Paint blistering issue update

[Beachbum]

I'm amazed Lotus just havent thrown the whole thing to Teijin. "Your screw up, your fix. Until it is fixed the costs are all yours. "
I'm sure there are some discussions like that going on, but Lotus would do well to make sure their customers knew what was going on

Oh hang on, thats Customer Service, scrap that

 

[Steve Tillett]

Also it's worth pointing out that Lotus did have a similar problem with the early Elises, Exiges and VX220s. It took Lotus a while to sort out the issues there but they did solve as later cars were not affected. Although the symptoms of the bubbling on the Teijin panels are similar the causes may not been. But I imagine Lotus must be extremely frustrated that an issue they have had solved has reappeared due to a third-party supplier.

I have got bubbles on the lower inside of the doors on my old S1. Back then these cars were part RTM, part hand laminating. Not many people made products like this with RTM as it is hard to get enough fibre into the cavity without creating pinch points and resin rich areas. We were making our kart seats by RTM in the mid ninety's and very few companies could do anything other than non structural boxes or covers. It took us a long time to sort it so they didn't fracture or have bubbles.
When processes moved on and Lotus eventually solved their air issue, it was with their own version of infusion, which is why the air disappeared.
I can only imagine they gave Emira panel production over to someone else because their previous infusion process was slow, labour intensive and costly with materials and consumables. I guess the promise of banging out air free mouldings by compression seemed like the answer when costing. If I was Lotus I would get the moulds made to make them themselves pretty quickly. The repair costs must be horrendous.