Is this common? Starshield discoloration - Arctic white '06 Elise

yes, i'm pretty sure this is a common occurance and certainly most noticable on white cars.

See if you can get your Lotus dealer to replace the starshield under warranty - there's a good chance they'll do so for this.

Crud. I think it just came out of warranty. Just pulled the paperwork and he purchased it 12/28/05. It has a 3yr/36000mi warranty. anic:

The guy who applied my starshield does it for several dealers, including Lambo, Ferrrari, etc. He said that white is the worst color for this problem, as the discoloration is more easily seen. He showed me his white truck, which had the same problem. The good thing about it is that you can have it replaced, so it looks good for a while. Do a search on this forum about various products to protect it. I use Rejex and really like it.

Crud. I think it just came out of warranty. Just pulled the paperwork and he purchased it 12/28/05. It has a 3yr/36000mi warranty.

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Hey, ask them anyway, as all they can do is say no. Tell them that the problem has existed for some time.

It's common but, of course, not desirable or how the product should age. It is not as evident on some other colors as it is on white.

You may be successful at getting the yellowed pieces covered under warranty - but I am willing to bet that new star shield will do the same thing in time.

I hear that some competitive products fare better and dont yellow. (Xpel?)

Thanks! Would it matter if we call a dealer that we didn't purchase from in the first place? It's a long drive to Portland from Virginia. LOL

BTW - Star Shields warranty is seperate from the cars and is longer.

I hear that some competitive products fare better and dont yellow. (Xpel?)

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I got Xpel for that reason, as my car didn't have starshield new from the dealer.

Vishus_1 said:

BTW - Star Shields warranty is seperate from the cars and is longer.

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Reallllyyyyy....that's good to know! Bless you all for helping.

Speaking of warranties, is there a way to renew one or extend one for the Elise?

I have a white Elise. I figure I need to replace the starshield as a 12-18 month maintenance item to deal with the yellowing effect. I have tried other brands as well.

I am pretty certain that the Warranty on Starshield is 5 years unlimited miles. I would think that this discoloration would be covered. Call the number on the Starshield card in your Owners booklet. If you dont have it let me know and I will get it for you.

Mine is a 2006 Aspen White too but the discoloration is not as bad as yours, noticeable only if I'm couple of feet away. The worst is on the rear clam fender but even those are not as obvious as yours. I'm fine with it for now.

I would try asking as suggested by others. Good luck.

The warranty on the starshield is 5 years as long as it was installed by a certified starshield installer. In your case if it was purchased from the Lotus dealer already installed you have no issue getting it replaced free of charge. The real question is if the 5 year warranty restarts with the new application!?!

By the way the warranty follows the product not the original owner of the car, if you had any doubts.

If the dealer wont do it under warranty, PM SweetdaddyD from what i hear he has some of the best products for starsheilds known to the market. Cheap to

Y'all rock. Seriously. I really appreciate it!

I called the dealer we bought from and they said we can go through our "local" dealer with no problem. I need to see about an extended warranty on the car and we'll decide what to do with the starshield. We have a clamshell coming that needs painted so we'll hold off until we get the painting done.

Yeah, yours looks really bad. I have an 07 Aspen White Exige S and when I picked it up from the dealer back in April 08 the Starshields was also noticeably yellow (but not as bad as yours). Mainly in the rear and two sides. I went to a different dealer (Sports & Specialists :up to have it replaced. They got a Starshields approved installer guy to do it, which by the way did a great job. It took him over 5 hours to do just the rear and two sides. He said its extremely difficult to do a white car if not in a clean room. Now that the rear and two sides are replaced, the front looks yellow in comparison :sad: The installer guy (which by the way does not work for Starshields) insists that its not possible for it to turn yellow. He said the dealer must have apply some chemical for this to happen. He also said he'll take a sample for Starshields to analyze.