I recently replaced my power window motor on driver side and saw a tiny crack starting in the door panel on the window edge side. It cannot be seen inside the car. I used some gorilla glue to reinforce the panel in that area. I hope it holds.
The door panels can be competely recovered in the material of your choice by an upholstrey shop. In my case that is not an option.

 

I'd like to see some pics of such things in these cars, to see how it looks and get some ideas.

Why is it not an option in your case?

 

Due to the curves I was thinking only certain materials would fit over the panels. I'm sure there are only limited types of materials that would work. It would have to be stretchable as well.

 

Why is it not an option in your case?

My car is a 30th anniversary trans am, one of 1000 t-top cars made.
They were sequentially numbered. The other 500 were convertibles.
The car needs to stay as original as possible.

Let me describe the crack since I didn't photo it. It starts on the top edge of the door panel under the black rubber strip.
The crack typically starts about 10 inches I'd guess from the rear portion of the door panel(measuring from the back part of door panel, rear of car edge)or at the point where your back would sit relative to the door panel. The crack then goes from window edge down towards bottom of car.
My door panel looked fine until I took it off to repair the door panel. I then saw about a 1/4 inch crack under the black bead. It could only be seen by removing the door panel. The crack would eventually walk its way all the way down to the leather on your door panel.

I have seen pics before posted. A picture speaks a thousand words.
I hope I at least cleared it up some.

 

I had a 96 Formula that I traded in with 90K miles on it to get my Hawk. Never had any signs of cracking. My 01 hawk started cracking at 20K. I glued the underside and reinforced with some plastic, but the crack is reappearing. Anyway, has anyone noticed any pre 98 cars with the cracks???? They seem to all be after 98 that are experiencing these cracks. Did GM change the manufacturer or design?? Also, I think GM changed the interior colors around that time. Maybe the die they use in the plastic has made it somewhat weaker????

 

Just thought I'd add mine to the list. 2000 WS-6 with T-tops just bought it with 51,000 miles on it. I thought maybe someone had been too rough with a speaker install or tint job, but it is exactly as described and shown in the pictures.

Is it only vehicles with T-tops and convertibles? OR do hard tops do it also?

 

Yeah my '98 TA convertible has them too, mine are not as bad as some I have seen, it is just a small crack maybe 1 inch on the pass. side... some one should make some type of cover for these cracks that will stop them from cracking more and make it look good too, I would try to make something but my manufactuing skills are limited to none, but I may try a few things.

 

As I'm sure I mentioned, I babied the car for the first 4000 miles - no hard launches, no high speed corners, nothing. Then I had SLP SFCs welded in (plus an SLP STB at hte same time). Since then, I've only been marginally more aggressive with it.

It's basically still new, despite the age. I don't think being a T-Top makes any difference here. (plus as Sam Strano has grown weary of pointing out, these cars are NOT weak. They are NOT 3rd gens (which had all the structural integrity of a warm pile of taffy).)

Not to mention their location would really not be caused from twisting anyway. It would be showing on the sail panel plastic, and on the outside of the car long before it ever got bad enough to crack an interior door panel.

 

Please post pics of anything you come up with. Ideas are massively welcome.

 

Well if you want to keep it original as possible leave the cracks and dont complain about them. You will eventually need to re-upholstered them or they will continue to crack and will end up looking more like *****. I guess its your only option or get new ones at the dealer and reinforce them before installing them. (regular ones area bout $500, Anniversary maybe more, thats if they even make them)

 

This happened to both door panels of my TA.... I just bought 2 new ones from TA Creations and replaced them......

 

I have only seen this with the black door panels. Had a lot of these cars and have been around a lot of these cars and only the black ones have cracked. And yep, mine are cracked. One little crack about 1/2 inch long in both door panels. I had one with the tan door panels and it still hasn't cracked. It's a convertible and has had the windows down tons. Don't know what the deal is. It has never been garaged either. It has always sat out in the sun w/o a cover.

 

I've seen lots and lots of gray ones cracked, but never a black one.

 

I noticed that it is just starting on my driver's side (00 Ebony) and about 1 inch on my son's passenger side (97 Charcoal). I never noticed anything on my light gray 94 (sold in 01), but then, I didn't look for it either.

 

Mine are black. Granted, I haven't posted a pic, but still..... lol

 

8 at of 10 f- bodys will get this crack I think it's due to the heavy wieght of door. you'res is differnt most I see are further back.

oh and I have the crack only on driver side.

 

This seems to be an LS1 era problem. The doors did not get any heavier. I also don't see how weight could have anything to do with it. 90% of the door swinging in my car is on the driver's side, yet it's my passenger side that is cracked.

The panels do flex from movement of the window (though I'm not sure why they have to, seems like a poor design). It's looking like GM just got cheaper/thinner panels for the last couple years of production.

 

Taken care of and warnings sent out. Off-topic arguing will not be tolerated.

Scott

 

With a lot of people dealing with this problem I thought I should post the writeup I did for collectorfbody.com. Its very straightforward and basic, geared toward the novice. I myself had never done any sort of repair like this on the car myself, but I was damned if I was going to let it get worse, haha.

Late in 05 I noticed that my Driverside Door panel was getting the infamous crack in it that so many get. Here I thought I would post how I went about fixing it.

First thing is you have to get a few supplies:
One being a Plastic adhesive. I got this one at Walmart for like $3.


You're also going to need a touch up kit for the panel itself. Depending on the severity of the crack, results will vary. I got this kit for about $8, again from Walmart.


First step in the removal is to take off the Switch Panel. The Panel is held on by tension clips(the black steel clip at the top of the panel). All you have to do is pull up on it and it will come free. Be sure not to pull too hard, though as you don't want to stress the wire harnesses.


Next, just disconnect the wiring harnesses from the Switch Panel and set the Panel aside in a safe place


Now for the removal of the screws holding the panel in place. The first is the one in the center of the door handle coverpiece. Do not remove cover yet.


Now, before you try to remove the cover you have to take off the lock switch ****. You have to pull the end out toward you for the tip to come off the wire. It may take some strenght to pull it off but it will be fine.

Here you can see how the wire is and what the plastic piece actually sits on.


Carefully pull the cover piece off from around the door handle. Do so slowly as there is a bulb attached to the pice that must be unplugged. Just unclip it and set aside the cover in a safe place.


The next screw to remove is down in the map pocket of the door.


Next, remove the screw from the very Front underside of the armrest, near where the switch panel is.


Remove the screw that is located near the now exposed area of the door handle.


Remove the cover for the Side mirror access. This will allow easier removal of the door panel. place the cover in a safe place after removal.


The next Screw can't be seen easily in the photo but it is in the exact center. There is a hole where the armrest meets the map pocket and inside is the screw you need to remove.


Now for the removal of the panel. I wasn't able to take pics of this process due to the fact that I need both hands to remove the panel. Now, the only thing holding the panel onto the door is a bunch of plastic downward facing hooks. Remove the panel by gently pulling it up and towards you at a slight angle from the door. While removing the panel it may seem to get stuck, just pay attention to the area that the hook are in as the toughest ones are near the front of the door by the speaker.
Be careful pullin on it due to the fact that the front speakers are still connected to the panel. Once you have the panel semi removed you can disconnect the tweeter and speaker.

Once the panel is off you will be able to see the problem.
The crack is caused by a structural flaw in the plastic combined with the use of industrial staples to hold the window trim to the panel. The crack is cause by changing weather temperatures which make the plastic panel expand and contract. The window trim has a metal insert which does not allow for any kind of expansion or contraction. and since the plastic is mated to the strip with thick metal staples...it doesn't allow for the panel to stretch are release naturally and causes the panel to pull itself apart.'


What you need to do is remove the staple in front of the crack area and all the ones behind the crack area.

I used a flat head screwdriver and needle nose pliers to remove the staples. Bend the teeth straight and then just push back through the plastic to get them out.


Once the staples are removed the panel will come back together naturally. Depending on the size of the crack you might need some pressure to really hold it together. scuff up the area of the crack nicely for the adhesive to bond to.


Next follow the directions to mix the Plastic Welder and while the crack is nicely snug, apply a generous amount of the welder to the area you sanded. The adhesive should dry according to the directions and once that is done you want to replace the staples. I used some copper wire that was a bit smaller in diameter than the staples. This will allow the panel to move a bit against the window trim. I just put the wire through each hole as a direct replacement of each staple and it worked fine.


I used Interior Vinyl/Leather Repair Kit that can also be bought at Wal-Mart for very little money. Comes with many colors to use to mix to match your interior. If you have a color other than black, I would suggest mixing the color per directions on the package and then testing it agains the BACKSIDE of the panel. Let it dry and see how close it comes to the panel color.
The exterior of my panel only needed a dab of black touch up paint. The crack repair is in the exact center of this photo.


Now with your newly repaired panel...just reverse the deconstruction process from above and replace the panel. Be sure to hook up all speaker and lamp wires while doing so.

Now, my passenger side had no crack. As a preventive measure, I took it off too and reinforced the "crack sensitive" area the same way I did the driverside. When I took the panel off I could tell that there was stress being put on the section of the panel that cracks, but had yet to actually crack.

If you don't have any cracks...I still suggest reinforcing this area. Its better to be safe than sorry.

Hope this will help out anyone looking to do the repair themselves. It is really not that hard as long as you take the time to do it slow and careful.

 

nice writeup & repair.

I'm planning speakers in the doors think I'll try this when door is apart.


should I shmear some glue on the pass. side it's not cracked yet?

Thanks