I recently came across a 2001 WS6 Trans am M6 18K miles...listed as the only real issue as being:

"ONLY BAD PART ON CAR IS HOOD , THE CLEAR COAT HAS BEEN PEELING ( SEE PIC) AND NOT THAT UNUSUAL FOR A BLACK GM F-BODY. I HAD A Z-28 THAT DID THE SAME THING."

I really was not looking for a black car but wanted to confirm that peeling clear coat has been an issue on these cars before I even considered it as an option. I know this issue is a common occurance on other vehices. Thanks.

 

The only time I have known it to be an issue on anything other than the sail panel is due to negligence on the part of the owner. If someone just let it sit out in the sun for years on end with no care for the paint, or if something was spilled on the car while it was in storage and the owner did not clean it up correctly then you will usually see clear coat issues. I'm not saying that there isn't an issue with that specific car from the factory, but it's just not something I have come across in my 14 years messing with these cars.

 

Thanks for the info. My gut feeling car has not been garaged .

 

I agree. Besides the sail panels 98-02 Firebirds have pretty solid paint (in terms of peeling, chipping, ect.).

 

well any paint can peel if not taken care of properly, the paint on the T/A rear bumper I bought used has the clear pealing (and flying off in chunks when pressure washed) and it came off a 98 T/A and I can point you to a craigslist posting for a T/A front bumper with massive amounts of clear coat peeling (thats from the 98-02 model years) now in these cases both are blue not black but it really comes down to how well the paint was maintained.

 

Of course its going to peel if neglected. I would imagine a 13 year old, 18k mile car would have been properly taken care of and not be susceptible to paint defects. You don't see properly maintained Firebirds with paint issues. However you'll see many threads about 10 bolts breaking lol.

Remember those early-mid 90s GM pickups? Almost all of those have huge chunks of basecoat fall off the vehicles because GM didn't prep the primer correctly. Nothing like that has happened to 98-02 Firebirds.

 

I agree. Something is suspect. Waiting to hear back from the owner. Stated owned almost 12 yrs....no accidents etc. Thinking possibly hood was repainted maybe by 1st owner.

 

that crazy looking... find out if the hood is original. It could have been off another car. did you verify it is a WS6? i would think the headlights would have clear issues as well since it would be just as direct sun?

 

Trying to get ahold of the seller...listing had no contact #. Sent a list of questions. Plan on getting a pic of the RPO codes. Maybe the hood was replaced and the current owner has no idea....I have a list of questions before I potentially take a trip to see the car. If it is truly an 18K car in decent condtition I don't mind spending the $ on a hood repaint and doing a good professional level detailing and maybe a set of tires. But I think I am getting ahead of myself....would have to get it for a good price since it is going to need 1K+ of work.

 

I'd say ASC dropped the ball with that hood, and definitely is not a common occurrence. Its like dwhess504 said, if that car was neglected the headlights, fenders, mirrors, spoiler, ect. would be trashed as well because that's some serious peeling. I bet its a factory WS6 hood because the body gap looks good. Hopefully the car is a true WS6 and you get it for a great price!

 

I can't imagine that being original. I'd definitely check the RPO codes.

 

just want to ad that car has been for sale for as long as I can remember, do your homework, and yes its the car can't forget a hood like that

 

Just wanted to confirm that it was not a typical issue. Anyway owner refuses to get back to me so I can't get my questions answered anyway.

 

My hood looks just like that. The car was in Florida for the first 4 years and looked fine. I bought it brand new and have never had any repainting. It has just started happening in the past year or so. Started with a little bubble and now almost all the clear coat is gone. Sucks ***

 

My hood has the same issue (Maroon color though). I live in the dry state of Texas and the car has never seen the inside of a garage until it got to me. Easily fixable but years of heat outside might have screwed around with any number of things.....hoses, mounts, suspension softies, etc

 

My 01 Black WS6 had a clear coat issue but not near this bad. I took good care of it with washings weekly. I've also seen other with hood issues but nothing to that level.

 

Hood on my 01 looked like that when I bought it and paint on the rest of the car was immaculate. Got to remember the hood was not painted onsite with the rest of the car at the same time. Yes sun damage caused that but a lot of the clear failures on cars with non OE painted parts is just due to the clear quality no matter how hard you try it's impossible to replicate OEM painting conditions prep and cleanliness even though it was sprayed at a gm supplier.

 

My hood is starting to peel as well. right at the very front of it. A few small bubbles as well up the middle... I maintain my paint meticulously and my car has been well taken care of. It hasn't always been garage kept but overall, the hood and sail panel are the two spots where the paint bubbles up. Black car

 

I thought that GM painted these parts and shipped them to ASC? (I don't remember where that came from - but I heard that in the 90's. It may have been included in a package of BS that my dealer was selling me at the time.)

 

my 98 ws6 also had the clearcoat peeling off the hood only. The rest of the car was fine. Since then i have painted the hood only but now the front bumper is starting to peel.