Paint blistering issue update

[Steve Tillett]

Seneca blue tailgate replaced a month ago and can't see any colour difference. The paintshop told me Verdant Green was the hardest colour to match up.

That does not fill me with confidence, I am due to pick my Verdant green car up next week when the tailgate comes in. That being said, my first set of replacement doors done last year were paint matched well.
This air issue alone must be destroying any profit made on the cars. Lotus should announce that they will specifically cover these composite panels for five years to restore customer confidence in their product and then retrieve the money from the company that led them to buy into this moulding process.

 

[geoffbland]

Lotus should announce that they will specifically cover these composite panels for five years to restore customer confidence in their product and then retrieve the money from the company that led them to buy into this moulding process.

If you bought the car before end of 2024 then 5-years panels and paint warranty was on the website and was confirmed to me by a dealer. Check your warranty paperwork it would be good to know what it says in there.
Otherwise this is a clear manufacturing defect with the car and there's a pretty easy case to be made for a collective Group Litigation in the UK to cover it. I hope that Lotus is passing on the cost of this to Teijin.

 

[freefall_junkie]

If you bought the car before end of 2024 then 5-years panels and paint warranty was on the website and was confirmed to me by a dealer. Check your warranty paperwork it would be good to know what it says in there.
Otherwise this is a clear manufacturing defect with the car and there's a pretty easy case to be made for a collective Group Litigation in the UK to cover it. I hope that Lotus is passing on the cost of this to Teijin.

View attachment 69731

The problem here is that the warranty paperwork (see attached) did not explicitly say anything about the length of the warranty. It just says words to the effect of 'refer to your dealer'. Several people have been told by Lotus CC that paint is not covered for any Emiras beyond 3 years regardless of build date. Absolutely shameful backtracking by Lotus. We are just about coming up to 3 years since the first cars were delivered to customers, so this is likely to get tested sooner rather than later. I'm no legal expert, but I imagine Lotus will be on pretty shaky ground. The thing is, who wants to go through a potentially protracted and expensive legal fight? I believe several McLaren owners took McLaren to court regarding the warranty terms for similar paint issues but I don't know what the outcome was.

 

[Beachbum]

This has been discussed/stated multiple times and simialr to @geoffbland statement, the website said 5yrs and that will be sufficient to hold Lotus to, should we need to. They corrected it sometime around August 2024, so any NEW car sold after that date will only have the 3yrs.
The fact that the Warranty says "refer to dealer" is just another reason why the Website will be held as the valid warranty durations, as that is what was being advertised and nothing at the time of sale said otherwise.

 

[boisecrawfords]

It is odd, I don't have blistering, but I just noticed some paint peeling above the driver-side quarter window. At this point just going to monitor it....

 

[Beachbum]

It is odd, I don't have blistering, but I just noticed some paint peeling above the driver-side quarter window. At this point just going to monitor it....
View attachment 69753

No way would I leave that, get it looked at

 

[djprov431]

I'm not sure if this is 'paint blistering' but my PPF guy said it's not moisture, an air bubble, or debris --- and he never saw anything like it before --- so that leaves me faily certain it must be the paint blister I've heard about (but not seen myself). Can anyone confirm? Driver door -- near the handle. FWIW, my car is '24 with 5700 miles, garaged always, never seen rain (except when I wash it). I haven't contacted the dealer -- and I'm dreading it.

 

[bhavz]

Hey this what I had on the driver door, it took my dealership 5 weeks to return the car.

 

[djprov431]

Hey this what I had on the driver door, it took my dealership 5 weeks to return the car.

Oh joy! I was afraid of that! I'm going to ask the dealer if I can use my preferred paint shop if possible. I'm in no rush to start this process though -- I'll send a message and some photos to get it documented this week.

 

[SimonT]

Oh joy! I was afraid of that! I'm going to ask the dealer if I can use my preferred paint shop if possible. I'm in no rush to start this process though -- I'll send a message and some photos to get it documented this week.

They will replace the doors and paint them, that is work they get paid to do, I doubt they will hand the work to a 3rd party. The dealer will need to see the car, confirm it needs doors and put in a claim to get the doors. 3 weeks max to replace and paint the doors.

 

[djprov431]

They will replace the doors and paint them, that is work they get paid to do, I doubt they will hand the work to a 3rd party. The dealer will need to see the car, confirm it needs doors and put in a claim to get the doors. 3 weeks max to replace and paint the doors.

Good info -- thanks bud!

 

[Milk242]

I have a handful of these on my trunk lid. Looks like paint chips that were filled in smooth as the surface is fully flush

 

[geoffbland]

I'm not sure if this is 'paint blistering' but my PPF guy said it's not moisture, an air bubble, or debris --- and he never saw anything like it before --- so that leaves me faily certain it must be the paint blister I've heard about (but not seen myself). Can anyone confirm? Driver door -- near the handle. FWIW, my car is '24 with 5700 miles, garaged always, never seen rain (except when I wash it). I haven't contacted the dealer -- and I'm dreading it.

Yes, that is the paint blistering/bubbling problem that we're all having. You'll need a new door.

 

[geoffbland]

Changing my vote as I've just found blisters on my car.
First blister came up on my drivers door this Thursday and two more blisters on Friday, same door. I expect it'll spread.
All on the mid top of the door about 2cm from the window seal.
I carefully check the car after every wash, expecting this to happen to all cars - the blistering was not there before this.
Dec 2022 build, V6 so one of the first cars. So it's taken nearly 3 years to show up. Taking it in to the dealers in August for them to take a look.
It is kept outside.

Just an update on my blisters issue. I was having little response from Lotus Endeavour after first reporting the issue despite calling them several times - I kind of got the feeling they don't want to deal with this. So I instead took it to Lotus Silverstone who have been good so far.

I was originally told that Lotus would replace my PPF after replacing the door and respraying - as the door needs to be blended to the front wing and rear quarter that's pretty much all the PPF on one side that would need redoing. Silverstone told me that Lotus would need the PPF receipt as "proof" I had PPF. So we had to contact the previous owner to get that receipt, Silverstone helped with this and once we finally had that we presented it to Lotus.

But then Lotus said that they had changed their policy, now "Lotus will only cover the PPF reapply cost for the vehicles with its original owner, without ownership transfer.”. So they won't pay for my PPF to be replaced as I am not the original owner - that is worth bearing in mind for anyone buying an Emira second-hand. I'm not sure this follows UK consumer law, as far as I know I should have the same rights as the original buyer with the warranty passed on to me.

It probably would leave me £1-2K out of pocket. In reality, I've never been a fan of PPF so I'm not too bothered and instead will have the PPF removed from the other side and back of the car once the repairs are done. I prefer the stone chips in the paint over the dirty lines in the edges of the PPF template.

We're now just waiting for the replacement door to come in, the expected wait time is at least 4 weeks.