my dealership tried repainting it after i told them theyd have to replace it and they wouldnt listen its bs

 

Okay.. so my 99 SS is having these problems.

I printed out the GM TSB, wrote down a few case #'s.

what are the chances of them fixing my vehicle? it's only spent 1 year outdoors. 99 with 70k miles. mint condition other than that roof.

too little to late i'd imagine? I should have checked this forum years ago.

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are going to have a hell of a time getting GM to fix it. I would imagine next to impossible for a car with that age and mileage. The only way you might be able to get this fixed is if you have a dealer that you have bought a few cars from and have service done. Then they MAY do it on a "goodwill" basis. My car is an 02 and had 50k at the time and I had to bring GM to arbitration with Better Business to get them to fix it. I argued under the 6 year, 100k mile rust protection warranty which you are long out of unfortunately.

 

I figured as much. there are only a few specs and it's now my garage queen.

can't justify spending 1k on such a minor issue.

 

My 60k 01 formula has been a garage queen since day 1, so I understand your frustration. Unfortunately, it has more than a few specs and the glue is leaking through the panel in different places. After every time I drive it, I have to wipe it off. I just might go into the dealership tomorrow to see how much they want for a new panel.

 

Yeah, I had this problem as well. Glue coming out of the specs and when I would drive on the freeway it would get all over the damn place. GM never tells you diddly **** about it until its too late. I thought for a year or two it was something I was doing, until I found this thread and luckily got it fixed.

I know some people have had the roof replaced for pretty cheap by either finding the roof on eBay or through gmpartsdirect.com and then having a body shop do the work. A dealer is going to be really expensive.

One thing is certain, the dealers don't have an F'ing clue why it is happening. Three different dealers and six different explanations was my experience .

 

It looks like gmpartsdirect wants $440 for it. IMO, it would be nice if gm would at least give us all a discount since it is their fault anyway LOL

 

Before my arbitration hearing they offered to settle by reducing my extended warranty deductible from $100 to $0, so good luck with getting that discount......

 

Yep. That's how my '02 got fixed, GM didn't pay but my dealer just made the bill go away. They are very good to me.

That was back in the spring of 2008 though. Not sure how long even the nicest of dealers will be willing to cover this on their own.

 

Mine was so bad that just driving the car in the sunlight for an hour would be enough to make the panel look like something was growing underneath it. And several bubbles would start to ooze fluid. It's like the car had an STD.

Even if I had to pay I'd still get it fixed, unless I didn't plan to keep the car for long.

 

Has anyone tried removing, spot repairing, repainting, and reaply their original sail panel? A bodyman friend said he would like to try it on my 2000 SS. We figured we could set it out in the sun before installing to test it, but it may not show bubbles right away.

 

its nearly impossible to remove without it breaking into a **** ton of pieces. i wanted to do the same thing thing.

 

People have tried a variety of different methods do fix the roof. I have never heard of it working, the bubbles have always come back. Good luck removing the panel without destroying it.

 

Thanks for the reply. I think I'll wait tell late fall or early winter to try to
remove the panel for repair. Salt season is long here in Minnesota so that will
give me a lot of time before I would want to drive the car next spring. My
bodyman friend is a instructor at a community college, and told me that
chemical reactions are a subject of interest to him. I'll post any updates.

 

Okay, forgive me for not wanting to search through 60 pages of material but what is the part number for the new sail panel for a T-Top car? 2002 WS6 if that matters. Mines not really doing it yet, but it's a low mile, garage kept car. I'd like to get one and store it away just for the future likelyhood that I'll need one. Price that I've read is about $441 plus $91 shipping through GMPartsDirect? Then about another $500 in labor?

Thanks.

EDIT: Alright, I think I found the part #'s

Sail panel # 10254708 Did the price go WAY up on this or what? GMPartsDirect has it listed at $448... Also, can someone verify the part #. They have it listed as a "Lift Off Roof Window" Sounds like a T-Top or something.

Small Triangular pieces which you will need:

Right: 10240164
Left: 10240165

 

Yes, these are the correct numbers as per the TSB from GM. I have a copy on hand and I just double checked it.

I know the GMPD description looks odd, but those are the right numbers. Not sure if the price has gone up, I was lucky enough to get mine covered by the dealer.

 

This sucks, a good friend of mine has a 18k 02 Z28 that is absolutely immaculate besides where you can see the roof starting to bubble.

 

Okay. I'm thinking about picking one up just to have handy when the time comes to need to have it swapped. Luckily mine only has one small, small bubble on the drivers side lower sail panel, but I read that once it starts, no matter how small, it's done.

And I don't want to have to go scavenging junk yards when it finally does get bad enough just in case GM discontinues them...

 

what is the oil **** that comes out of the bubbles? i've tried wetsanding mine down and covering with touch up and it doesn't do anything, they leak oil again as soon i go for a little drive.

 

It's glue. And you won't fix it by doing any sort of modifications to your current roof. It has to be replaced per the TSB that is in this thread.