Paint bubbling

[Stonie]

Hi all,

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT... my paint has started to bubble, just above the passenger rear wheel arch.

It's an '06 car aswell, that I've had for less than 6 months. This is the second thing to go wrong with my Elise, the first was the DBW that failed after just 500 odd miles... I think the acronym LOTUS (Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious) is beggining to rear it's ugly head again !

I only hope the dealer is upto doing a good paint mach (I know from experience)... it's Solar Yellow !

Anyone else has this problem ?

[purpleperil]

Yup! Not bubble exactly but I had a 'ring' almost as though a cup had been placed on top of the wing? Plus other imperfections. Whole rear clam has been resprayed! Excellent job by dealer - all under warranty.

>> Edited by purpleperil on Thursday 4th May 09:51

[S Works]

Sadly it's a common problem that should be fixed under warranty. Insist on a very thorough re-prep and paint checking that it's blended with the rest of the car.

IIRC this is generally due to the fibreglass not being prepped properly before painting (something about it not being allowed to 'settle') and the bubbles are gas or moisture escaping as it does so.

[seetim]

You can also get some bubbling on the integral rear wing (I'm talking about an S2 here specifically - though the same may apply to an S1, don't know). I was speaking to the very helpful guys down at Specialised Paintwork. If I understood correctly, this has something to do with some cars having a box fitted to the underneath to trap and subsequently disperse rain water that gets under the engine lid. If the pipes from the box get blocked, then the water permeates through the fibreglass body and that gives you the bubbling.

It is a known problem, and not all Elises have this box (probably because of this problem). The cure is to have it (the box) removed, the area sealed and then fix the paint. Something similar happened to mine, and if you use a mirror to see under the body from within the boot compartment you can see where things have been fixed.

Good news is once it is fixed properly, then you'll have no more problems. The key is to got to a good fibreglass paintshop who know what they are doing (obvious I know).

Cheers, Andrew.