Paint Bubble
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 73,568
Likes: 33
From: Somewhere in Mo
St. Jude Donor '09-'10, '14
Paint Bubble
Thanks in advance.
I went and looked at a 99 FRC today and overall the car checked out pretty well.
The one area of concern is on the trunk lid there's a bubble in the paint. It runs along the right edge and is about 1/4 inch wide and maybe a foot long.
I did do a search here and saw some others had bubbling issues around the emblem and glass area of the coupe's hatch.
My question is, how common is this and is there anyway to repair or lesson the damage without a repaint.
In my search I also found a TSB on 2000 to 02 models, I believe.
Other than that I can't really find a reason not to buy the car, but I don't want paint pealing off the dang thing and looking like a member of the Clampet family.
Thanks
I went and looked at a 99 FRC today and overall the car checked out pretty well.
The one area of concern is on the trunk lid there's a bubble in the paint. It runs along the right edge and is about 1/4 inch wide and maybe a foot long.
I did do a search here and saw some others had bubbling issues around the emblem and glass area of the coupe's hatch.
My question is, how common is this and is there anyway to repair or lesson the damage without a repaint.
In my search I also found a TSB on 2000 to 02 models, I believe.
Other than that I can't really find a reason not to buy the car, but I don't want paint pealing off the dang thing and looking like a member of the Clampet family.
Thanks
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 6,774
Likes: 361
From: Midland TX
It is not "common", but but a known issue with quite few C5s (including mine). There is a GM TSB on the issue and the only lasting fix is to replace the hatch as it seems to be in the bonding strip leeching through. They replaced my hatch under warranty, but they will do nothing at this point. What you are seeing is "probably" as bad as it will get - I have never heard of the paint actually coming off - just blistering on both sides of the C5 emblem.
GM terms it "delamination".
GM terms it "delamination".
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,225
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From: The Great Truth: "There ain't no free lunch"
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11
Choreo's response pobably isn't what ya wanted to hear but, there are a lot of cars parted out on CF........Depends on the purchase price......GL
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 73,568
Likes: 33
From: Somewhere in Mo
St. Jude Donor '09-'10, '14
It is not "common", but but a known issue with quite few C5s (including mine). There is a GM TSB on the issue and the only lasting fix is to replace the hatch as it seems to be in the bonding strip leeching through. They replaced my hatch under warranty, but they will do nothing at this point. What you are seeing is "probably" as bad as it will get - I have never heard of the paint actually coming off - just blistering on both sides of the C5 emblem.
GM terms it "delamination".
GM terms it "delamination".
But it's actually on a FRC on the right side of the trunk lid, I did read about the coupes issues so I'm wondering now if GM just made up a BS excuse with the bonding strip.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 6,993
Likes: 25
I've seen pics of the back side of these. There is some kind of insulation that leaches something through the SMC and delamantes the top layer. The only way to stop it it to cut out the contaimanted area (which a dealer would not do) or replace the entire hatch.
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 6,774
Likes: 361
From: Midland TX
Mine appeared literally overnight after I had the car a few years, but never got worse over a few weeks. Even then you could only see it in certain light at certain angles. Mine was not actually covered under warranty, but because I had purchased several NEW Corvettes from GM over the years together with a good Service Manager, they agreed to replace mine. They had the car two weeks. Had to remove rear glass, replace hatch, repaint both sides, replace glass. The rear glass also has to sit for a couple days to set up as it is under pressure from the inside especially with the windows down while driving. They also had to re-set my glass once as it was off-center the first try.
