HPP

Badit, nice job and nice write up. Thanks.

You were fortunate though, to catch it when it was still small, and acted proactively to fix it.

I didn't notice mine until it was about 1/3rd to half way down the plastic part above the leather insert. (and it's now about 2/3rd of the way down to the leather)

It's *quite* noticable. I don't think that paint is going to work for me. It'll be extremely visible with the fake leather grain of the rest of the panel. I'm not familiar with the vynil repair kit you mentioned though.

I'd be interested to see anybody with some of the more severe cracks follow this method and see what the results are. Anyone want to give it a go?

BANDITCAR

Yes, definitely do the passenger side too. I did mine even though there wasn't a crack, but I did find that it was beginning to stress and it would have started to crack if I hadn't reinforced it.

BANDITCAR

Yeah, I noticed the crack on my driverside when it was about 1/4 inch down from the interior window trim. removing the panel the crack was actually like 1 inch long. I'm glad I took action when I did.

The vinyl and leather repair kit comes with "grain" patches that you can use to match up the grain of the panel and give the paint a textured look. It does come with a grain patch that is "close to" the door panel but not exact. With some skill I'm sure it could be blended to not be so noticeable.

Once you release the tension of the trim by replacing the thick staples the panel comes right back together as it should be. The most noticeable part of the plastic is the most "stressed" area which was stretched and caused the plastic to become a lighter color due to the stretching, so for the most part, once you cover up that "lighter" part of the crack, it almost disappears on its own.

badmfkr

iTrader: (4)

this .5" crack went neglected for years now it is a good 2 inches how will the repair turn out (my skill level is meduiem).

I talked to a guy on the phone this is all he do'es is repair plastic interias he wanted $50 back when it was a baby crack.

I'll post up before and after for the extreme crack.

Thanks

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

Great write-up bandit! I'll be doing it on mine. Whether it's window motors, headlight motors, or door panels, you gotta love the ingenuity of the guys in the hobby to figure out cheap and easy fixes.

Tim Draheim

I too have the cracked door panels in my 30th Anny TA #239 on both doors with the passenger side cracked all the way down to the leather inlay and the drivers side door half way down. I am currently in talks with GM about them helping out in some way to get it fixed after my TA spent 3 weeks at the dealer and they tried several times to fix with some epoxy, sanding down and then painting but for whatever reasons it did not or could not happen. I called GM customer service and I am awaiting some if any word from them. They did call the dealer and did come up with the only alternative to fixing the panels were to replace them. Dont know how much or even if they have them available for the 30th. Noticed the cracks a while back and never thought the problem was this widespread. Thought it was just my plain dumb luck until I saw some posts on the 30th anniversery site and I started digging and posting and was refered to this site. Anyways anyone with any additional information on this problem please post so I can follow up on it. I do know that GM said there was no recall for this problem and they did say that it wasnt flagged as a real problem with many complaints but I would beg to differ reading all the posts here, on the 30th site and what was on ls2 posts I think. Well hope all turns out well for us who have to endure this obvious design flaw and look at our cracked door panels or Mcgyvered up JB weld fixit jobs.

badmfkr

iTrader: (4)

theres a TA junk yard Billy Grahm down the street of you but he's kindof expensive.

hope this helps

BANDITCAR

My skill level only came from messing with plastic model kits when I was a kid, hahah.

This was my first time at doing anything like this, but I had some reference from a 30th owner who had done it to her car and I pretty much did the same thing just adjusting certain elements like removing the staples and replacing them with copperwire instead of rivits.

For those that have the crack all the way through to the leather or almost all the way, I believe the only true fix would be replacement. Good luck to you guys that are doing that, be sure to keep us posted on your progress.

Rybo Flavin

First, I want to thank those of you who have posted in this thread. After seeing the pictures and reading the posts in this thread I took a closer look at the black panels in my 02 WS6. Sure, enough, I could see discoloration in the plastic right where the cracks have been appearing.

Per Bandit's instructions, I took my panels off and found that although both the inside and outside were discolored in the crack location, the crack had not started to form yet. When I removed the staples, as Bandit suggested, you could feel the pressure releasing from the plastic and the discoloration on the back of the panel decreased significantly. In fact, after removing the staples from the passenger side there was almost 3mm offset between the holes in the seal and hole in the pannel. Over time, I am sure that 3mm of pressure would have grown until the breaking point.

Rather than using copper wire to replace the staples, I took a slightly different approach. I carefully used a drill bit to open the staple holes slightly larger than they were. Then I used very small cable zip ties to go through the holes and come together beneath the door panel. I tightened them enough to hold the seal in place, but not so much that it doesn't allow enough flex for temperature change. They worked perfectly and I am so glad that I caught this before they cracked.

'Trust'

iTrader: (24)

I have never heard of this until today. Where have I been? I guess I'm lucky, mine haven't cracked yet and the car has 145k on it! I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Wolfsbane

I have a '99 Trans Am with 83,000 miles and developed these cracks on both sides almost simultaneously about 8 months ago. I just thought I would add my name to the list. It really does suck that GM has to know about this issue along with their notoriously poor window motors and headlight motors and yet they refuse to do anything to remedy a problem that effects so many of their customers. Well, love the car, not the brand, I say.

1999Transamman

iTrader: (18)

my 1999 T/A started to crack at around 70K miles, and it has only gotten worse, I thought it was from my buddies always slamming the damn door, but it has started on the drivers side as well. My 2000 SS doesnt have this problem and both of my cars are garaged. I will definitly try bandits remedy. Its ashame that gm couldnt have invested a little more money into the door panels and window motors, but its a small price to pay.

Grimlock

iTrader: (5)

Keep your windows up and just say no to "crack"

Pharm0r

iTrader: (17)

well chock up another to the cracked door panel club (drivers side, inch long, same place.)

kny3twalker

iTrader: (31)

my 95 T/A panels never cracked
my 99 Formula has cracks on both panels, happened this year(obviously these panels are cheap ****)
I have the old T/A panels, but I need/want the larger speaker pods
anyways I would be happy to sue GM for the door panels and power window troubles
I have had the motor replaced over 8 times between the driver's and passenger's side (all under warranty and extended warranty)
But I still have problems especially with the driver's side
GM customer service told me to go get lost, I will make sure to remember this on my next car purchase
I have thought about contacting the Better Business Bureau, if we all did this and GM refused to settle the problems
they would by far be the worst rated company on the BBB or at least the company with the most unresolved cases

kny3twalker

iTrader: (31)

Screw It, I made a complaint against Pontiac with the BBB for the windows mostly, secondary the door panels

I have gone through every possible contact at Pontiac including contacting pontiac directly without resolution.

I will post how everything turns out.

SpdFrk1990

iTrader: (6)

So does this only happen to TA panels cause I just had my camaro door panels off yesterday.

XalanGR

Yeah, I was wondering the same. Mine are cracked in the exact same way on both sides. They sure can make an incredible engine, but they cant make a damn door panel.

BANDITCAR

Naw, Camaros have either the Leather or Fabric insert that covers it and reinforces it automatically. So Camaro owners are safe.

I'm pretty sure, at least.

SpdFrk1990

iTrader: (6)

Cool thats what I thought cause mine had some really thick white plastic in that area.