17 replies to this topic

[Alex B]

Just washed  my car, and have noticed small sections of paint work have blistered.
It is on the doors which where both resprayed by Christopher Neil lotus prior to me getting the car.
Have just spoke to them and they are claiming it is frost damage due it being kept outside. (Under a genuine lotus cover)
Any thoughts?

[stockhome]

I think that they are full of brown stuff I have never heard of that before.

[R.I.B.]

Yeap..... 100% down to bad preparation of the surface before painting. Whoever said "keeping outside" needs punching.
Some come out the factory with it waiting to happen. It's down to the moisture under the paint and sometime in the fibre.

My doors have slightly blistered (which is original paint) yet when i had my front clam completely removed, sanded down, a small crack repaired on the chin and then resprayed by Option One a couple of winters ago I have had NO BLISTERING appear even after last year winter temps of -15.
FYI i've been keeping my car outside for 5 years this May

Talk to Frank..... at option one! He know his stuff

Edited by R.I.B., 03 January 2013 - 04:15 PM.

[Alex B]

That was my thought, I can remember when I collected it the sales man had said the doors had been resprayed due to paint work blistering.



The sales man said it had been a problem on a lot of cars from the factory.

Used nothing but warm water ,auto glym shampoo and a few clean micro fibres.

I thought poor quality spraying, waiting for them to call back.

[R.I.B.]

Warm water on top of the paint on a very cold day showed mine up to, it's something to do with the moisture freezing under the paint and expanding or something.

Its more the preparation before painting that is more important

Edited by R.I.B., 03 January 2013 - 04:23 PM.

[Alex B]

That will be what it is then, hoping they will re paint it if not, it will be off the the local bodyshop/or may try to claim it on the warranty I took out with CN

[Jonathan E]

Hopefully CN's will be more accommodating than Lotus are. They're micro blisters, and as above they are due to bad preparation.
I'll try and keep this brief. The blisters are caused by moisture trapped in the fibreglass, S2's tend to suffer more than S1's this is due to the fact that S2 clam are pressed much like a steel panel, S1 clams were hand laid, although both can suffer to varying degrees. Microscopic pockets of air get trapped in the fibreglass, the air in these pockets contains moisture, the fibreglass is painted and slowly over a period of time the moisture breaks out on the surface and causes the blisters.
Couple of reasons why S2's suffer more, firstly the clams are pressed and then "finished" with a very fine powerful water jet..doesn't take a genius to see how the pockets of damp air get in there! couple this with the fact that up until about 2005 Lotus stored the unpainted clams in a field at the back of the factory open to all the elements, from there they were taken into the paint booth for spraying.
Storing the car outside will accelerate the problem,frost particularly speeds up the process, however, if your lucky enough to have well pressed, fully cured and prepared clams, doors, sills etc then the weather will never be a problem as the moisture was never there in the first place.
I can bore you to death with the finer points of the problem if you want to drop me a PM, I can also show you copies of the legal letters to Lotus and Du Pont and back from their legal departments regarding this problem on a brand new S2111s back in 2003. Lotus will never admit to the problem we eventually settled out of court to mutual satisfaction.
The great thing about owning a modern day Lotus is that the forums are fantastically helpful and the people that frequent them very knowledgable, it took a 6 month battle to get a satisfactory result in my case but lots of people on the old BBs and seloc helped immensely.
I'd put pressure on CN's, especially if you have prior knowledge of the doors being painted.
Good Luck

[scatty]

That's a bugger to start the new year with.

Good luck and dig your heels in.....if all fails, time to join the daft colour car club....  :-)

[Alex B]

Spoke to CN at 4ish today they said they would ring back, which they haven't.
I will ring again and see what they say. I took an increased warranty out so may give them a ring tomorrow.

I take it even re painting is not 100% gonna stop this.
It's only on my doors no where else just frustrating.

[DeanB]

I have blistering that appeared on the rear clam of my '03 s2, just above the numberplate, in two places. The car was with the guy who repaired the front end damage (ironically) when the blisters appeared. It was in the middle of summer, but the car was outside at night which it isn't normally.

Reading this thread I guess the only answer is to find someone that knows what they're doing and have them prep it properly and then respray it.
So that'll have to wait then......

[Jonathan E]

Deffo needs someone who knows what they're doing when repainting. Any paint shop that knows lotus's will be able to sort it out.
How long have you owned the car? Lotus tried to tell me that micro blisters were acceptable and not covered by the warranty.
CN's have a pretty good reputation so lean on them if they drag their heels, especially as you have paid for the extra warranty.

[Alex B]

Had the car just shy of 2 months, will give them another ring tomorrow. He did say they should be able to respray it for free.

[Numbnutz]

What Jonathon said above.

I got these a few years after buying, so no chance of getting them done under warranty.  But there are getting worse.  They started when I left my car out one winter.  oops.

Anyway, make sure that CN don't just respray it, but fix the micro blisters so they do not come back - outside of warranty. The respray should be fit for purpose. Make sure they are aware they are respraying to remove the mico blister problem.  Doors should be flatted and baked to remove all moisture, then sprayed.

CN do spraying themselves now - ask them if they are going to bake them to remove the moisture - if not suggest you take it elsewhere, where they will, and claim on the warranty policy.

I'm not saying they will be funny about it - just know what you want from them and protect your interests

[Jonathan E]

Numbnutz, on 03 January 2013 - 11:47 PM, said:

What Jonathon said above.

I got these a few years after buying, so no chance of getting them done under warranty.  But there are getting worse.  They started when I left my car out one winter.  oops.

Anyway, make sure that CN don't just respray it, but fix the micro blisters so they do not come back - outside of warranty. The respray should be fit for purpose. Make sure they are aware they are respraying to remove the mico blister problem.  Doors should be flatted and baked to remove all moisture, then sprayed.

CN do spraying themselves now - ask them if they are going to bake them to remove the moisture - if not suggest you take it elsewhere, where they will, and claim on the warranty policy.

I'm not saying they will be funny about it - just know what you want from them and protect your interests

Yes this, especially as they said they had painted the doors before, obviously wasn't done properly imo.

[Alex B]

Have just checked all my paperwork and it lists both doors being painted around October time, I got the car in November. So gonna give them chance to ring me back today. Then ill ring em lunch time ish.