Paint bubbling and out of warranty!

[geoffbland]

Geoff, is there a definitive date (month/year) of vehicle manufacture when the change of warranty period came into effect?

There was a date it was changed on their website - if I remember late 2024 - someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
You should have been given a warranty booklet with your car - but if it is like mine it doesn't state any warranty terms for the panels or the paint just the chassis so we have only the website to go on.

 

[Beachbum]

Geoff, is there a definitive date (month/year) of vehicle manufacture when the change of warranty period came into effect?

I believe it was August 2024. Others may have a more accurate date

 

[SJM]

SJM are you aware of any other Australian deiivered cars that have this problem? Or are you the first here in Aus?

Panel shop my car was repaired at mentioned at least 2 other Emiras they have replaced doors on.
I know of a red one in the Lotus club South Australia that was affected.

 

[Nelumbo nucifera]

Panel shop my car was repaired at mentioned at least 2 other Emiras they have replaced doors on.
I know of a red one in the Lotus club South Australia that was affected.

Oh bother. Here I was thinking for some hopefully reason, our Aussie delivered cars might have escaped the dreaded bubbling issue………..how dumb of me!

 

[SJM]

It’s not the end of the world. Enjoy the Emira in good health and even if your doors are replaced the quality of repair seems very good.

 

[SimonT]

So, final update. Got the car back on 22/7/26 with both rear panels and the passenger door replaced; a great job matching the paintwork by the JCT600 paint shop in Bradford; they even touched up a stone chip on the carbon fibre front splitter. The only downside is a small grazing on the front nearside alloy; unfortunately, I only spotted that yesterday. I have no way of proving they did it, they delivered the car back to me, and I did a walkaround but failed to spot it. Only visible from 2' away but...

I now have to get it up for sale.

 

[rjscharer]

Does anybody have. 24 or 25 that has yet to have this issue show up? Do any cars escape without getting skin cancer?

 

[Orchardbike]

Does anybody have. 24 or 25 that has yet to have this issue show up? Do any cars escape without getting skin cancer?

Have a search on here. It’s been mentioned many times. It seems to be that 1/3rd of cars are affected.

 

[neiru37]

Does anybody have. 24 or 25 that has yet to have this issue show up? Do any cars escape without getting skin cancer?

MY24 first edition here. 30k miles driven, 2 years 2 months owned, no paint bubbling issues.

 

[Foosh]

Have a search on here. It’s been mentioned many times. It seems to be that 1/3rd of cars are affected.

Where did you get that 1/3rd number? I seriously doubt it's anywhere close to that. That would be over 3000 cars.

I don't have the impression that it's even 1/3 of members on this forum, which is a very small percentage of cars produced thus far.

I do agree that it's too many regardless of the number. There is a some sort of systemic problem that Lotus should have corrected by now.

 

[Orchardbike]

Where did you get that 1/3rd number? I seriously doubt it's anywhere close to that. That would be over 3000 cars.

I don't have the impression that it's even 1/3 of members on this forum, which is a very small percentage of cars produced thus far.

I do agree that it's too many regardless of the number. There is a some sort of systemic problem that Lotus should have corrected by now.

It’s called a poll! There’s a dedicated post on here, with a poll. It works out just over 1/3 rd. a poll was also done on cars that have already been repaired and that equates to roughly a 1/3 rd as well.
There are body shops in the UK that have carried out 100’s of repairs. Have a look at Geoff Bland’s post about his car repair at Beaconsfield body shops, he stated they’re booked up solid with door replacements.

 

[Foosh]

It’s called a poll! There’s a dedicated post on here, with a poll. It works out just over 1/3 rd. a poll was also done on cars that have already been repaired and that equates to roughly a 1/3 rd as well.
There are body shops in the UK that have carried out 100’s of repairs. Have a look at Geoff Bland’s post about his car repair at Beaconsfield body shops, he stated they’re booked up solid with door replacements.

Thanks. I found the poll, and just voted meaning now 261 responses. That's a very small sample size out of 10,000 cars produced.

I don't have the issue. I also have local 5 friends who are Emira owners that don't participate on this forum, and they don't have paint bubbling issues either.

One of the problems with polling accuracy is that you need to get a large diverse and random sample to be scientifically accurate within a margin of error. The smaller the sample size the larger the margin of error.

The problem with car forum polls is that the majority of people paying attention to problem threads are the ones who have the problem. It's also the case that a large percentage of people who visit car forums are people with problems and looking for help.

That would obviously bias the results substantially.

 

[Beachbum]

My local dealer, who has their own body shop, does a bout 8-10/month. They have to keep the doors for 3 months for one reason or another then have to drill them so they cant be reused and then dumped in a skip
Last time I was there, they had 32 pairs of doors, ready for disposal. They have a rolling monthly disposal and they were just about to do the 3 month to 4 month old doors.

 

[Orchardbike]

Thanks. I found the poll, and just voted meaning now 261 responses. That's a very small sample size out of 10,000 cars produced.

I don't have the issue. I also have local 5 friends who are Emira owners that don't participate on this forum, and they don't have paint bubbling issues either.

One of the problems with polling accuracy is that you need to get a large diverse and random sample to be scientifically accurate within a margin of error. The smaller the sample size the larger the margin of error.

The problem with car forum polls is that the majority of people paying attention to problem threads are the ones who have the problem. It's also the case that a large percentage of people who visit car forums are people with problems and looking for help.

That would obviously bias the results substantially.

Yes, all these points have been discussed previously. It also seems to be the case that the results differ by country. The US has less bubbling than the UK for example. As Beachbum has just posted above, most of the UK body shops, used by Lotus, have been inundated with bubbling doors. Myself and some other forum members have been asking owners at meets as well, so ruling out most of your comments. Again the ration appears to be circa 1/3 rd.

 

[SimonT]

I've had 3 doors replaced, I only know 1 other owner and she's had 2 doors replaced. When I dropped my car off a month ago they had 4 cars in for doors and tailgates.

 

[Foosh]

I talked to the head service guy at Lotus of DC this morning, and he told me he had only seen 3 come back to their body shop for warranty repair due to paint blisters. He's been there for 2-3 years, I think.

I suspect if you've had one, you're likely to have both suffering from the root cause. Since it doesn't happen to the majority of cars, it really does sound like an issue with the curing, cleaning, and/or prep process of the "TCA Ultra Lite" composite panels before painting and some sort of chemical reaction with the paint.

I just looked more closely at the poll, which focuses on cars manufactured during (or before) 2023. On cars manufactured after October 2023, the number is only 8.8% of poll responders. That perhaps explains why Lotus feels they have things under control, but I think that number is still too high.

 

[musky29]

I have a 2024, can't remember manufacturing date (think it's 5/24), anyway I don't seem to have the paint bubbling issue but the doors are PPF'd. Don't know if that affects anything.

 

[geoffbland]

I have a 2024, can't remember manufacturing date (think it's 5/24), anyway I don't seem to have the paint bubbling issue but the doors are PPF'd. Don't know if that affects anything.

Yes, PPF can affect it. It can hide the issue for a while until the blistering gets too bad.

 

[itspbjtime]

I have a 2024, can't remember manufacturing date (think it's 5/24), anyway I don't seem to have the paint bubbling issue but the doors are PPF'd. Don't know if that affects anything.

I have a 24 with PPF and have bubbling on both doors, fyi.

 

[geoffbland]

I talked to the head service guy at Lotus of DC this morning, and he told me he had only seen 3 come back to their body shop for warranty repair due to paint blisters. He's been there for 2-3 years, I think.

It's very strange the issue is not showing up more in US (and Australian) cars. Although when a UK dealerships are asked about the issue, we have also heard from them; that the issue is fixed with new panel types, or replacement panels cure this or otherwise downplaying the issue. None of this is true.

I suspect if you've had one, you're likely to have both suffering from the root cause. Since it doesn't happen to the majority of cars, it really does sound like an issue with the curing, cleaning, and/or prep process of the "TCA Ultra Lite" composite panels before painting and some sort of chemical reaction with the paint.

If paint prep were the cause there would be no need to replace the panels, you could just redo the paint or at worst sand back the affected parts and respray. Neither solution works, as detailed by many posts already on this forum. There is plenty of evidence for all this on this forum.

I just looked more closely at the poll, which focuses on cars manufactured during (or before) 2023. On cars manufactured after October 2023, the number is only 8.8% of poll responders. That perhaps explains why Lotus feels they have things under control, but I think that number is still too high.

Evidence we have on this forum and from several bodyshops doing the warranty work shows 1/3 of panels are affected and have been replaced so far on UK cars, this affects old cars and new cars, it also affects replacement panels. Many of us have seen this in the flesh and are not just speculating here.
I don't know why the issue is not reportedly as bad in the US, that is not at all what I would expect.