A friend of mine who owns a 99' C5 has just moved from Indiana to SW Florida. His car is in excellent shape with 40K miles on the odometer. He was checking out my car and noticed my leather door panels from DD mods. I told him about how my vinyl started pulling away on my original door panels and one of the possible reasons provided was the humidity in FL.

What I find interesting is that his panels are from a 1999 C5 and show no delamination with 40K miles. My original panels were from 2004 C5 and the vinyl pull started to pull away at less than 10K miles.

The shop that helped install my new interior components and soundproofing system told me that using cheap conditioners like Armor All is also a culprit because the product seeps through the vinyl and eats away at the adhesive. If true, I stand guilty because I did use Armor All the first few years of ownership before I found this site and starting reading about other, better alternatives like the 303 Aerospace product I currently use.

My question is whether or not there is any type of proactive maintenance that can my friend can perform to help prevent this from happening? He told me he has never used Armor All on his C5, which is a good start, however I wonder whether or not the humidity issue is real or not?

I also wonder whether GM changed their adhesive or bonding methods during the C5 production run. I find it interesting how this issue is a hit or miss on our cars. As mentioned, I've seen older C5s with no sign of the problem and later C5s with the problem. There has to be a common denominator in this equation...

 

I have a '97 with this problem on the driver door only. It has always been a California car so I have doubts that it is related to humidity.

Also, I have never used Armor All or vinyl conditioner on the door.

One theory is that it related to whether the driver or passenger tends to rest their arm on the armrest, as in my case, the delamination is only occurring around the arm rest area.

Either way, I'd love to know how one would go about fixing it without replacing the door panel in its entirety.

 

Interesting that it's only happening to one side. I thought that may have been my issue as well, however I very rarely rest my arms there. I usually have my right hand on the shifter/center console and my left hand is on the steering wheel. As a result, my arm does not rest on the "arm rest" area.

 

Mine is an '03 and has no signs of delamination on the doors like you mention. I do not use any type of protectant on the doors or dash - just clean them up every now and then with a cloth with warm water and a very mild dish soap.

 

The panels on my Oklahoma 04 C5 are pulls away as well.

 

In Missouri, my passenger door is doing this, however, no one rides in that seat. I believe its a humidity issue. Don't use armor all either.

 

What year C5 do you have?

 

Luckily I have not had this issue.
Dallas is a very humid area too.
I just use filtered water from my fridge, and a microfiber towel to clean the entire interior.
My interior looks the same as when I bought it new March 2004 (04 Z06)

I never liked the Armor All stuff.

Toque

 

I might go that route with my other interior areas. What about UV rays on the dash? Any concern over the vinyl fading without any protectant? I really like the 303 Aerospace product because it leaves a nice clean sheen vs. the nasty gloss of Armor All.

 

My car is mostly inside thru the week. When I get time on the weekends to get her out I always put up the sun shade when parked. Working ok so far.

Toque

 

I guess since owning a vert in Florida, I've become more conscious about the UV rays and exposure. The Aerospace 303 is great on the dash.

I'm thinking about starting a poll on the vinyl pull. There has to be some type of common link between the door panels that have failed vs. the ones that are still good after 15 years. Either climate, chemicals or manufacturing (or a combination) has to be the culprit.

 

So, has anyone come up with a fix? Wonder if injecting some type of adhesive would work?

 

There was a thread I think, or an article about fixing the panels. It involved drilling holes on the back side carefully so as to not puncture the vinyl, injecting adhesive and using a vacuum to draw it tight (the reasons for the holes on the back side). I will try and find the article/thread. Myself, I have just noticed the delamination on both sides. I live in Florida, but dont use Armour Alll, but have no idea what the original owner used if anything.

UPDATE: here is the thread: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...up-how-to.html

 

I read the book "All Corvettes are Red" and mentioned in it was issues with door panel delamination. GM purchased door panels among a host of other items from "out of house suppliers" and found door panels to be defective from supplier...alas after they were installed. Many issues with Corvettes can be attributed to SHADY suppliers who show you what they will manufacture for you but deliver crappy product. Who gets the blame..GM and we get stuck with junk. So now you know the rest of the story! Greetings, Rob

 

My 16 year old Michigan C5 has it only on the driver's side...go figure

 

My 04 with 40k has pulled away on both doors. It sucks and ruins the otherwise perfect car.

I think the adhesive backed armrest covers are a step in the right direction BUT the manufacturer should make available a version with two studs that could be used to mount them in place and hold the vinyl down. Otherwise, they just get stuck to pulled away vinyl.

You would use a template and drill two holes. Slide the armrest studs through the holes and tighten nuts on the backside of the door panel.

 

perhaps there is something I am not seeing, but spray adhesive for top liners would seem to be a solution Drawing a vacuum seems an un-nessary complication for this job

I use armor all to spray the motor and underhood area Cleans well and looks nice without any touching, just spray

 

H-U-G-E job. Peeling the vinyl loose and getting it back just right would be an issue for the average joe. Vacuum, or weights, or a form, or some mechanical means of holding it in place are needed. It is kind of under tension when manufactured.

 

GM made the 50th Ann. interior in gray with padded armrests attached to the doors. There are about 8 studs that go through the door panel to secure the padded armrest.

 

I have it on both doors of my 2001. Very dry climate in West Texas. Car has always been garaged and usually only driven at night. Use only 303 Aerospace Protectant.

There are several things that could cause it.

(1) Since they try to use a single piece of vinyl to adhere to the deep curves that is a design problem to begin with as they are relying on adhesive to hold the vinyl against its will (if vacuformed to a concave surface).

(2) The vinyl supplied may have different specs between batches (i.e. different yield properties/thicknesses, etc.).

(3) Vinyl shrinks with heat over time.

(4) Obviously the quality of adhesive and consistency of the adhesive application.

(5) Inconsistencies in the substrate the vinyl is applied to (porosity/cleanliness/texture, etc).

(6) Temperature/humidity/time under vacuum when built.

Only real solution is multi-panel covers sewn together like you get after market as they both relieve the major stress points and the seams also allow for some shrinkage over time. That of course costs more than a single piece of stretched vinyl which they can trim after application and there are no seams to line up.

As for me, I cannot justify the price of having mine redone in leather (down payment on a "new" car). I wish someone would just sell the stitched skins (for dash too) and let me fight with the application (as they already have the patterns). Of course, the responsibility for getting them on right would all be on me, but I have done several Corvette door panels in the past so unless the patterns were bad that would not be an issue. Most of the cost is in the labor to strip the old panel, and applying the new panel plus guarantee - the leather and sewing should not be that much - and they would not have to be concerned about returns if it ever came loose as they did not apply it. I would think there would be a big market for that.

I did my own Clearmask on the front of the car, my own hoodliner with the CarMotorsports "kit, etc. saved me hundreds of dollars and both look like the pros installed them.

Someone will eventually offer such kits for door panels etc... surely?