rapidroy

Looking to see if anyone else has had any similar problems to what I have experienced on my 2008 Z's trim. Just got the car last month.

I did take it to the dealer and we did check a brand new car - the flat color is normal. The dealer's theory is that the previous owner drove with the window down and had his hand out there on the trim and wore it away.....and that is the shiny part.

Here's a few photos. Simple stuff like Adam's VRT and Turtle Wax Black Chrome didn't do a thing.

Thanks!

FamousRR

Mine is not that bad but I have similar problem. I was going to replace it but I haven't got around to it. Really makes the car look bad. Not sure why it happens or if there is a fix for it.

Red Dvl

Use Mother's "Back to Black" to hold you over until you can replace it. Can find it at Wal-Mart.

CasinoCityZ06

All I can say is to just leave it as is and use the Back to Black. I think it is just the way that particular part wears. Mine looks the same and so do most of the others I see out there, so I just used the Back to Black. I say just try the product and drive it.

msnbound

Try black wow at autogeek.net....that did wonders for my trim

rapidroy

Thanks - I saw the Black Wow, and was leaning that way, but I'm glad to hear it actually works.

QUAKEJAKE

Mine not to the same degree but 303 aerospace does the trick.

mirage2991

dielectric grease makes it go away. Matter of fact I believe the owner's manual says to treat all the seals with it every 6 months or so. Anyway, works for me, try it.

Edit: it's on page 6-11 go 6-12, shows you what to use for trim/weather seals

Nanook

Mine is exactly the same..2007. The shiny finish has almost completely gone away.
I think it may be a result of using a touchless wash ?
I questioned the partsman about changing the top roof trim but he thought the complete strip as well as the a pillar and front of door triangle may be a complete piece..$$.
Both sides of the car are poor as well as the strip along the bottom of the window (top of door).
My car sees very little sunlight so I doubt it's breaking down from that.
I'd think it should be a legit warranty issue

Moike

I don't care for back to black personally. It makes it look more greasy than black. I've heard a lot about dielectric grease though so I'll have to give that a try.

RH Design

I had the same issue on my '07 and the dealer replaced all three parts under warranty (a-piller trim, the edge trim on the roof, and the rubber trim on the door frame that goes across the roof).

Besides having problems with roof after the installation, within about 18 months all three parts came back with the same weathering effect.

I believe it's just poor quality materials used by GM. I live in SoCal and see many cars much olders and less cared for that do not exhibit this type of weathered conditioning.

Note: I'm also interested in a product that helps restore the finish, and have used Adams VRT with minimal improvement.

Carnac

I use Krytox (recommended by GM for weather stripping) on all my Vette weather stripping. It is a fluorocarbon based dielectric type grease. Its pricy, but I like it because it has no silicons.

It is available from the dealership or I got mine from Amazon: Krytox GPL 205 Krytox General Purpose Grease - 2 Oz Tube.

There is a lot of weather stripping on the Vette (double around the bottom of the door, top of door, around windows, around hatch, around the hood, etc). A little of the Krytox goes along way - the 2 Oz tube has given me two full applications and I can probably get at least two more. I apply a thin coat while wearing some nitrile gloves.

From the DuPont Krytox web page: "DuPont™ Krytox® oil and grease products do more than simply conquer the ravages of friction. Reduced maintenance costs and downtime, longer component life and the ability to provide longer warranties are among the many benefits that Krytox® users enjoy.

These products combine an amazing list of properties (long lasting, stable, non-toxic, no VOC emissions, chemically inert, non-flammable, extreme temperature performance) with the ability to answer the unique lubrication requirements of a wide variety of applications."

Jim

Oli1313

Mother's Back to Black did not work for me and the trim is not nearly as worn as yours.
Will the Krytox GPL 205 Krytox General Purpose Grease protect from future fading or will it restore the already worn trim?

rapidroy

For all: I appreciate all the feedback and suggestions - thanks.

To clarify: some of the responses apppy to the soft rubber trim on various parts of the car, but that is not my problem. The trim in the pics is a very hard trim piece, and so dielectric grease is a waste of time as it will not penetrate and protect a hard surface.

For those of you that are having a similar problem with HARD trim pieces, I am awaiting an order of Black WOW. As soon as I try it out I will post pics and results.

Thanks again.

vetteuphoria

I recently asked a detailer about this (he does demos at his shop and arranged a vette meet there). He asked me the same thing: if I put my hand along the upper window edge while driving. Nope. On my present vette it is on the driver's side only. On my previous '06 it was on both sides. Both cars were garaged and hand washed and dried with microfiber. And for the record none of my other 19 or so cars ever exhibited anything like this, so I highly doubt I am the cause.

I asked a couple other C6 owners and it was hit and miss whether they experienced this problem. One owner said it was somewhat typical but concluded it was a manufacturer flaw on bad batches. How so? He knew of someone who had his replaced during warranty twice until he got a good one. Mine started doing this about 3 months after buying the car new and I probably didn't even put 2k on the odo by that time. It slowly worsened over time. For me, no other area is doing this: it is still on the driver side window only.

BTW, the detailer used his products to correct this to no avail. If you find something that actually works without having to replace the piece(s) I would sure like to know. Good luck!

rapidroy

Makes sense what you say. I had no problems on my 2005 with 20,000 miles on it. My b2b warranty has expired and the cost to replace these pieces is ridiculous and as previously posted, the one on the roof is where the window winds up and if they don't get that just right, it will make noise, as the previous poster noted.

The Black WOW is due any day now - I will post again with pics as soon as I try it out, hopefully with great results!

vetteuphoria

Yeah, it figures. Glad you didn't have an issue with the first. I'm going 2 for 2

Same here: I wished I'd acted on it before my b2b expired or better yet when the car was 3 months old.

dmuellenberg

I just got my order of Black Wow today and tried it out. Unfortunately this had little to no effect on the hard shiny trim. It works great on the other softer trim though.

Oli1313

Well that's that. Either paint or a new part seems to be the only things that would work.

z06clif

I have the same exact problem in the same places. I took some mineral spirits and rubbed the seal on the roof and the matte finish kept coming off the rubber leaving the shiny one. . It leads me to believe that the mattte IS the finish. I used this stuff called "bumper saver" and it worked to some degree but Ive done it before and it has to be redone occasionally. I dont know if any of our vendors carry it but if you google it will bring you to an online store that sells it

Clif