Poll for Those with Paint Blistering / Bubbling Defect

[ADC]

Hey, my car goes in Monday for replacement doors and boot lid. The dealer won’t cover the cost off Ppf which I have already done. Any help or advise? Is this something they should cover or is it gonna cost me again to do.

Absolutely stand your ground on this. Do not be fobbed off. Lotus Cars (warranty department) should 100% be covering the full cost of putting your car back to the state it was. Your dealer should be facilitating this for you (assuming you mean a Lotus dealer?). Expect to provide the receipt / quote for when you had the PPF done.

I personally would not be handing my car over to have the work done until everything was approved... feels like you're leaving it extremely late to seek advice

 

[KJWEmira]

I 100% agree with @ADC above - don’t be fobbed off!

Lotus will / should pay for the WHOLE car to be redone, providing you have the original receipt.
The whole car will require new PPF due to the colour miss-match of new-next-to-old PPF.
Mine was fully covered by Lotus, after it was approved by Lotus HQ.
I had to submit the original receipt and then obtain a quote for the car to be redone.
I was told the dealer pays and then claims it back.

Where are you based & which dealer is doing your car?

 

[bhavz]

Hi I will reach out to the dealer I got the car from. As I only bout it is April this year.

 

[912Matt]

Washed my April ‘23/10k miles Emira at the weekend and noticed some strange marks on the bonnet/front wings (6-8 spots in total, each the size of a small coin) which I hadn’t seen before. Am planning to take to my detailer for an opinion, but wondering if anyone here can advise what it might be./had the same issue? It’s always garaged, so not from tree sap/bird guano. Car never been through a car wash, or even had a jet washer on it either. Having had both doors replaced perhaps I’m just paranoid and it will polish out

 

[Magma]

Washed my April ‘23/10k miles Emira at the weekend and noticed some strange marks on the bonnet/front wings (6-8 spots in total, each the size of a small coin) which I hadn’t seen before. Am planning to take to my detailer for an opinion, but wondering if anyone here can advise what it might be./had the same issue? It’s always garaged, so not from tree sap/bird guano. Car never been through a car wash, or even had a jet washer on it either. Having had both doors replaced perhaps I’m just paranoid and it will polish out

Looks like some type of chemical etching.. Should be able to polish that out.

 

[SimonT]

Washed my April ‘23/10k miles Emira at the weekend and noticed some strange marks on the bonnet/front wings (6-8 spots in total, each the size of a small coin) which I hadn’t seen before. Am planning to take to my detailer for an opinion, but wondering if anyone here can advise what it might be./had the same issue? It’s always garaged, so not from tree sap/bird guano. Car never been through a car wash, or even had a jet washer on it either. Having had both doors replaced perhaps I’m just paranoid and it will polish out

Remember the front wings and bonnet are composite but not made in the same place as the panels with paint problems.

 

[912Matt]

Looks like some type of chemical etching.. Should be able to polish that out.

Thank you, that would be a good result, I was worried it was the clear coat delaminating

 

[AGeekyGuy]

2025 Lotus Emira V6 received end of March 2025. Lotus of DC in Rockville, Maryland USA. Notices this under the Lotus PPF in May. Dealership is waiting on the replacement door. I was already told they will be replacing the PPF.

 

[Foxy87]

So they basically do nothing about it and keep replacing doors. Seems like a really good plan…

 

[kitkat]

So they basically do nothing about it and keep replacing doors. Seems like a really good plan…

It works until you’re out of warranty or until Lotus goes out of business.

 

[Foxy87]

Wonder what will come first…

 

[SimonT]

So they basically do nothing about it and keep replacing doors. Seems like a really good plan…

I picked mine up from the dealers paintshop Monday (tailgate), the manager said they had already started replacing replaced doors. £4500/US$6000 for 2 doors painted and replaced but that is a reduced price for Lotus, add approx 30% for a retail customer.

I think Lotus going into Administration before long.

 

[Milk242]

Curious if you see the primer underneath or all the way to the composite. Read an article that said teijin provides lotus with conductive primered doors. Someone needs to go to Portugal teijin factory and watch them make a door

 

[SimonT]

Curious if you see the primer underneath or all the way to the composite. Read an article that said teijin provides lotus with conductive primered doors. Someone needs to go to Portugal teijin factory and watch them make a door

Aren't they made in France, shipped to Portugal for finishing and then delivered to Lotus to paint?

After speaking to the paintshop manager, and seeing the numerous pics on here, the door problem appears to be limited to the same places ie along the top, around the handle and more rarely on the bottom edge. Primer/finishing not being sprayed as thoroughly on the edges by the robotic arms?

After warranty ends sanding down the affected areas and repainting will be the answer saving £0000s for owners.

 

[Milk242]

Aren't they made in France, shipped to Portugal for finishing and then delivered to Lotus to paint?

After speaking to the paintshop manager, and seeing the numerous pics on here, the door problem appears to be limited to the same places ie along the top, around the handle and more rarely on the bottom edge. Primer/finishing not being sprayed as thoroughly on the edges by the robotic arms?

After warranty ends sanding down the affected areas and repainting will be the answer saving £0000s for owners.

No idea where they are manufactured, just pulled it from this article https://www.compositesworld.com/new...-supplies-exterior-body-panels-to-lotus-emira

The panels are basically fiberglass, if people think it’s a moisture issue, it can’t be too hard to strip the doors and panels and apply resin or primer on the insides. If it’s a primer issue like you mentioned then that should also be easily fixable. Either way, lotus is a paying customer for teijin, they should be able to get that factory to tweak their procedures. Maybe they should hire a Karen

 

[kitkat]

No idea where they are manufactured, just pulled it from this article https://www.compositesworld.com/new...-supplies-exterior-body-panels-to-lotus-emira

The panels are basically fiberglass, if people think it’s a moisture issue, it can’t be too hard to strip the doors and panels and apply resin or primer on the insides. If it’s a primer issue like you mentioned then that should also be easily fixable. Either way, lotus is a paying customer for teijin, they should be able to get that factory to tweak their procedures. Maybe they should hire a Karen

After 3 years of not getting it sorted out I doubt they’ll ever get it solved.

 

[virtualmacho]

I wonder how they would look on the car unpainted...