Door panel corrosion

[chevronb37]

Chaps,

I hope you don't mind me invading your forum, being a mere Lotus owner, but would value some advice.

My father bought a V8V new in October 2010. When it went in for its first service, the dealership spotted some corrosion to the door skin around the lock barrel. It is to the actual aluminium panel, rather than the lock itself. Has anyone else experienced this? Apparently it is now spreading quite quickly. He is understandably mortified and worried that any remedial work will fail to return his car to its previous splendour.

I'd value any input from anyone who has suffered the same fate, or who can offer some experience of dealing with AML/the dealership network in terms of attending to these kinds of issues. I adore the car but must say that it is disappointing for such an expensive and apparently well-engineered vehicle to suffer from bodywork corrosion within 12 months.

Thanks,

Andy

[JohnG1]

Use the search function - it's a long running topic.

Best of luck to your father to get it resolved.

[Jockman]

Andy - there are indeed several threads on corrosion for you to trawl through, but what sets yours apart is that it is so new.

I should imagine that you will be dealt with promptly by your Dealer and an embarrased AM under full warranty conditions.

Let us know some feedback when you can

[chevronb37]

Hi chaps,

Thanks for the prompt responses. I have found a couple of threads and forwarded to the old man. I think he's feeling a bit disllusioned with it at the moment - especially as the service cost a small fortune, not to mention taxing it the same week! I haven't seen the corrosion yet but I'll ask him to send up some photos. Of course I will update the thread with any findings. I'd be grateful to hear of any other recent experiences from owners. The dealership have generally been pretty good with other matters to date.

Just as an aside, is a bit of clutch judder and associated smell normal as well? Car is a 4.7L manual.

Andy

[Neil1300R]

chevronb37 said:

Hi chaps,
as an aside, is a bit of clutch judder and associated smell normal as well? Car is a 4.7L manual.

Andy

smell? Yes sir they all do that!
he needs to learn how to use the clutch to stop it smelling. No racing starts and usually worse in reverse - until you learn to reverse without using any throttle.
judder - no!

[chevronb37]

Interesting. I'll get him back on the case with the dealer re the clutch then. The smell wouldn't bother me but the judder definitely would. Been the same since he bought it.

[steveatesh]

chevronb37 said:

Interesting. I'll get him back on the case with the dealer re the clutch then. The smell wouldn't bother me but the judder definitely would. Been the same since he bought it.

personally I'd have the judder checked out - never experienced judder (touching wood very quickly!)

[mikey k]

Is it clutch or throttle judder?
My old 4.7 improved alot with a throttle clean as per Ricks instructions

[Shmee]

Mine is having some corrosion that's just appeared fixed on warranty on Wednesday, on the underside of the door mirror of all places and it just appeared out of nowhere over a few days as some paint flaked off. The car had it's 2nd birthday yesterday and even this age surprised me but it will have a brand new mirror attached so I'm happy.

[lady topaz]

Mine is at WS being serviced and having the door handle sorted due to paint blistering. Really shouldnt happen, especially when they go to great lengths showing you how good the paint plant is at Gaydon.

Di

[mikey k]

Shmee said:

Mine is having some corrosion that's just appeared fixed on warranty on Wednesday, on the underside of the door mirror of all places and it just appeared out of nowhere over a few days as some paint flaked off. The car had it's 2nd birthday yesterday and even this age surprised me but it will have a brand new mirror attached so I'm happy.

Know issue on a batch of these, I had both done on my last car, it starts under the mirror pivot point and works it's way along the arm, flaking the black powder coating from the aluminium leaving white Al oxide exposed.

[Shmee]

mikey k said:

Know issue on a batch of these, I had both done on my last car, it starts under the mirror pivot point and works it's way along the arm, flaking the black powder coating from the aluminium leaving white Al oxide exposed.

Bang on what mine has wrong with it. He asked if it was there on the other side too but no signs to my eyes so has only ordered a nearside replacement mirror. Fingers crossed the other one doesn't go next week...

[Jockman]

lady topaz said:

Mine is at WS being serviced and having the door handle sorted due to paint blistering. Really shouldnt happen, especially when they go to great lengths showing you how good the paint plant is at Gaydon.

Di

Very disappointing Di on such a new car.

I hear what you are saying about the paint plant, and I've witnessed it myself. However I have no benchmark to compare against.

FAIK the Gaydon paint shop might be a dinosaur compared to the big boys plant ??

[mikey k]

lady topaz said:

Especially when they go to great lengths showing you how good the paint plant is at Gaydon.

I'd beg to differ based on my work over the weekend

[mikey k]

The Gaydon paint process is actually a good system with all panels for a car painted by robot at the same time, they also visually inspect and wipe down with UV dye stained wipes so they can see what has been cleaned and looked at.
There is a very very good video on the ASton web site.

That still didn't stop the following on mine:

1)one piece of dirt under the paint coat on the bonnet
2) two black spots in the paint on the bonnet
3) sanding powder under the bonnet, in the roof seals and front area behind the grill
4) dried clear coat wet sanding debris set rock solid in the rear wing arches, engine bay, under the bonnet, behind the front upper grill, along the underneath of the sills and behind the lower front bumper grill (no idea how to get to this )

I'm a fussy bugger but not unrealistic - AM sort your quality control out please!

[Jockman]

mikey k said:

1)one piece of dirt under the paint coat on the bonnet
2) two black spots in the paint on the bonnet
3) sanding powder under the bonnet, in the roof seals and front area behind the grill
4) dried clear coat wet sanding debris set rock solid in the rear wing arches, engine bay, under the bonnet, behind the front upper grill, along the underneath of the sills and behind the lower front bumper grill (no idea how to get to this )

Having 2 spray shops myself, I can tell you Mr K that some of those problems can be related to poor extraction

[lady topaz]

Jockman said:

Very disappointing Di on such a new car.

I hear what you are saying about the paint plant, and I've witnessed it myself. However I have no benchmark to compare against.

FAIK the Gaydon paint shop might be a dinosaur compared to the big boys plant ??

Having been shown around the TVR paint shop in its prime it's impossible to believe the quality they achieved, this was prior to dinosaurs. I daresay the methods were totally different to those AM use, and it might be easier to paint fibreglass but the finish on both my Tuscans was faultless.
They did something right, bless em.
My V8V also had paint issues which needed sorting.

Di

[lady topaz]

mikey k said:

The Gaydon paint process is actually a good system with all panels for a car painted by robot at the same time, they also visually inspect and wipe down with UV dye stained wipes so they can see what has been cleaned and looked at.
There is a very very good video on the ASton web site.

That still didn't stop the following on mine:

1)one piece of dirt under the paint coat on the bonnet
2) two black spots in the paint on the bonnet
3) sanding powder under the bonnet, in the roof seals and front area behind the grill
4) dried clear coat wet sanding debris set rock solid in the rear wing arches, engine bay, under the bonnet, behind the front upper grill, along the underneath of the sills and behind the lower front bumper grill (no idea how to get to this )

I'm a fussy bugger but not unrealistic - AM sort your quality control out please!

Not good Mikey, I shall carefully inspect mine upon its return. With something as simple as a door handle, I had hoped they would just replace rather than putting it in the paint shop.

Di

[mikey k]

Jockman said:

Having 2 spray shops myself, I can tell you Mr K that some of those problems can be related to poor extraction

Yep we work with several spray shops
In theory the Aston set up should be really good
But I think poor extraction and poor cleaning (or attention to detail? ) are the main culprits here.
The final finish on the highly visible areas is actually good and need no paint correction as I had assumed it would. There were no marring, hologram effects or sanding marks in the paint or clear coat. They just let them selves down on the areas you find when you poke around a bit

I suspect the same is true of Di's "lifting paint"
BTW Di is it the door around the handle or the handle lever?

BTWA I saw the Gaydon paint shop in 2006 as a supplier, before the current robot system, now that was scary!
Rolls Royce Chichester was completely the opposite.

[peterr96]

mikey k said:

BTWA I saw the Gaydon paint shop in 2006 as a supplier, before the current robot system, now that was scary!
Rolls Royce Chichester was completely the opposite.

They were very proud of that then! That said ours is going in for remedials around the door handle in Nov so it looks like that proudness was misplaced. Like you we had issues. Swirls on the roof by the "gutter" and a mysterious line under the clearcoat on the very leading edge of the bonnet. You really had to have the "right conditions" to see either but they were there to see.
What scares me most about all this is that it appears to be endemic and can pop up at any time in the life cycle. After our impending surgery do we assume that is it or something that will continue to come back and haunt us?
Anyone had any repeat instances?

Pete