General Motors: The gift that keeps on giving.
Remember when you left elementary school and figured you’d never see a glue stick again? General Motors never got past second grade. A problem i’ve recently run into with my Camaro is with the sail panel, that chunk of roof between the hatch and T-Tops. Some humidity and 16 years of sun combined to create a mess for me, the paint was bubbling up and popping.
4th gen F-body sail panels are adhered to the body of the car using glue (urethane). The bubbling sail panel paint issue is due to this glue seeping through the panel and causing bubbles along the surface of the panel. The reason for the seepage seems to be due to the lack of paint/epoxy primer on the underside of the panel, a process change which started at GM on very late ‘98 cars (05/98 and later are at risk) and affected all ‘99+ models. This allows the glue to directly contact the panel and seep into it over time. Heat/UV exposure seems to bring the glue through the panel once it’s begun to seep.
Sanding/painting/bondo’ing/etc. will not fix this condition. Complete panel replacement is the only permanent fix. Once the glue has eaten into the panel, there is no way to correct this from the top side. The problem lies underneath, and nothing you do on top is going to change this. The only other option would be to never drive the car in sunlight.
This panel was discontinued by GM several years ago. At this point, your only options for panel replacement are:
New reproduction panel from 6LE (fiberglass or carbon fiber)
Used panel from a donor 4th gen car built prior to 05/98 (and yes, an LT1 era car panel will fit and work just fine)
Have a custom panel made by a body shop that is good with fiberglass fabrication.
Here’s the link i followed to remove the panel and put a black one on.
http://ls1tech.com/forums/paint-body-work/930369-sailpanal-replacement-do-yourself.html#post9471957
Comments
Just like herpes
I think every auto maker uses glue.
Problem is they used a poor adhesive that bubbles through the paint. Instead of the part just falling off, it actually destroys it over time.
Don’t get me started on GM crap.. I am driving a 27 year old Toyota because my 3 year old GM can’t be fixed by GM.
My dads 2008 Buick Lacrosse Super lost its transmission at 40k miles… I get the struggle.
Pre-bankruptcy GM things tend to have a lot of surprises
GOD IS GOOD. I guess you posed next to it cause you drive a camaro.