Slippery Slope...

[WoodenOne]

Morning all, as having recently purchased an Elise 111R I thought it would be rude not to say 'Hello'. I had been skulking around the Caterham forums for a while as I always planned on having an R300, but for years torn between this and the Elise, since its launch in the 90's. Well after much soul serching I decided last Christmas to trust my head and get the Elise!
Well having the car for only four weeks and only adding 25 miles to it (weather pretty wet in Somerset) I have already managed to spend some more money on a 2bular 6x18 exhaust and changing the silver diffuser for a black one with oval cutout, oh and new Lotus badges.


Noticed yesterday on the front near the indicator some paint bubbles and having searched the forums appears to be the dreaded moisture in the paint that is well documented. Is this something that could be dealt with by eg Chips Away?

Look forward to meeting some local owners at a few club meets soon.
Richard

[Thorburn]

I don't think Chipsaway can deal with the paintwork blistering - you really need it sanded back to the fibreglass and dried out or it'll reoccur in future. A few others have been posting on it on SELOC lately as it's quite common this time of year and think had some recommendations of how to deal with it best.

Jealous of you down in Somerset though, used to live Wincanton and miss the roads down that way!

[simpo555]

As for the blistering paint I'm intrigued as to the origin of the problem. I owned my car for more than two years with no apparent problem. However, prior to the sale of my car I used a high pressure car wash in order to present the car as best as possible. Only snag was that it was -8°C during the night allied to a snowfall of about 8cm. The following day, to my absolute horror there were three small bubbles in the paint close to the wing mirrors. My impression was moisture had got into the inner skin of the door via the rubber window seals. This subsequently froze, thus causing the paint to expand. Fortunately the bubbles dissappeared after three to four days. My car was never garaged and had 'survived' two realatively cold winters with no issues. Felt a bit of an idiot afterwards. Therefore, inclined to think its more of a moisture penetration problem rather than a paint issue but no expert in the matter.

[kambites]

I think the general belief is that the bubbling paint thing is a manufacturing process flaw - that the clams aren't properly dried out before painting when new. Certainly, mine is bubbling nowhere near where you'd expect water to get in.

[John D.]

I had a bit of bubbling following a new rear clam being painted and fitted. This was at Spring time when we actually enjoying some warm weather. It appeared pretty soon after picking up the car. Was put down to poor preparation and promptly rectified.