Emira Paintwork issues

[Stuart McCall]

Hi, does anyone else have issues and concerns about their paintwork, I went for the dark verdant and it seems like it scratches and marks with even the lightest touch, I’ve had it ceramic coated but still no joy, I don’t like the idea of being forced down the road of PPF. I’m concerned about the longevity of the paint finish

 

[ramjet]

Hi Stuart. Did you get the car via a dealer? I would be going straight back to either them or Lotus.

[Bibs]

Are the marks in the paint or the ceramic coat? Seems odd that paint would mark through a coating, might be worth getting a second opinion on that. Either the product or the application, both or which are critical on ceramic coatings. 

 

[Rambo]

Just had a horrible thought. Would a secondary coating like ceramic or PPF nullify your original paintwork guarantee?

[MJON]

Not sure about the guarantee, usually paint/clear coat lifting due to contamination of the surface prior to painting, or a poor finished surface would be most likely guarantee claim.

Re marks on the surface? Dark Verdant in good light will show up every small surface mark, but the ceramic top coat should afford a good degree of protection. Unless the car wasn’t Mop’d properly before it was applied and the marks are under the ceramic. @Stuart McCallAre you saying marks are appearing now and how/what are you cleaning the car with.

[KennyN]

My PPF guy, ex Rolls Royce and McLaren, so he knows what good and bad paint looks like, made lots of positive noises about the quality of the paint.  He particularly praised the piano black parts, which are notoriously difficult to get right, apparently.  His only negative comment was some slight orange peel, which he corrected before applying the PPF.  Overall, he said it is about as good as a modern production line paint job gets.

[ramjet]

What colour is yours @KennyN

[C8RKH]

The clue might be in his profile picture? 🤣

Edited February 19, 2023 by Bravo73

[KennyN]

@ramjet Would you believe me if I said Hethel Yellow?  

[ramjet]

Yes.

[JB]

The paint and especially the black roof is incredibly soft. Customer 'chucked' an envelope on his while he was sorting paperwork and it left a very light scratch. paint correction and ceramic seemed to have helped no end tho.

[Techyd]

22 hours ago, KennyN said:

@ramjet Would you believe me if I said Hethel Yellow?  

I really wanted you to reply with 'Orange Peel' 

[KennyN]

It appears that I spoke too soon regarding the quality of the paint job on my car.  It was back getting the rear LOTUS badge fitted following removal for a neater PPF installation (of course it was on backorder).

This gave my PPF guy the chance to give it the once over now that the PPF has had a chance to settle.  Unfortunately, micro blisters have started to appear on the driver's door.  As it is going to get a number of other issues looked at next week this will be another one for the list.  I am reluctant to get anything done about it at this stage, as there could well be more in time, but I am keen to get it acknowledged by Lotus and kept on record.  If it is going to need various areas repainted, I'd rather it was done as one job from a colour match point of view.

I will be interested to learn who is expected to pay to get the PPF redone as and when it is fixed.  This and the ability to address the other issues will determine whether this car is a long-term keeper, as I really do not have the time nor the patience to be back and forth getting things looked at following the delivery delays.  So much for the alleged superior QC at the factory, my last Exige needed the back end painted within 3 years due to micro blisters, it appears that little has improved on this front.

[duncx]

Whaaaaat - nooooo, I cannot believe that this old chestnut is back

I hope that's now the full extent of the problem and that you get it sorted ✌️

[Mark030358]

FFS… blistering. Give the car back….

[KennyN]

I'm keen to hear what Lotus have to say before making any decisions.

[Graham Ridgway]

I don't know much about modern paintwork, but was looking at three Emiras in a showroom on Saturday.  The paint finish looked to me to have masses of orange peel on all three cars (2 blue and 1 verdant).  The Exige beside them had lovely smooth shiny paint (as did the Elan Sprint DHC), chalk and cheese.

Is that the normal finish these days?  Kind of mottled.

There were quite a few scratches to be seen as well (the detailer will attend to them apparently).

[KennyN]

I'm told that modern paint is often subject to orange peel.  Mine was no exception, but it was corrected to a degree before applying PPF.  Thankfully, there were no scratches, overspray, runs, or dry edges in my case.  That said, they would have been easier to deal with than blisters.

Some of the most apparent orange peel I've seen is on BMWs, every car in the showroom was noticeably affected the last time I was in a BMW showroom.  I asked the salesman if this was what I could expect if I placed an order, and he quietly shared that he had recently moved from Mercedes and the cars in the showroom would never have made it in front of prospective customers with his previous employer.  I thanked him for his honesty and time then I went and bought a Mercedes.

[Rambo]

Interesting article here re. the dreaded orange peel

 https://newoldcars.com/orange-peel-why-your-new-car-paint-may-look-so-bad/

[Graham Ridgway]

Thanks very interesting.  I wonder how the Emiras score on the 1-10 scale when new?

[JohnGB]

That’s an excellent article Rambo, thanks for posting.

[C8RKH]

Great article but how do you get the electrical/magnetic attraction of the paint to a non metal body like GRP?

[KennyN]

That's an interesting article and it explains my thoughts on BMW paint.

[Rambo]

4 hours ago, Graham Ridgway said:

Thanks very interesting.  I wonder how the Emiras score on the 1-10 scale when new?

You would hope that Lotus would bd aspiring towards the very top of the scale

[Graham Ridgway]

We would indeed and I am no expert on looking at new car paints, but the three I saw looked very distinct orange peal!