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Hello. Purchased a 2004 coupe last year. It was the year and color I was looking for. In my excitement I overlooked some issues, but those are slowly being addressed. My question is on the paint. It looks like "bubbles" are forming only on the edges of the hood and rear hatch. Not seeing these anywhere else. I'm 90% sure the car has never been repainted. I thought I read somewhere on here that this was a defect in the bonding process and, if removed, would just appear again. But I can't find that thread now. Has anyone seen this issue before? Did you fix it somehow that made it not happen anymore? I know this doesn't impact the fun factor of this car but it drives me nuts each time I see it (and I can't believe I didn't see it when test driving but I was super excited - oh well). Thanks!
No this is a condition some hatches and hoods get. It is the bonding of the paint with out gassing and from bonding adhesives. Some will get worse and some will just remain a few bumps. From what I have read it is hard to get rid of and many will replace the panel. It happens in all years C5 just not all cars.
There was a TSB on this and I have it on my '03 AE, bubbling or blistering out from and around the hatch emblem, maybe other places? The only fix for me was replacement, so I just bought a paint-matched hatch from an Ebay junkyard in AZ, working on polishing and correcting that now, before knowing whether to repaint or not.
Mine has the slightest wave/bubbling (only seen at the perfect angle and lighting) on the roof (c5z) where the roof support goes across (about 4-5" from the top of the rear window seal). This looks about 5x worse than mine though.
Thanks, Thrash, for providing the TSB which shows the affected part numbers. With that I was able to find all kinds of threads about this issue. I see everyone saying this is happening on the rear deck, but mine is also happening on the hood. I'm just going to assume it's all related and just hope it doesn't get worse. It also seems like no one has found a good fix except for full part replacement, which concerns me a little that the replacement part will have the same issue. I know there are plenty of aftermarket hoods, but I doubt someone is making the rear deck lid. Oh well, onto the supercharger research!!
We know it's a fiberglass/lamination/glue issue, but if you can find a replacement nearby it might not be too bad $$$. My paint-matched salvaged hatch with glass was only $350, but shipping was also $350, so you could get lucky checking nearby salvage yards or Ebay every now and then.
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I had this problem slightly on my 2003 hatch. About the only way to eliminate it is to replace the hatch but not sure you could find a panel that will be able to 1005 avoid the same problem eventually.
2004 paint issues
