OMFG, what a pain the azz it has been to get a lousy hood.

Perhaps a little history first. I own a '02 firehawk which first starting showing signs of hood failure last fall. On the surface of the hood, near the heat extractors, and around the nech near the air intake you could see some slight bubbling in the paint. As if the hood were rusting underneath the paint. Hmmmm.... rust? Cant be, so I said to myself, self...we better have this checked out. I took the car to the dealership, who fortunately (so I thought) had their own sub contracted body shop on the premasis. The service manager looked at the hood, and body shop manager looked at the the hood, and together we all agreed something wasnt right. (no kidding).... The bodyshop recommended I wait until this spring/summer to bring the car back since It was still early in the warranty period. So I agreed.

Heres where things get a bit frustrating. I bring the car in one sunny day in July. Body manager says leave the car a few days and Ill see what I can do. He calls me the next day, says you need a new hood. I contact the service manager, he says, thats gonna be a problem. Continues to explain to me, SLP Performance says they wont honor the warranty since the hood was installed by SLP who is no longer in business. I said WHAT!? Apparently SLP is no longer known as SLP, they are SLP PERFROMANCE, a "different" company. I said you have GOT TO BE KIDDING ME RIGHT!?

The service manager goes on to tell me that SLP PERFORMANCE would however SELL the delearship a hood, in mean time, and once the dealership returns the OLD hood and SLP PERFRORMANCE verifies its defectiveness they would then refund the purchase price of the replacement hood. (if that makes sense) Of course, SLP PERFORMANCE wouldnt agree to any of this without the service manager talking to his regional manager who inturn called SLP PERFROMANCE personaly. Unfortuantely for me, the dealership refuses to BUY the hood. They told me I should front the money. I said HELL NO! So I called GM and complained.

So.... after about 2 weeks of this back and forth, whos gonna do what, your gonna do this, blah blah blah, the dealership agreed to front the money and buy the new hood. After about another week or so the hood comes in , the body shop paints and installs it. I go today to pick it up and boy am I surprised.

WHAT A PIECE OF ****!!!!

Not only does the hood like crap, construction and quality wise, the paint job just about matches the craftmanship of the hood. Their runs and unpainted primer spots under the hood. Theres evern two scratches, about two inches in length that were touched up with touch up paint. Theres spots where they missed with the clear coat. Earl Shibe paints better then this guy. Not to mention the hood quality. Unfinished fiberblassing on the underside. Poor filler between the top and bottom layers, large gaps up to 8 or 10 inches in length.

What a huge dissapointment. Ill be calling GM tomorrow to let them know what sort of quality workmanship they are providing. Never again.

 

That sucks!!! Good for you for having the dealership pay for the hood!!! They make MORE THAN ENOUGH money on all the other stuff they try to pull the wool over people's eyes!!!! Good for you for complaining to GM also!!! I would let them know how you feel about the situation and see what they will do for you. GOOD LUCK!!!!!

 

Sorry to hear that, I hope this gets resolved for you the right way. It's times like this when I want to take off my SLP parts. I really think there trying to lose all there customers.

 

Lets see some pics

 

There's one wrinkle in that whole thing.

SLP no longer owns the hoods. They haven't owned the hoods for awhile now. GM owns the hoods. So how is SLP going to sell GM a hood when GM owns the hoods? If you go on SLP's website, they even say GM owns them.

SLP Perf will honor original warranties as long as the vehicle is under 3/36,000 been there, done that). My hood also has a few of the bubbles, but it's not rust, because the hood is fiberglass. But the dealrships claimed it looked like touch up paint. Oh well, I'll just have it repainted, along with the front end and front fenders. And since I'm paying for it, I'll find the best person around.

 

http://www.gm-restorationparts.com/e...p?PartID=50918

Read the bottom, looks like it falls back on SLP if its a piece of crap, GM wont warranty it.

 

Interesting. So SLP still makes the hood and distributes them to GM to sell them. That's what it looks like.

 

One reason to buy a new Cobra! GM sucks at backing their products. Just remember this saying: WE'LL BE THERE! Ha yeah right. I have seen that commercial too. GM will be there alright, with vaseline in hand!

 

Why in the HELL would I want to buy a car slower and uglier than my Hawk? Oh yeah, that would help.

I've never had problems with support for my vehicle. Heck, they even replaced my 02 sensors under warranty when the previous owner had installed headers.

Buy a Cobra... Yeah, okay. Nooooo way. There's already been Vaseline in GM's hands with us LS1 and LS6 guys giving it to Ford up the pipe.

 

 

Actually, GM Doesnt own anything related to the SLP upgrade of their firebirds. All parts are still owned by SLP Performance. GM simply enforces the warranty coverage. Their more or less a medaitor between the customer and SLP. Believe me, I just went through it. I spoke with GM, and SLP both. Unfortunately, SLP's policy is that the replacement item be purchased up front, then they will return the money once they get the defective part and confirm its a defect in workmanship. The other problem, is getting the dealer to front the cost of the item.

 

Why don't you look Scott Settlemire up and call him personally? A friend of a friend knows how to get in touch with him. PM me if you want me to try and get his #.

 

My hood had a 2" crack on the drivers side right over the fender. I took it to the dealership about 2000 miles before my warranty was up. They got a hold of SLP and SLP told them they were waiting on a new batch. 8 months later still no hood. Dealer called SLP back and they gave us the runaround another few months and then finally told us the crack was not structual and they would send $350 for us to have it fixed. They do have some sucky customer service.

 

UH OH im having second thoughts about getting an ultra z hood now

 

Any one have problems with their Ultra Z!?