Silverado LS 5.3L

• Automatic transmission
• 90,000 miles

Hi,

I drive a white 2000 Chevrolet Silverado Ext Cab 5.3L Z-71. My truck is 8 years old. I noticed the clear coat on the roof was starting to bubble while I was hand washing the truck early Feb 2008. It started as one flaky bubble about the size of a dime along the roofs edge above the passengers side door. I was kind of concerned about it but I thought it was nothing to be concerned about so i ignored it. Two weeks later I was doing the routine hand wash and I noticed the bubble was bigger about the size of a fist and the flakey clear coat is peeling off really fast in all directions.

The warranty for the vehicle expired a year or two back so this repair is apparently something I need to address myself even though it is obviously a defect in Chevrolet's products that they used for clear coating vehicles. Five months later the flakey mass is about 2 feet in length and 4-5 inches wide running down just about the entire passenger side roof area AS WELL as another one thats like its evil twin running down the driver side roof area AND theres another spot about the size of a basketball between the two rifts, square in the center of the roof. Today I washed and waxed the vehicle and i noticed there was a new nickel sized spot flaking on the upper part of the driver side door just above the window. WTF!

I have taken the vehicle in for estimates to have the clear coat redone on the roof and I keep hearing from multiple shops that the entire roof needs to be prepped by sanding and the white coat may be a bit harmed during that process so it would be best to repaint the roof and get a clear coat. The estimates ranged from $400 dollars (collision repair garages) to upwards of $1500 (dealers) just for the roof. I was really aiming toward talking to the collision repair garages to set up a date for the roof but NOW i need to get a new estimate for roof and the new spot I found on the upper part of the driver side door, which entails getting the entire door resprayed. And whether or not they can match the color exactly to the rest of the car because the roof would not be to noticable if it was slightly off but the door. yikes.... Plus I keep thinking where else is this flakey headache going to appear after I get those two panels resprayed.

I have complained to the dealer and they said they need to make some calls because they have never heard of this problem in their clear coats. They called me back an hour or two later telling me it was due to negligence on who ever has been detailing the car and they must not have done a proper wax coat on the roof. This was complete BS because I'm the guy that does the waxing, washing, and up keep. I know for a fact I dont skip the roof while I'm keeping my truck shiny.