Has anyone seen their interior door panel plastic crack?

It apparently happened all on it's own. My car, bought new in July of 02, with 9 miles on it, now only has about 6050 miles (roughly). Unfortunately, it can't be kept in a garage, just the driveway. It had a cover that got damaged and has now been without one for about a year or two (just broke right now). It does have windshield screens though.

It doesn't get driven when there is frost on it, or when it is too cold, or wet. It only ever comes out in the winter to keep it from sitting too long. (and never when there is salt or snow on the road)

It's also quite rare for there to be passengers. Not sure if this is related or not, but, the reason I stopped taking passengers within the first year, is because everybody had to slam the damned door. EVERYBODY. I got sick of it. If it had a frame around the window I wouldn't mind....as much. But with the glass pressing against the seal, it really bothered me. And I swear the door closes differently than the driver's side now (far less effort needed and makes a different sound. Nothing rattling or loose, just different).

At any rate, on the way to do some x-mas shopping, a friend pointed out a white line on the passenger side interior panel, perfectly vertical, starting at the metal strip at the top of the opening for the window, and just about even with the passenger seat back. He thought it was excess cleaner/conditioner residue, but when I inspected it, I found that it was split.

I have no idea what could have caused this. Did a search here but found nothing.

Anyone else have this? Any ideas what caused it so I can prevent it from happening again? Is this repairable short of a panel replacement?

I'll try to get some pictures as soon as I can.

 

Try not to roll the window all the way down. It puts stress on the panel, watch it the next time it goes down, bows out when the window goes to the full down stop.
I have mad this a habbit sence I noticed it when I bought my car and to this day no cracks or stress marks.

 

True. I've been careful about that too. It might bump it, but if it does I always put it back up to not allow it to be stressed.

I've used Maguires vynil protectant on it too - might that have something to do with it? I know I've heard that Armor All will actually kill what it's supposed to protect, but I thought Maguires to be in a whole 'nother league.

 

Cant tell you much there, but I have used the same as well with no poblems.

 

I can't seem to locate it right now, but there was a thread on this very subject recently. It appears to be a common problem for fourth-gen f-bodies. I remember seeing pics of other's cars with the crack all the way from the winshield to the leather on the door panel (more or less cracked all the way across). My car has the cracks on both doors, though they are just barely visible at this point. Ever since that first thread was posted, I've been keeping an eye on them and have not noticed any changes.

If not rolling the windows down all the way is the solution, then that just plain sucks. I guess I'll just live with the door cracks. When it's nice out, I don't want to have the t-tops out but the windows half up.

 

They only need to be off of the full down stop, aprox 1/2 inch and they dont even extend past the seal-flush to even.

 

Same here, mine cracked at 40 some thousand miles

 

Mine is cracked, same thing happened

 

mine at 30,000. just at the top, but still sucks. I am going to have the plastic on the doors covered in leather. then the plastic can crack all it wants.

 

That's exactly what mine looks like. (only my panel is black and the crack is white) It's a bit shorter than mine too.

 

Yep mine cracked (both f*cking sides too ) 37k miles pisses me off no end
Nasty, are you going to do the recovering yourself, or going to have it done by someone? I'd like to see how it looks when you get it done, I was thinking about doing myself to hide the cracks, but I'm not sure if it'd look good

 

Yup, mines cracked as well...Both sides. Looks pretty much like 785T/A's. There are tons of really steep entrances to streets/businesses around here so I think the excess body twist did it. I hear subframes will prevent this from happening. As for fixing it...*sigh*

 

Seems really odd that it would be in the door panel if it was body flex.

Also, I tend to go with Sam Strano on the idea of chassis stiff - these cars are far stiffer than people think. He has first hand experience in coming to that opinion.

However, I have SFCs and an STB. I got them put on at about 4000 miles. All of them were quite gentle. (even since then I haven't exactly beaten on it)

 

At least its not this bad

 

These all seem to be in the same place.

Mileage, presence or lack of SFCs, type use of car, enviroment, window useage.... all of it seems random. The one constant is the cracks in roughly the same area, all nearly vertical.

Is this a weakness in the door panel? Or some other design flaw? Is there tension stress on the panel?

It would seem the only way that could crack like that is if it were pulled apart. However, since it appears to start at the top, near the window, it must either be getting pulled more at the top than the bottom, or, it must be getting twisted somehow.

But since it's not on both doors simultaneously for everybody, there must be another factor - either in the stress being applied, or in the strength of the panels.

How can we really find out just what is going on?


People who've had their panels off - what's it look like behind there?

 

hmm...that's weird...i'll have to inspect mine close tomorrow to see if my door panels are like that...i'm gonna be pissed if they are...but i don't think that they are...at least i hope not

 

01ls1lover my crack is the same as yours. Its even started about 5 inches to the right also and a few other parts around the edges. Ive learned to live with it though i guess. Im just going to fab up some kind of logo to put over like a guy did in a thread awhile back about these cracks.

 

Mine are not broke yet, but I've seen this many times about these cars.

 

I think I am going to have it done, I want it to look good, and I have never done any interior work like that.

 

I have SFC on my car, and it still happened.