Ugh - My interior door panel cracked

[Rob Bell]

This morning I discovered that my driver's side door panel got the infamous stress crack. I read up on how to fix it and prevent further cracks from appearing. So this week I'll try and take both panels off and do this fix before it gets worse, and before the same thing happens on the passenger side. This sucks.

[pace2006]

Re: Ugh - My interior door door panel cracked

Sorry to hear. But good luck.

I always promised myself that'd be one of the first things I'd address if I ever bought a bird.

[Rob Bell]

Re: Ugh - My interior door panel cracked

Yeah I never even heard about it until today when I Googled it. If I had known I would have addressed the issue long ago. I also found it interesting that this is a problem unique to Birds... Camaros don't have this issue.

[whitdog54]

Re: Ugh - My interior door panel cracked

Mine cracked completely, I have to this fix sometime in the spring. Fricken sucks, and my passenger side is starting too. Thank you GM for such good quality :twak:

[enzia35]

Re: Ugh - My interior door panel cracked

Pics of said damage?

[pace2006]

Re: Ugh - My interior door panel cracked

Pics of said damage?

Tends to start out like this, then can spread all the way down to the arm rest.



Here's a link to the fix, along with more pics.

http://www.highperformancepontiac.co...air/index.html

[Rob Bell]

Re: Ugh - My interior door panel cracked

That's exactly how mine looks. It also cracked right where High Performance Pontiac said it would, about 8 inches from the edge. Now that I know what to look for, I can also feel the slight depressions along the top of the panel that they mention.

[Beefcake]

Re: Ugh - My interior door panel cracked

That sucks man, but believe me the interior in the camaro is crap too, my console lid is busted, my ashtray lid is busted and 2 of my A/C vents shoot out if I go WOT. But thats mostly where our good gas mileage comes from. My brother has a 2000 dodge dakota V6 and the interior is nice in that but hes lucky to get 17-18 mpg whereas our cars get like 27-30 mpg. i just wish replacement parts weren't so expensive...you'd think since so many people wreck camaros/birds there would be a surplus of interior replacement parts. I hate how a cheap ashtray lid is $40-50 and a console lid w/ a cigarette burn runs $90-150. I need to find a reliable places that has these parts at a fair price...

[nitetime_pr]

Re: Ugh - My interior door panel cracked

It would be easy to start a thread bashing 4th gen Fbody interiors in regard to build quality...especially the door panels and power switch bezel after a few window motor replacements :(

[Rob Bell]

Re: Ugh - My interior door panel cracked

Yeah, they are really nice looking cars, but the build quality just ain't there. Oh well. I still love the Bird though. I'm hoping that once I get this panel out and do the High Performance Pontiac fix, that the cracked area will come back together and I can glue it and make it almost invisible.... I hope.

[PalmHarbor]

Re: Ugh - My interior door panel cracked

Its about expansion and contraction in cold weather. Plastic cracks.....same with PVC
piping. Its just the nature of plastic.

[svjoe]

Re: Ugh - My interior door panel cracked

Its about expansion and contraction in cold weather. Plastic cracks.....same with PVC
piping. Its just the nature of plastic.

true, but how you store it/care for it makes a difference as well. I had a 96 grand prix that spent its whole life in rochester, ny( very cold winter vs. hot humid summer[Lake Ontario]) and nothing cracked................

build/material quality does factor in...........

[whitdog54]

Re: Ugh - My interior door panel cracked

holy crap, went out today and the crack goes all the way down to the cloth part now.... MFer, this sucks...looks like complete ***.

[Rob Bell]

Re: Ugh - My interior door panel cracked

Its about expansion and contraction in cold weather. Plastic cracks.....same with PVC
piping. Its just the nature of plastic.

Mine spends 95% of its life in a garage. My other car sat outside for 15 years and didn't have this problem. I agree that it's a manufacturing defect.

[pace2006]

Re: Ugh - My interior door panel cracked

Its about expansion and contraction in cold weather. Plastic cracks.....same with PVC
piping. Its just the nature of plastic.

true, but how you store it/care for it makes a difference as well. I had a 96 grand prix that spent its whole life in rochester, ny( very cold winter vs. hot humid summer[Lake Ontario]) and nothing cracked................

build/material quality does factor in...........

Mine spends 95% of its life in a garage. My other car sat outside for 15 years and didn't have this problem. I agree that it's a manufacturing defect.

While temperature and care do play a part in this, if you take a look through that article it shows that the crack is caused by the stress on the plastic panel by design. As the windows roll up and down, or the door closes, pressure is exerted on that part of the panel. It was not made to handle that kind of stress and eventually cracks. That's why the repair method I posted helps to prevent cracks from forming or spreading.