Answer/Fix to Chronic Firebird Door Panel Cracking Problem Info!
Answer/Fix to Chronic Firebird Door Panel Cracking Problem Info! Don't know if this has already been posted - if so, sorry for duplication, but:
For everyone that has the chronic problem of their door panels cracking, or just want to prevent it from ever happening;
There was an excellent tech article on why this happens & how to fix the problem before it starts in the...
November 2007 Issue of High Perfomance Pontiac Mag, page 74, 'Door Panel Pandemic - Exploring the Chronic Fourth Gen Firebird Door Panel Cracking Problem'
I tried to find the article online at their site but had no luck?
Just thought I'd bring it to everyone's attention...
-Jay-
For everyone that has the chronic problem of their door panels cracking, or just want to prevent it from ever happening;
There was an excellent tech article on why this happens & how to fix the problem before it starts in the...
November 2007 Issue of High Perfomance Pontiac Mag, page 74, 'Door Panel Pandemic - Exploring the Chronic Fourth Gen Firebird Door Panel Cracking Problem'
I tried to find the article online at their site but had no luck?
Just thought I'd bring it to everyone's attention...
-Jay-
Well, it's definitely in the Nov issue of the mag on the newstands as I just got mine in the mail yesterday.
They show an example of an already cracked door panel, and then one that is in the stages of beginning to crack with the stress dimples and all. The car with the dimpled panels (pre-crack stage) is a 01' with only 17K miles on it that has been kept in garage and driven only when nice.
So apparently, how the car is taken care of makes no difference. They claim the cracks start from stresses built up in the plastic portion of the panel from when the steel top window felt is stapled onto the plastic at the factory.
Lotta good pics and theory sounds reasonable - fix is relatively easy.
They show an example of an already cracked door panel, and then one that is in the stages of beginning to crack with the stress dimples and all. The car with the dimpled panels (pre-crack stage) is a 01' with only 17K miles on it that has been kept in garage and driven only when nice.
So apparently, how the car is taken care of makes no difference. They claim the cracks start from stresses built up in the plastic portion of the panel from when the steel top window felt is stapled onto the plastic at the factory.
Lotta good pics and theory sounds reasonable - fix is relatively easy.
Well, I know I'm going out to the garage right now to remove car cover and look for the telltale pre-crack dimples.
I'll prolly do the fix regardless.
Plus I have to make sure the A/C is on in the garage for my baby
I'll prolly do the fix regardless.
Plus I have to make sure the A/C is on in the garage for my baby
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Verdad Gallardo Damn! Thought I actually had some good info - didn't even see that up there and that (Pittsburgh ease).
Well at least it seems everyone agrees that it's the staples in the window felt that are doing it - and removing them cures the problem before the crack starts.
And it is in the mag as stated in the sticky.
Sorry for acting like a newbie and cluttering up with info already posted - ya can go ahead and delete this iffen you want
younz can jest call me Bozo
-Jay-
Well at least it seems everyone agrees that it's the staples in the window felt that are doing it - and removing them cures the problem before the crack starts.
And it is in the mag as stated in the sticky.
Sorry for acting like a newbie and cluttering up with info already posted - ya can go ahead and delete this iffen you want
younz can jest call me Bozo
-Jay-
