Well my bubbles just got worse today! I had a few very very small places that were poppin up that you could barely see unless you really looked for em. Went by my local dealership where im well known and the Service department sent me to the body shop. Well the body shop told there was no open recalls or service bulletins for my car or VIN. I figured so since the whole 'sail panel' issue is no longer being fixed obviously. She then gave me the # to General Motors service department which I called and she said the same.
I did however schedulle an apointment next Monday that GM service did setup to have the body shop look at my car to see if they would replace the 'defective' bubbling piece or not. It's worth a shot so I may get lucky. Never hurts to at least try...
If they will not warranty the piece I will try to see if they will at least work with me to get it fixed. If not I will take my chances and just spend $300 and let Abra repaint the piece
I will let you guys know how it goes

-Keith

 

That will be a waste of $300. If you just repaint it, the bubbles will come back, as proven by MANY people in this very thread.

The panel will need to be replaced. GM no longer produces nor sells the panel, so you won't be able to get one from them. The primary options for people that want to correct this is to either get a panel from an 03/98 or older 4th gen donor car, or to get a new panel from site sponsor 6LE (only current source for new panels). Your only other option would be to have something custom made, but this will be the most costly and require a real top notch body shop.

 

I think about this all the time (are bubbling panel) and there has to be something one can do to fix or cover it up with out taking it off.

 

After 87 pages on this thread and ten years since these cars were produced, don't you think that if there was something that would work it would have been found?

As noted many, many times, the problem is the fiberglass being permeated with the glue/chemicals. You can't remove it and covering it with primer/paint won't stop it from escaping. The only way is to get a panel that is not effected.

 

Yep.. I'm going to be needing a brand new panel soon since there's no point in painting the stock **** one. Sucks 6LE's price for these things are super high!

 

Super high as compared to what? These panels cost about the same from GM when you could still get them, actually GM wanted a bit more for the t-top panel from what I remember. Nobody else has ever sold them new besides GM and 6LE.

Sure, they are cheaper used, but that's always the case with anything.

 

Supply meet demand. Welcome to the world of economics.

 

I know this and have read every page. I still think there is something, yes its been a long time but maybe I can be the one to find the answer. I see new things being done all the time on here. I will research this more and may take this to UCLA if need be lol

 

Black '02 SS hardtop here. I just dropped my car off at the dealership's body shop today to be stripped/ repainted today. GM is picking up 50% of the tab.

A little back story: I am the second owner of my car. Bought it back in '05, it now has 48,xxx miles on it. Started noticing the dreaded bubbling issue a few years ago, but it didnt REALLY get bad until about 1.5 - 2 years ago. Only since the blisters got bad did I become aware of the TSB from GM.

Anyway, I called GM's customer support # and filed a claim about my roof issue. The girl I spoke with told me to meet with the service manager at a local dealership where I have also purchased my Silverado from there, brand new (customer loyalty helps). When I met w/ the serv. mngr, I was also greeted by a GM representitve. I explained the whole deal about the roof/sail panel to them, showed them the TSB from this thread, and showed them the obvious damage that my roof has been suffering from that suck-*** adhesive they used.

I told them i wanted the entire roof REPLACED. But since GM no longer makes the part, they weren't willing to go that route, even though I mentioned 6LE and their aftermarket roof skins. So the best I could get out of them was to get GM to cover half the cost of repainting the roof.

I know what yall are thinking, "oh the bubbles are just going to come back." Well I spoke to the body shop mngr and we agreed that the best plan of attack would be:
-Stripping the whole roof/sail panel down to the bare fiberglass.
-Baking the exposed f/g panel in a paint booth for a couple of hours to "sweat out" as much glue as possible.
- Clean panel, and then GEL COAT.
-Paint and clear coat.
I asked the body shop mngr if there was any sealant known to man to prevent this glue from coming thru the paint. He said gel coating was the hardest substance he knew of. So, I guess we'll give it a shot.

Oh, and I should mention: This comes with a limited lifetime warranty. Basically I'm covered if more bubbles show up. They'll have to repaint it again on their own dime from here on out.

 

Thats almost exactly what my body shop guy said to me. My roof is not as bad as others here and Im thinking: my car is a 1999 model....perhaps the glue has finished its reaction? I mean how much is that gonna last? It has been reacting for 13 years!

Please keep us posted about what happens. Maybe I will go a similar route. Chemicals used by body shops have evolved greatly over all these years.

 

Will do, Chaman. I should be getting my car back by wed or thurs. I guess only time will tell if this will do the trick or not. Either way, as I mentioned, this "repainting" is covered under a warranty, so it will be corrected on GM's dime if any issues arise in the future.

 

Here is a good start to what others said can't be done. I even thought of a really thin plastic cover to go over are sail panel to hide the bubbles but at the same time you wouldn't even know there was a cover over it. Anyways man, I'm sure this will work and like you said ether way your COVERED lol

 

I thought of something similar but made out of sheetmetal, like a cap over the sail panel. It would need to be be as thin as possible. I dont think the glue could penetrate that, LOL!

 

foil would work! LOL JK. Don't make me go old school and do a vinyl top LOL

 

You are wasting your time, it’s not going to work. After finally getting the top off my car I can see what caused the problem. Comparing the 2 tops the good one from the yard and the one off my car I can see that the one on my car was masked off in the area where the glue goes. This means the urethane glue was applied to bare fiberglass. The other top was not masked off and the urethane glue was applied directly to overspray base and clear coat. That sealed the urethane off from coming into contact with bare fiberglass. In areas where my panel was really bad, blisters, it basically delaminated from the car when I pulled it off; the panel came loose from the glue very easily. I think what they were trying to achieve back fired. I think they thought that applying the glue to bare fiber glass would bond better, when the urethane actually bonds really good to paint, just like a windshield is glued in directly to painted sheet metal.

Breaking the panel apart I can see where the glue attacked the panel and ate all the way through it, the panel was also more brittle and easier to break where the glue ate into it. There is no way I would try to cover it up, there is a reason why the TSB says REPLACE ROOF, GM knew the panel could not be fixed. If they knew that it could that’s what the TSB would have had the body shop do. That would have been a lot less labor intensive then ripping the roof off the car.

The glue still suck to the new panel I have is bonded very well to over spray base/clear. I have to use a razor blade to get it off.

Area where top off my car was masked off

 

Well, we'll find out if that was a waste of money or not. I'll tell u what, though. I just got my car back from the body shop a couple days ago. That damn roof looks like a MIRROR. Perfect. Hopefully it stays that way! The body shop mngr said they baked the car in the paint booth 4 different times to sweat the glue out. So between that and the gel coat, only time will tell if this did the trick or not.

 

It boggles my mind that after all these years people still complain about this or think they are going to find a cheap easy fix for it. These cars are over between 10-13yrs old now lol. Just live with it like most people do or go out, get a panel off a LT1 car, paint it and install it. Or buck up for the 6LE piece.

 

I know its common for a hardtop to get the roof bubbles but I'm getting kinda tired of them...

Whats the best way to get rid of them? Replace the whole panel? If so, is there a place that sells the panel, other than a junkyard?

Thanks!

 

Put in a search. This topic has been covered extensively over the years and there are a couple long threads about it.

 

6litereater sells the roof panels.