I purchase my new 2003 50th Anniversary Edition convertible in April 2003.
As a frequent car show attendee and especially Corvette car show attendee I kept the car highly polished and waxed. We attended the opening of the Corvette Museum in 1993 and again in 2003 About January 2012 I notice a spider web cracking of the clear coat. It rapidly deteriorated and after continual attempts to clean, polish and wax I took it to the dealer in September 2013 (Maroone Chevrolet, Pembroke Pines, FL). They said the paint was a warranty item but it expired at 10 years there was nothing they could do. They recommended an independent auto body shop because they felt it would cost from 6 - 8 thousand dollars to have it done at a dealer.
The car has been in south Florida the entire time but so has my wife's 2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer that I purchased at the same time. Her paint is flawless. No oxidation or deterioration. As can be seen from the pictures there is a total failure of the clear coat to the point of flaking off and taking the color coat with it.
My brother had a 1986 Corvette with a similar paint problem where the clear coat was flaking off. Chevrolet stood behind their paint because they sued their clear coat vendor for $ 20 million dollars (according to the Chevrolet representative that authorized the repaint).
Whether this is a vendor defect or a Chevrolet issue, the paint is obviously faulty. I have gotten to the point of embarrassment where I park in the distant spaces in parking lots and I have stopped driving my Corvette to car shows.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
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I purchase my new 2003 50th Anniversary Edition convertible in April 2003.
As a frequent car show attendee and especially Corvette car show attendee I kept the car highly polished and waxed. We attended the opening of the Corvette Museum in 1993 and again in 2003 About January 2012 I notice a spider web cracking of the clear coat. It rapidly deteriorated and after continual attempts to clean, polish and wax I took it to the dealer in September 2013 (Maroone Chevrolet, Pembroke Pines, FL). They said the paint was a warranty item but it expired at 10 years there was nothing they could do. They recommended an independent auto body shop because they felt it would cost from 6 - 8 thousand dollars to have it done at a dealer.
The car has been in south Florida the entire time but so has my wife's 2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer that I purchased at the same time. Her paint is flawless. No oxidation or deterioration. As can be seen from the pictures there is a total failure of the clear coat to the point of flaking off and taking the color coat with it.
My brother had a 1986 Corvette with a similar paint problem where the clear coat was flaking off. Chevrolet stood behind their paint because they sued their clear coat vendor for $ 20 million dollars (according to the Chevrolet representative that authorized the repaint).
Whether this is a vendor defect or a Chevrolet issue, the paint is obviously faulty. I have gotten to the point of embarrassment where I park in the distant spaces in parking lots and I have stopped driving my Corvette to car shows.
- Dennis K., Hollywood, FL, US