Benjamin Russick

iTrader: (1)

Didn't know where to put this thread, so move it as needed. I need the TSB on the roof paint bubbling for the LS1 F-bodys. It used to be posted on "the other site", but has since been removed. Any help would be great! Ben

ChillnV

bubbling on the ttops you mean? I haven't seen one on that yet. Would be good to know, definitely!

FenixSS

iTrader: (3)

No, I think he means the black sail panels, kind of part of the t-top. Mine are bubbling on the sides as well as the roof. I just wish I had a damn garage to store mine SS in instead of exposing it to rain over night and then shine during the day.

Benjamin Russick

iTrader: (1)

OK, here's the TSB: http://152.122.48.12/prepos/files/Ar...01120-1025.pdf

I have bubbling all throughout my solid roof. I only have 13,6xx mi. and the car is always garaged, so it isn't from the weather. The dealership I bought it from is going to replace the whole roof. I am also going to get the back bumper replaced as I scrathed it up. The dealership was very helpful and didn't argue with me at all. While I don't like that I have to go through this BS, at least GM is stepping up to the plate...

LightweightZ28

iTrader: (2)

I JUST had this repair done within the last month. Things to look for after the repair:

-Scratches on the body where the top and fender meet.
-Make sure they resecure all of your weatherstripping.
-Fitment of the new roof. What happened on mine is this. When they install the new top, they have to slide the roof UNDER the lip of the windshield. This can cause there to be a small gap between the winshield molding and the top of the roof. About the thickness of a quarter. The difference here is that at the factory, the roof is put on first and the windshield is layed on top of the roof. The resolution to this problem is for them to remove the windshield and install the top, then reinstall the windshield. I am not saying this will happen to you, but it did happen to me.
-Tell them to make sure they clean the surfaces really well and put on at least the amount of the new adhesive that GM says for them to use. The dealer that did mine either didn't clean well enough or didn't put enough down which caused my roof to start to come loose at the windshield. It wasn't going to fly off or anything, but it did allow enough air to get under it that I thought I had a convertable with the top down. lol

Other than that, the dealer did a REALLY good job of the repair, especially since they had never done that repair before. When I brought it back for the gap and the roof starting to come loose, they took it back without any argument. Now, it fits just like stock again. Can't tell it was replaced, unless you look for the bubbles and see they are gone

P.S. If they do remove the windshield, ask them to make sure they double check your windshield wiper placement after they reinstall the windshield, as they had to do a little adjusting on mine to get my wipers to return all the way back to their OFF positions.

Let me know if you need anymore info.

Benjamin Russick

iTrader: (1)

Chad: Thanks for the info! The dealer will be removing the windshield for the install, so I'm hoping for the best... I'd almost rather them not have to take the whole roof off, but if that will stop the bubbling, I'm all for it!

FenixSS

iTrader: (3)

Does this count as warranty/extended warranty work? I'm waiting to hear back from my dealership

LightweightZ28

iTrader: (2)

No problem man. Yeah, I wasn't very comfortable with getting my roof taken off either. But, in the end, they did a real good job and you cannot tell the repair was done. They had originally told me it would take 2 days, but they actually took 5 days. Wasn't that big of a deal to me though, I rathered them go a little slower and double check everything instead of doing a rush job.

Fenix: I believe this only covers cars under the original warranty. How many miles do you have?

PendragonZ

My dealer told me this was not covered under warranty, and if
I wanted it fixed, I would have to pay 100% for it. It all depends
on your dealer. If you have a good relationship with your dealer,
you may be ok. I only took mine to the dealer for warranty
maintenance, which wasn't that much. Since they don't know
me that well (not taking it to dealer for every damn oil change)
they decided to screw me over.

Screw GM and their crappy customer service.

LightweightZ28

iTrader: (2)

Your car still under the original 3yr./36,000mi. warranty? If so, they are shoving you a line of BS. They probably either don't want to mess with it, or they are scared to. Did you try another dealer? I have the actual GM TSB that I found on the internet, and if I remember right, it said that it was for cars under warranty. I will see if I can track it down again for you.

4mula1

If you are still under warranty, or had them look at this before it ran out, then you ARE covered. If not your screwed like me. They were going to bring in a zone rep to try to ok the out of warranty replacement, but I spoke the the zone rep before hand and he said no without even seeing it since it wasn't a safety issue. The dealership said it would cost me around $3000 to fix it...

btw, mine is a '99 hardtop. Supposedly the reason for the bubbling were some bat batches of adhesive they used that bled through the SMC.

This truly pisses me off, I can do a helluva lotta mods for $3000, or learn to live with it.

ZigZagZ

Quick question for the folks who have had their roof panel repaired.

How bad was the bubbling problem? A few bubbles? A 100 Bubbles?

Your input is appreciated.

4mula1

I haven't had mine repaired yet, but here's the story. When I bought the car, I noticed something like 4-5 small bubbles, averaging about the size of a BB. Took it to the dealership, he thought he could get the work covered out of warranty, so he sanded down the bubbled areas and repainted it. When it was drying under the lamps, the body guy noticed it was bubbling again, this time a little worse. They then stripped the paint off the top and said there were little white spots all over certain areas, mostly lining the windsheild and just up from both drip rails on both sides. Apparently these little white spots are where the adhesive used to attach the SMC to the metal roof had somehow bled through the SMC... He said they tried to treat it with something and then prime/paint, and it bubbled worse than ever while it dried. Some of them went away when it cooled, but I now probably have 7-10 of them of varying size, one popped and oozed some **** that didnt' clean up perfectly. This is when he told me he found out the TSB on it, and the only fix was to replace the roof. They had to eat the charges for all the work on it, since GM wasn't going to re-imburse them for it since it was out of warranty. Then he said it would cost me $3000 for them to replace/paint the roof out of warranty. I appreciate him trying to help, but it's worse now than before he touched it. fwiw, the bubbling does seem to occur under heat. My car is black, and when I leave it out in a parking lot all day in the heat, I see new ones trying to form. I can't tell you how much this whole thing has pissed me off. Especially the manager at GM that told me tough **** I gotta live with it.

All in all, I guess I can live with it till I've really got nothing better to spend my money on. So I'm going to continue down the hp modificaton route as long as necessecary, then I'll probably get the whole car repainted at that time. Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth with how they handled it. I'm a pretty dedicated GM guy, and have put up with some pretty bad quality problems in most every Chevy I've ever owned. It would be nice to see them make the extra effort to right this, but thats not going to happen.
<hopping off soap box>

LightweightZ28

iTrader: (2)

Mine was getting bad. Bubbles across the bottom of the roof along where the roof meets the body, back up and across the back of the roof about an inch back from the rear hatch, to back down to the other side. Also along the top of the roof about an 1/2 inch back from the winshield, and finally in a zig-zag pattern in the middle of the roof above the t-bar. They were in lines and spaced about a inch or so apart. They would get really swelled up when the car was out in the sun for a while. I have a hardtop car BTW.

FYI- In case you were curious, the car looks just like a t-top car under the roof skin except for some extra bracing running along the top of the door opening. Other than that, looks like it would be ready to accept the t-top weatherstriping.

PendragonZ

Lets see, mine is a 99, TSB came out early 03, 3/36 already up.

I had a 5/50 extended warranty, but they said it wasn't covered.
My warranty has since expired.

I'm screwed no matter what.

PendragonZ

The service manager at the dealer I went to said no without
even looking at my car. That's the part that pisses me off
more than anything.

LightweightZ28

iTrader: (2)

PendragonZ- I would be pissed about that as well. He could at least given you some courtesy and looked at it.

Its also bullshit that GM will only cover TSB repairs under the original warranty. They are admitting a defect by the TSB basically, then screwing people who happen to be out of the original warranty even though its a defect in their product. At the very least, they should go at least 5 years from the model year covering TSB repairs.