Anyone else having problems with their dashboard material wrinkling, buckling and coming loose? Our car is going back to the dealer for the second time for this. we have the car less than a year, it has 2K on the odometer. We live in Florida and I'm sure its heat related.

 

3LT??

Unfortunately, it's a fairly common problem that's been going on for years with 3LT interiors...

Simply do a forum search for "dash delamination" or "dash bubbles"

 

As mentioned, 3LT? Which pieces have problems? The piece in front of the driver around the HUD? The passenger side? Side trim pieces?

 

Both sides, all the pieces on top of the dashboard. it seems like the glue is melting and not holding to the base. A padding in between could possibly solve this?

 

What would help is proper application of a good adhesive but that is out of your control. Although many 3LT owners experience this problem a vast majority don't. And sometimes this can be seen on cars on the showroom floor which suggests it is not related to sun exposure or the environment. But if it keeps happening to you that suggests that it is something in your environment since it is unlikely for you to get multiple bad pieces while others have no problems. .

Pictures would help, is yours a 3LT?

 

I know we have no control over things like this, the car is under warranty and its in the dealers shop now getting fixed. So I have no pictures. I was just curious to see if someone else was able to get it resolved.

I asked the service manager how they fix it and basically the tech does have to do some work with adhesives. The parts don't come from GM assembled with the fabric on it. Not sure if the dealer has an actual trim shop as we took it to same place that does their mechanical service. They have a body shop at a different location.

 

Looks like you're in a high heat/humidity area.

Is your car garaged or does it sit outside?

Leather dash delamination is not unique to just Corvettes. It appears to happen to just about every other manufacturer that produces cars with leather dashes.

My "other" car, (non-Corvette), also notorious for leather dash delamination, got the attention of the factory engineering team. After studying it, their conclusion was delamination can occur with a rapid change in temperature, where the leather does expand at a pretty rapid rate when heated (or contracts when cooled) much faster than the substrate it is glued to (including the glue itself). This causes the leather to tear itself away from the substrate.

The conclusion - try to avoid those rapid interior temp changes. An example is pulling your car out of a garage that might be 70s degrees into the driveway which might be sunny and 85. And, of course, if the closed up car dash is in the sun heating up very rapidly compared to the 75 deg temp it was just minutes ago in the garage, might reach 160/170 very quickly, that is an example where delamination could happen with leather.

I too am in central west Fl. I carry a beach towel in the car. When I must park it outside in the sun especially when I might have been running it with the air con on, I cover the dash so it cannot heat up as rapidly with exposure. So far, so good.

A sun shield for the windshield can help this too.

 

When it is covered under warranty normally the defective dash parts are just replaced. This is the first time I've seen someone post that the parts don't come with "fabric" on them. The 3LT dash components that have problems are covered with "leather" (likely bonded leather) and not fabric.

 

I didnt see the parts and the service writer was vague, but his answer was that the "tech did have to do some work with adhesives."

 

Its my wifes car and she leaves it outside more than in her garage, which ticks me off! I have a hot rod and a muscle car and they both sit in my garage covered up.

But yes I have seen it happen to other cars and also my 10 year old caddy recently. We recently move to a hot and wet area of Florida The temp changes makes sense, and I did buy her a sunshield to use. I still think a 1/4 inch lined foam layer between the two pieces would stop the leather from breaking loose from the hard surface. but I dont work for GM Thanks for your input

 

It's a workmanship issue and has nothing to do with heat or humidity. I've had leather wrapped dashboards for years in the Southeast that lasted 100K + with no problems. My C8 3LT had bubbling issues even after being garage kept and less than 4k miles. The replacement dash has been bubble free for 4k mikes so far. It appears like they just didn't use enough adhesive on some 3LTs:

 

This has been a problem at least since the C6 days on the all leather interior top trim (C6 had a 4LT top trim.

 

AZ ^^^ is correct. Happened on C6 4LT top-level trim begun in '08. That means it's been happening for 17 model-years. I have seen it on some other makes, too. Must be an "industry standard" to use as little adhesive as possible.

Or maybe it is the type of climate change Blind Spot's written about.

 

OP what was the color of your dash pieces? Dark or light? Most pictures I’ve seen so far are dark colors. Mine in Natural Dipped and I’m watching for any changes and covering the dash if it has to sit in the sun.

 

I've seen delamination on a 3LT while sitting on the showroom floor with only 3 miles!! I doubt it has anything to do with high heat or high humidity conditions...

 

Yeah, but that car had to get to that showroom in Arizona. How much heat could it have experienced on the car hauler under that shrinkwap and for how long.......

 

Yes, like that car has lived its life in that showroom....

 

This was taken during Dec/Jan time frame....It isn't hot during this time of year with temps ranging in lower~mid 70s....

Factoid:
It's not always scorching hot year round here in AZ....LOL!!!

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Also this is not the first report of delamination seen on other 3LT C8s delivered to Dealerships with only a few miles on them! As has been discussed many times already over the past few years this is not a heat related problem....

 

One thing is for sure, this problem has plagued GM for a long time and at least to me, is pathetic.

 

I think you've missed the point here. The engineering study that was done, that I had the opportunity to read, albeit by another car manufacturer, might be contrary to the opinions from legions of members on a car forum with no practical experience, other than having an uneducated opinion, but offers a different conclusion.

Heat is NOT the factor in the engineering conclusion. It is RAPID TEMPERATURE CHANGE that is the primary cause. Apparently, it could happen (and NO, I can't cite any actual cases), if the temperature on the interior of the car was -20F then rapidly warmed up to +50F. It has to do with how leather, as a material, expands and contracts under rapid temperature changes, compared to other materials, such as synthetics that would be used on a dashboard.

I commented about the OP living in a high heat/humidity area as ONE possibility where conditions exist that could cause a rapid change in temperature on the dashboard. According to the engineering study, heat CAN be a contributing factor if the rapid change part happened, but heat is not necessarily the primary contributor.