boosted_ws6

Original owner, I have a 2002 WS6...58k miles, garage kept and under a cover and in extremely good condition. (Door panels and dash haven't cracked yet either... just replaced the door staples with zip ties this past week to make sure).

I had to replace the rocker panels (side skirts) on my car because the paint on only the side skirts would form a haze after sitting for a few weeks. It would wipe off but come back in weeks. Upon removing the driver side, the rocker panel, the plastic was brittle. Some of the mounting points just snapped with very little pressure. No clue, i can only assume some sort of defect in the plastic.
I searched for weeks to find a replacement side skirt and was lucky to find one that had just been posted to ebay. $125. Scored that, had it painted and the car is back to normal.

what surprises me is how long it took to find the part, and had me wondering... what other parts are hard to come by these days? Has anyone ever created a list or hard to find parts?

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Many parts are hard to come by, GM starting discontinuing certain items as far back as the early-mid 2000s (such as interior specific pieces for the '99 and earlier "dark gray" color). I actually starting stockpiling items that I thought would be hard to find (or at least hard to find the OEM version) for my '98 Z28 back in the early 2000s. One of the first things that I found to be unavailable was the '97-'99 "Dark Gray" center console lid. Also, the 2000-and-earlier rear view mirror was gone by ~2005 or so (you could only get the revised version for the '01+ cars). I collected many boxes of OEM stuff between about 2004 and 2008 that was still available at the time, but much of it is discontinued now (like the original assembly line version of the Camaro headlights - what you get now from GM is an outsourced lesser version from Depot that just has a GM logo on it). Lots of items can still be had from GM, but they aren't always the same as the assembly line original (such as the service-replacement radiator cap, the new version works fine but its markings - font/color/number - are a bit different).

I could go on and on if I had the time to give this more thought, as I've encountered many items that are either gone or have been changed/outsourced from the original version (still sold by GM, but not from the original supplier and/or an updated version which may or may not be "improved"). But keeping an actual list would be extremely difficult, not sure it would be practical or even useful (as nobody knows when something is going to be discontinued until after it's already discontinued - too late to stockpile in many cases, though sometimes a nationwide dealer search will reveal a leftover item or two).

Some items have now come online as reproductions/aftermarket. Some are nice pieces, some are not.

I understand that your question might be more in regards to what is difficult to find in general (meaning on the used market as well) rather than just what has been discontinued by GM. But once GM is no longer selling it (or no longer selling the good original version), then NOS and nice condition used versions usually become scarce shortly after - so being discontinued by the OEM is usually a good indication of what will be hard to find in the near future (unless you are not picky about condition, in which case most items will be available until such a time that there are no more 4th gens in junk yards and/or being parted out).

Tuskyz28

OEM SS spoilers sells faster than hot pancakes

Big Chuk

iTrader: (11)

These

99 Black Bird T/A

iTrader: (4)

Definitely great foresight to stock pile many of the hard to find parts back in the mid 2000's. I did a little of that too but now most of that's been used up.

Hawk's Motorsports can be a good source for some items. Hawk's provided a fair about of stuff to keep my 99 TA & 02 Z28 looking decent. They also offer a lot of 3rd party replacement parts. Prices are decent but definitely not the least expensive.

I had a hard time locating a 99 TA /Firebird power mirror switch. The camaro version was easy to find. Hawk's was my source.

mjs1012

iTrader: (36)

I guess these fall under the rare category more than hard to find, but SLP bowtie grilles and clear FTP lids. I paid $150 for a grille a few years ago, paid a guy $25 to repaint it and can flip it for close to $500 if I wanted to now it's nuts. Also have a 98mm clear lid BNIB for $100 and its still in the box since I haven't needed it yet. Was also on the hunt for a TA gauge bezel recently and it seemed almost impossible to find one at a reasonable price.

But for OEM parts definitely door switches and bezels in good shape are hard to find along with center console lids.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

This was my resource for the engine bay fuse box covers and decals. The factory decals are prone to fading, even on very low mileage cars, and have long since been discontinued. But Hawks started offering repros of both the covers and decals several years ago. I bought a set right away, they were good quality pieces and have held up fine (granted, I rarely drive the car) so far. Only complaint I can make, and this is VERY minor, is that the gloss factor of the decals is different between the two (one is very glossy like the OEM decal, looks like photo paper, while the other is more of a semi-gloss/low gloss). But this is only noticeable under a very close inspection, and it's FAR better than sticking with my faded factory decals. It's also possible that this has since been corrected, as I think I was one of the first to buy this repro item.

SwiftSS

I scored BIG time with these, got them off of offer up from some guy for $75! Brand new...

War Prayer

Interior parts, sun visors cost a fortune, chrome SLP option wheels are basically impossible to get, I think the steering columns were discontinued too and they all have that awful slip issue now.

bigbomber5

@SwiftSS Very nice!

myk

iTrader: (4)

Parts replacement wouldn't be such a big problem if stuff wasn't breaking all of the time on my cars. I cant think of anything on my two 4th gens that hasn't been repaired or replaced at some point, and it isn't because of wear and tear: both 4th gens put 4K miles each in two years (both cars have less than 130K on the 'odo), get all routine maintenance done and live under the best car covers money can buy. Interior pieces are the worst: sun visors, console lids, switches, switch bezels, the dash pads, sound systems, power window motors and lets not even talk about all of the mechanical problems under the hood. I remember one day I took out each 4th gen to stretch their legs and they both came back home with the SES light on. Ridiculous.

My two 4th gen Mustangs on the other hand are absolute angels. The interiors still looks like new and I can't even remember the last time I had to change a light bulb or a switch or anything except for routine maintenance. And these two cars drive me to work everyday, putting on about 8K a year, and they don't get waxed, covered or babied in any way. If the 4th gens didn't look like American made exotics I would've ditched them a long time ago; their reliability and integrity are horrible and now parts are disappearing...

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

At ~130k they have definitely seen plenty of wear and tear over the last ~20 years. That's not low mileage overall (even if their current annual mileage is not very high), so it's no surprise that original stuff is breaking at this point. Worse yet, some of the replacement items might not last as long as the originals, so future rounds of parts replacements might come even sooner. No matter how good your maintenance or storage routine is, there is going to be wear and/or parts breakage on any car that has seen 130k of usage on original items and is also a couple of decades old.

Interior pieces generally don't just "go bad", I actually have several of the above listed items, NOS parts in original packaging, and they haven't disintegrated from sitting. The breakage comes from exposure to extreme heat/rapid temp swings, intense sunlight exposure, and frequent usage over time. The very low mileage cars that have always been garage kept and/or live in temperate climates don't have many of those issues. After 22 years, my '98 has had very, very few issues in this regard - but I would expect no less at only 18k miles and constant indoor storage since new.

383z

iTrader: (2)

Interior parts and tail lights in general.
Obviously, LT1 SS parts too like the hood, spoiler, and intake.