Paint blistering issue update
- Thread starter seventen
- Start date
Look at the decal on your door/door jamb areas. Can't remember if it's left or right. Also, I think it would help if everyone would just post the year/month of manufacturer when they post pics.
As far as I can gather the problem with the panels was how they were handled prior to reaching Hethel ie they were left open to the elements which is a problem as GRP absorbs moisture. It’s the same problem Lotus had years ago when it made panels for the S2 Exige (I think). Unfortunately this learning didn’t make it to the new supplier. Consequently when the panels reached Hethel (and their new state of the art Du Pont paint facility) they were gel coated and painted which sealed in the moisture. Some people have got away with it but others - especially in colder climates or where the car is stored outside - have had problems as the moisture expands and pushes the paint away. Hence the answer is to get a new panel rather than repaint. It’s a lottery and Lotus don’t know one won’t tell us which cars are effected
Nick Sticks
Emira Fanatic
We don't have these decals with the manufacture date on UK cars.
Customer services told me my manufacturer date.
There are also date codes on some parts that can give a very rough timeframe, for example my front cover/bonnet was made the month before my car.
SO, approximately, what is your Manufacture date? Or better yet when did you buy it new? you can assume it was likely built within 6 months of that roughly. Just trying to gauge the age of the car.
Nick in Sydney
Emira Fiend
I thought it was this originally, because we know many panels sat outside when the factory was struggling to obtain parts. But it has been more than three years of manufacturing now, and Teijin Automotive are not idiots. If the problem was being caused by transport, they would wrap the doors in a thousand layers of plastic or seal them in dry boxes.
It's most likely that they have a problem with microscopic amounts of air getting trapped in the panels during manufacturing. This is a very common issue in composite manufacturing, and the irony is that Teijin was chosen because they claimed to have a better process to avoid this.
Nick Sticks
Emira Fanatic
That's the question for bhavz.
If bhavz bought his car in the UK in April this year from a dealer I would hazard a guess that it is one of the "stock" cars that have been stored for a while. We know that there are quite a few of them from cancelled orders etc. I don't think there have been any new from orders UK cars built this year, happy to be corrected on that, though.
For example my car was built at the start of November 2023 and I bought it June 2024. It had small paint blisters on the tailgate when I picked it up.
Another way of getting somewhere is if bhavz posted his VIN.
You can tell the model year from that which is not necessarily the manufacture year but can only really be the previous year.
Also comparing the last 4 digits of the VIN with a known UK car will give a slightly more accurate date.
HI,
I checked my VIN and using https://www.alldata.com/us/en/support/repair-collision/article/vin-to-year-chart the 10th character is R which suggest the car was made in 2024,
I checked my VIN and using https://www.alldata.com/us/en/support/repair-collision/article/vin-to-year-chart the 10th character is R which suggest the car was made in 2024,
Nick Sticks
Emira Fanatic
That's the model year, same as on my VIN, but my car was actually built early November 2023.
Model and build years aren't necessarily the same.
Is it a V6 or a Turbo?
If a V6 what are the last 4 digits?
Higher or lower than 0850?
Nick Sticks
Emira Fanatic
Ah, in that case I can't compare it to my V6 as far as build date is concerned.
It could also be built in 2024 : )
If you really want to know phone Lotus Customer Services and ask them.
I did this for mine last year.
Within the first week of getting my Emira I parked it uphill on a client's drive, It absolutely poured down while I was inside and when I opened the door it felt like it was about 1/2 full of water, weighed a tonne and then water poured out of the front of the door, the passenger door was the same. I wasn't impressed. I spoke to the dealer and they mentioned that there was a rubber plug in the doors that could be removed to prevent water build up. It was taken out of both doors and I haven't had any water build up since, I also haven't had any bubbling (yet).
On reading some of the replies it appears that these bungs might not be fitted any more but on earlier cars and certainly if in storage and a door 1/2 full of water for weeks on end it would seem fairly obvious that this might lead to bubbling.
In my case there was only 12 days between me finalising my order and the car being delivered in July 2023, so maybe mine wasn't stored outside for too long.
On reading some of the replies it appears that these bungs might not be fitted any more but on earlier cars and certainly if in storage and a door 1/2 full of water for weeks on end it would seem fairly obvious that this might lead to bubbling.
In my case there was only 12 days between me finalising my order and the car being delivered in July 2023, so maybe mine wasn't stored outside for too long.
- Thread starter
- #54
As the original poster on this issue my concern was about Lotus's position on paint blistering after the car's warranty period has ended. I have been in touch with their (European) customer services in the last couple of weeks to see what their position is.
Initial conversations were promising, and the customer advisor said that:
However, they later changed their position when I asked for it to be put into an official letter:
When pushed on what would happen on if I needed to make a claim outside the warranty they said:
Seems to me that their customer services are a little disorganised and putting out mixed responses.
Conclusion: it seems that Lotus do want to wash their hands of responsibility for this well-known problem and will absolutely throw their customers under the bus if the problem occurs outside of the 3-year warranty. This seems highly likely to happen in a significant number of cases. I am continuing to communicate with them on the subject.
In the meantime, I guess I'll be weighing up the options on 'the risk' and hoping my Emira remains blister-free.
Initial conversations were promising, and the customer advisor said that:
However, they later changed their position when I asked for it to be put into an official letter:
When pushed on what would happen on if I needed to make a claim outside the warranty they said:
Seems to me that their customer services are a little disorganised and putting out mixed responses.
Conclusion: it seems that Lotus do want to wash their hands of responsibility for this well-known problem and will absolutely throw their customers under the bus if the problem occurs outside of the 3-year warranty. This seems highly likely to happen in a significant number of cases. I am continuing to communicate with them on the subject.
In the meantime, I guess I'll be weighing up the options on 'the risk' and hoping my Emira remains blister-free.
Last edited:
freefall_junkie
Emira Fiend
As a life long Lotus fan and serial Lotus owner it pains me to say it, but with this kind of GFY attitude towards their customers Lotus really does not deserve to survive as a business.
Orchardbike
Emira Fanatic
I echo your comments, I was a life long Lotus fan, from the days I used to walk past a Europa on my way to school. However, owning the Emira and having to deal with Lotus ‘Customer Care’ has slowly, but surely beaten it out of me.
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