in that case and Lotus will have to replace for years to come

 

[freefall_junkie]

Whilst I agree about the 3yr/5yr issue with Lotus. I think that Lotus are trying to get out of it by saying the issue is not the paint, but the doors and that the paint is just a symptom, not the cause
The doors will have a 3yr warranty
The one thing that may prove impossible for Lotus to overcome though, will be the fact that this can be shown to be a manufacturing defect, that they know about, but continue to use, thus making warranties irrelevant. The Law, at least in the UK, will be very much in favour of the consumer in that case and Lotus will have to replace for years to come

Lotus may well be on shaky ground legally, but the problem is that when they are already teetering on the brink financially it is going to be extremely difficult to force them to do the right thing for their customers by bearing even more massive warranty costs. If they simply refuse point blank to acknowledge that there ever was a 5 year paint warranty, which seems to be their current position (we are supposed to believe it was a 'mistake' on the website, just like I have fairies at the bottom of my garden...) , then what? Any owner taking action under civil law could very quickly rack up legal bills way more than the cost of replacing the doors and it could take literally years to resolve. Civil legal action in the UK is very slow, very expensive, very stressful, and potentially ruinous if you loose the case.

 

[geoffbland]

Lotus may well be on shaky ground legally, but the problem is that when they are already teetering on the brink financially it is going to be extremely difficult to force them to do the right thing for their customers by bearing even more massive warranty costs. If they simply refuse point blank to acknowledge that there ever was a 5 year paint warranty, which seems to be their current position (we are supposed to believe it was a 'mistake' on the website, just like I have fairies at the bottom of my garden...) , then what? Any owner taking action under civil law could very quickly rack up legal bills way more than the cost of replacing the doors and it could take literally years to resolve. Civil legal action in the UK is very slow, very expensive, very stressful, and potentially ruinous if you loose the case.

In the UK it would be a Group Litigation Order (GLO) for a manufacturing defect. The main issue would be getting enough claimants informed and to be part of the case but this forum and other Lotus forums would help considerably with that. If we have enough claimants it may be possible to have a solicitors firm bear the cost as long as they can claim back legal fees to reduce the financial risk to the claimants. We can also probably ensure that we are sympathetic to Lotus and just require "fair" treatment rather than a monetary outcome. It could take some time to resolve though.

This GLO would not be usable for owners outside of the UK but it would help any similar claims they made.

Note that I'm not a lawyer so don't take my word for it, this is just things I've heard and read about.

 

[Beachbum]

In the UK, small claims court for just one door. Win that and then get the other door done

 

[mikeee]

Brand new door (less than a month old) replacement, blistering again???
Microscopic but looks like it’s come back within a month or being replaced….

 

[NigeT]

I think Lotus in the UK is a member of The Motor Ombudsman, so that also might be a route to a resolution.

 

[frankiejr]

I bought mine which is a 23 early this year. I noticed some blistering on the rear quarter but verdant green makes it hard to photograph. Does anyone have examples of this (on the rear shoulder) and know what the resolution is as it is quite a large panel, hard to see it being sanded and resprayed?

It is in with Lotus now and the bodyshop has confirmed the issue and waiting for warranty discussions.

Side note, I raised about the drivers window not always going down on opening and catching. They advised this may be from the door being misaligned when it was replaced! Also threw me that the window dropping shouldn't be affected by alignment but catching might. Hopefully software sorts the former when it also stops the stalling.

Is there a straight forward way to see what warranty work has been previously completed on the car?

 

[djprov431]

An upate -- my build date was July 2024 - my 2.5 hr away dealer only required photos, Lotus said I can take the car to my preferred shop for all repairs - they will send a new door. PPF replacement will be covered as well from what I currently understand (they asked for a receipt). I'm in process of getting a quote for it all -- will update after it's accepted by Lotus.

 

[Jinba ittai]

I'm certain it's nothing to do with water. The company that makes them are trapping air when they compression mould them. The door handle feature is the problem and it stopping the air escaping. That why the bubbles are mainly leading from it or around it.

For those thinking this has nothing to do with water, I just want to note the poll is currently showing an 18% failure rate for those who park inside and a 71% failure rate for those who park outside. It’s definitely a manufacturing defect, but water appears to be exacerbating the issue.

 

[Nick in Sydney]

For those thinking this has nothing to do with water, I just want to note the poll is currently showing an 18% failure rate for those who park inside and a 71% failure rate for those who park outside. It’s definitely a manufacturing defect, but water appears to be exacerbating the issue.

Agree, moisture definitely plays a role. My understanding is that the Emira's issues are not traditional osmosis blistering (which is common in old school fibreglass but not common with composite resins). Instead the issue is probably moisture entrapment:

• SMC panels are porous at a micro level. If the resin cure is incomplete, or if the surface prep isn’t perfect, moisture can penetrate into voids or microcracks.
• When the car is exposed to heat (sunlight, curing ovens), trapped water vaporises and expands, pushing up the paint film and causing blisters.

I asked ChatGPT 5 to contrast the impact of a wet environment on moisture entrapment blisters vs. osmosis blisters:

Moisture Entrapment (manufacturing defect)​

• What’s happening: Water (or solvent) is already physically trapped in the panel or under the primer/topcoat during production.
• Trigger for blisters: Heat cycles (sun, bake ovens, hot climates) cause that entrapped water/solvent to expand as vapor, pushing the paint off.
  • A wet or humid environment can worsen the problem, but mostly because the defective panel is more likely to absorb additional moisture through pinholes or cracks.
  • Once water finds its way into those voids, every heat cycle will make blisters appear faster and larger.
  • However, the “clock” really starts from the manufacturing error — if there’s no initial entrapment, humidity alone won’t create this kind of blister.

Contrast with Osmotic Blistering​

• With osmotic blistering, a wet/humid environment is the primary driver — the resin matrix pulls in water and builds osmotic pressure.
• In that case, more humidity or water exposure = much faster and more severe blister formation.

 

[freefall_junkie]

I had a good chat about the paint issues with the service advisor at a Lotus dealer recently. The situation is clearly an absolute nightmare for the dealers as well as owners, and is even worse than I had realised. The dealer has seen no let-up in the number of cars with paint bubbling on the doors, on the contrary they now have so many to deal with that they are having to use multiple third party body shops to cope with the demand. Worse still, several customers have had the doors replaced only to have the bubbling happen for a second time . The dealer had two new but pre-registered 25 plate cars delivered from Lotus a couple of weeks ago and they already had paint bubbling as they came of the transporter. Lotus apparently can’t even be bothered to fix brand new cars stored at the factory and just dump the problem on the dealers. Who knows when those cars were actually built, but none of this inspires confidence that Lotus has ever fully addressed issue. To add insult to injury for the dealers who have to handle the door repairs and I was told make no money doing it, Lotus are refusing to cover the cost of disposing of the old doors which are not recyclable.

The thing which annoys me most about the whole sorry saga is that Lotus must have blindly carried on building cars even though they knew full well that they hadn't got to the bottom of the problem. Pressure from Geely to get units out the factory door may have had a lot to do with it. Shameful, short sighted, and guaranteed to loose them sales in the long run .