Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affected?

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Firebrian
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Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affected?

Post by Firebrian » Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:34 pm

The glue bubbling through the roof paint on '99-'02 GM F bodies is well known. And it even occurs on '98's built after
approx April '98. In reading some sites about this problem it seems like it will eventually happen to every hardtop and t-top.
My question is, how many owners out there right now don't have this problem? I'm just curious if minimizing sun exposure
and hot weather on show fields or in parking lots and driveways can keep this problem at bay for another 5-10 yrs. In
following Ebay and Autotrader for the past several months I have almost never seen this problem listed on any lower mileage
car. So either the owner is not mentioning some minor bubbles, is unaware of them, or there aren't any present. Whatever
will slow down the gassing and seepage of the adhesive/glue is the way to go. Either that or replace the panel and prep it
properly. If some perfectly stored cars with under 1000 miles total already have this issue, then obviously it will effect every car.

My own car is a '99 New England car with 12,000 miles w/black sail panel and I don't see any sign of roof bubbling yet. The
first owner put nearly all those miles on & probably didn't leave the car in the hot sun very often. Would like to hear what
other cars & what mileage/storage conditions have also avoided the bubbling. Is going 12 yrs so far a good sign that it
may not happen for quite some time if the same precautions are taken? It might make sense to fabricate a small sail panel
cover for those days where the car is parked out in the hot sun, especially on show fields. If it can slow down the end
result, then why not? It seems a shame that with all the mint, ultra low mile F bodies out there, that a guaranteed breakdown
of the roof paint is almost a given. '99-'02 convertible owners have a leg up on this one.

A link to the definitive thread on this topic:

http://ls1tech.com/forums/paint-body-wo ... mmies.html
Last edited by Firebrian on Mon May 11, 2015 7:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Scott Chab
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Re: Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affect

Post by Scott Chab » Wed Feb 08, 2012 8:39 am

With the low number of active members on this board, there is no way you are going to be able to determine how many owners have problems and how many don't.
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sleepinghawk
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Re: Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affect

Post by sleepinghawk » Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:18 pm

My hawk was in storage from 02-05 give or take with 325 miles. Then from 05 when I purchased to 010 I drove it mostly in the evenings and when it was driven to work it was under a big roof. So it stayed out of the sun except on trips in the summer at the beach. From 2010- 2011 I drove it daily year round, rain, snow and the mighty heated day, with the sun cooking it outside not covered. Now since 12/05/2011 to present, it has been put under a new add on car port and covered. To date, there is no problem with the bubbling. I have about 65,000 miles on the od.
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Firebrian
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Re: Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affect

Post by Firebrian » Wed Feb 08, 2012 3:23 pm

Scott Chab wrote:With the low number of active members on this board, there is no way you are going to be able to determine how many owners have problems and how many don't.
Even if I get a dozen replies concerning cars with no issues to date under various conditions, it will be helpful information.
Maybe we'll run across some 100,000 mi hawks out there with no issues yet. One would imagine that the lighter color cars
(white, silver, pewter, etc.) will fare better over time.

FB

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Re: Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affect

Post by cheetoh » Wed Feb 08, 2012 8:18 pm

I bought my Hawk with 12,000 on the odometer, It is always Garage Kept, about 3 years ago I started noticing the bubbleing on the Sail Panel, I took it to the Pontiac Dealer and the regional Manager said to replace it... I think I got very lucky, It had aprox. 13,000-13,500 when this occured.
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tlk421
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Re: Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affect

Post by tlk421 » Mon Feb 27, 2012 8:35 pm

I have 17,000 mile on my 02. I live in Atlanta and it has always been garage kept, has never seen snow and has only been caught in the rain a couple of times. My paint looks like new, no problems what so ever.
02 Hawk #53 ,378 RWHP Stainless Steel American Racing Headers, Y Pipe and High Flow Cats. Vengeance Racing VR3 Cam. UMI Subframe Connectors. SLP Level II Suspension.
78 Trans Am Bone Stock All Original Survivor, with One Repaint.

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Scott Chab
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Re: Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affect

Post by Scott Chab » Mon Feb 27, 2012 8:55 pm

Firebrian wrote:
Scott Chab wrote:With the low number of active members on this board, there is no way you are going to be able to determine how many owners have problems and how many don't.
Even if I get a dozen replies concerning cars with no issues to date under various conditions, it will be helpful information.
Maybe we'll run across some 100,000 mi hawks out there with no issues yet. One would imagine that the lighter color cars
(white, silver, pewter, etc.) will fare better over time.

FB
Sorry, just not sure what helpful info you are going to get other than to learn that some cars have problems and some don't. There are too many variables and you won't have a large enough sample size to find anything that could be considered statistically significant.



FWIW - I haven't had any bubbling problems, my Hawk is red, it sat outside for the first 5 years I owned it (I would guess temps ranged from 0-100 degrees over that time but have no idea what % of time it was in the sun vs. shade) but I have no idea what the previous owner(s) did with it for the first 4 years of it's life or what the weather conditions were like when/where the previous owner(s) lived.

See what I mean by too many variables? All this tells you is that my car hasn't had problems yet.

Sorry... I'm a numbers/facts guy. :wink:
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sleepinghawk
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Re: Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affect

Post by sleepinghawk » Tue Feb 28, 2012 6:53 am

Scott Chab wrote:
Firebrian wrote:
Scott Chab wrote:With the low number of active members on this board, there is no way you are going to be able to determine how many owners have problems and how many don't.
Even if I get a dozen replies concerning cars with no issues to date under various conditions, it will be helpful information.
Maybe we'll run across some 100,000 mi hawks out there with no issues yet. One would imagine that the lighter color cars
(white, silver, pewter, etc.) will fare better over time.

FB
Sorry, just not sure what helpful info you are going to get other than to learn that some cars have problems and some don't. There are too many variables and you won't have a large enough sample size to find anything that could be considered statistically significant.



FWIW - I haven't had any bubbling problems, my Hawk is red, it sat outside for the first 5 years I owned it (I would guess temps ranged from 0-100 degrees over that time but have no idea what % of time it was in the sun vs. shade) but I have no idea what the previous owner(s) did with it for the first 4 years of it's life or what the weather conditions were like when/where the previous owner(s) lived.

See what I mean by too many variables? All this tells you is that my car hasn't had problems yet.

Sorry... I'm a numbers/facts guy. :wink:


:lol: :lol: Such a old grouch! :lol: :lol: That wasnt so hard for you to finally give an ANSWER to his question Scott! :lol:
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Scott Chab
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Re: Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affect

Post by Scott Chab » Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:58 am

:wink:
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james8008
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Re: Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affect

Post by james8008 » Wed Feb 29, 2012 10:28 pm

39k miles on mine and no roof paint bubbles

2002 SOM 6 speed Hawk

My baby
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2002 SOM M6 Camel/Ebony interior w/Iroc Spoiler Stock un-molested w/48k miles Car #797
2002 SOM M6 Ebony interior w/Iroc Spoiler Cam/Heads/Headers/GMMG exhaust 48k miles Car #962

opie
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Re: Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affect

Post by opie » Fri Mar 02, 2012 9:08 am

I have 32,xxx drive only in spring, summer and fall. So far so good no roof panel bubbles. The ole beast is still looking good after these years of riding her and still puts a smile on my face when I do. :D :D
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Firebrian
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Re: Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affect

Post by Firebrian » Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:54 pm

All the information is useful. And I'm a number guys too or I wouldn't have asked.

Primetime sun exposure is possibly just as much a concern as mileage. I could envision a show poodle that
has 10,000 miles, but spends dozens of days per year out in the hot summer sun on show car fields. Fwiw it
seems to me that this issue is more prevalent on 2001's with 2000's being runner up. And the Pontiacs appear to
show it more often than the Chevy's. At least that's my limited experience. Still no inputs from owners with very
high miles and still no bubbling. Those would be good data points, esp. if they were indoor stored most of the time.
Would expect many more issues with southern cars where winter days don't often get below 50-55 deg.

The 1999 TA anniv coupes would probably be good cars to study. A large % of them have been carefully stored with
very low mileage. The white paint probably helps to make them more resistant to this issue. I don't think I've ever seen
a seller of a '99 anniv TA mention roof bubbling.

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Re: Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affect

Post by MotleyCrue » Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:09 pm

Black Hawk- Lots of bubbles on roof, hood, and spoiler.

White Hawk- none, maybe one or two spots on hood

Don't forget the flaking wheels and cracked plastic inside!

U1D10T
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Re: Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affect

Post by U1D10T » Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:51 pm

MotleyCrue wrote:Black Hawk- Lots of bubbles on roof, hood, and spoiler.

White Hawk- none, maybe one or two spots on hood

Don't forget the flaking wheels and cracked plastic inside!
What about the wheels? I've heard about this but have luckily yet to see it for myself. As for the annoying bubbles.. I have two Firebirds, '00 black base Firebird and the beautiful '02 Hawk. The base firebird has the bubbling only on one side of the roof and side, while the hawk is completely smooth. Both Firebirds were acquired this year. Previous owner of the base Firebird put 135k miles, most through the salty Pittsburgh winters. The Firehawk has been and always will be babied, hoping that's good enough to keep the bubbles away.

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Re: Roof panel paint bubbles - what % of cars not yet affect

Post by LS1hwk » Sat Jan 05, 2013 8:10 am

2000 Firebird. 103,000 miles, no sail panel bubbles

2002 Firehawk. 5,000 miles, garage queen for past 11 years, sail panel looks like bubble wrap when viewed at the right angle in the sun.

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