Yeah, same here. It just got me to thinking - since people with SFCs have it (and I have hte SLP SFCs), and since these cars are so much stiffer than their predecessors (to the point that some respected racers think SFcs aren't even necessary), it must not be flex.

Question for all those that have this problem - which side of the car did it first occur on?

 

I have a 98 & 99 & I have no cracks YET..Damn GM, **** like this shouldn't happen..

 

SFC will not prevent this, just because the way the door is loaded and stressed even with SFC.
The only common point here is the way the window causes a inward stress on the door and the panel, when the motor drives it to the full down position. Over,over,over,over, in the exact same spot.
Now weather it be from the position of the window within its track or the torque of the motor, when driven full down needs to be determined.
I have not had my panels off, so I have not looked into the inner structure of the door.But I have made it a conscious effort to not let the windows drive to there full down position, (even with the seal) not below. With no cracking, or damage at 43k.

 

Yep, common occurance with our cars. Noting you can mine sides have tiny cracks (1/4 of an inch so far) in the same identical place. And I don't slam doors nor do the passengers I just think the plastic becomes brittle.

Waiting for Classic Industries to come out with a replacement panel someday.

BTW, I have NO SFC's and race all the time been racing since it's had 6K on it, now I have 70K. This is a recent thing for me maybe a few weeks, not so bad considering the car is a FL car and is outside in the heat and has been for 5 yrs now.

 

Now on a more serious matter I had the same problem. It started over the passenger side then moved to the drivers side. I got lucky and found two nice panels off ebay. When I took the old ones out I examined the structure behind it. They were both cracked at the exact same spot just lateral to a small plastic rib. Apparently this is a factory defect. Since these panels are so long they get bent at this point when the window is rolled down all the way. Think of when you take a credit card and bend it to the point it just splits in two.

The ones I got form ebay I reinforced them with pieces of hard rubber behind were the cracks appeared. Also i don't rolled windows down all the way. Hope these two last for a long time!!

 

You said yours showed up on the passenger side first, as mine also has. Hasn't appeared on the d/s yet though.

When the windows are rolled down, they are both rolled down, and when up, both up. I frequently have them about 1/3 down too (picture the corner formed by the door and A-piller, I place the top front edge of the window so that it appears to spring from that small corner. I do it because it's a point I can see to make sure they are symmetrically down when I want them open but not all the way)

The first year or 2 that I had it, I don't think I put the windows down at all. Trying to keep that new car smell, you see. lol As I barely drove it, it seemed plausible. But once I broke down and decided to take the tops off (which I was also avoiding so as to not get spoiled as I planned to make it into a hard top, but gave up on that for lack of money), I would do it whenever I could. Again, I tried not to let them get all the way down because I saw the panel bow out.

So basically, I have a low mileage car, with very little use, that was covered for about 2 years and never had the windows open or the tops off for about that same period of time, that, again for about that period of time, was babied and has since had SLP SFCs put on (bolted and welded), and it's already cracked.

Why do (comparitively) high mileage cars and even daily drivers not have this?
Why does it appear on one side before the other - and not always on the same side for each person?

It just doesn't seem like it could be the window motor/track. Not when my case is fully considered.

What I am thinking, and why I asked which side it appeared first on for people, is - is there some sort of stress placed on it when the door is closed, or perhaps closed hard... ? My passenger side has been slammed a lot (to my *severe* aggrivation), whereas my driver's side has only been closed hard a few times accidentally.

 

Mine started on the passenger-side first. The door that's hardly ever opened.

 

I first noticed mine on the drivers side, the passenger door is rarely used.
It's probably a coincidence, but mine occured after a cold snap, and we've had really mild winters until this year, and the coldest day this winter (-2*F ) was the day I noticed the crack

 

It hasnt happened to mine yet, thank god! But i do notice that when I roll up my windows all the way as soon it hits the top portion, the whole door panel moves inward!! Just a little but enought to be noticed.

 

Damnit mines cracked to and i dont have enough money to replace it so i guess i'll just have to live with it damn college kids were always broke

 

I noticed mine cracked a few months ago when I had my windows tinted. The tinting shop denied they caused it, but I insisted they did. They finally had thier insurance pay for a new panel. I hope it doesn't happen again, those panels are expensive!


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Damn, that is a wicked split. Wonder what made that one curve backwards while the others have been straight.

Any idea what the cost of the panel was?

 

There was a thread on this awhile back. My older TA already had it on both sides when I bought it. From what I can remember from the thread, there is a staple behind the panel at the very spot where the cracks occurred. I meant to remove it from my new TA before it cracked, but I forgot about it 'til now. Looks like a Saturday project, plus I will not be lowering my window completely anymore.

 

Yeah, the split was a mystery. My guess is that maybe the heat gun got too close to the panel while installing the tint. Who knows, but I do know that it wasn't there before I dropped the car off to get it tinted. I just went to a GM dealer for the panel since thier insurance was paying for it. It was $554.00 + $110.00 labor. GMpartsdirect.com has it for a few hundred less.

 

they ALL crack, mine is cracked too on both sides

6 years, purchased new, 120,xxx miles on her now, daily driver

 

I just replaced mine with some used ones from a 99 T/A. When I looked at the back of the crack in the panel was inline with a notch with a 90* corner on the back of the panel, they should have put a radius so it would not have a sharp corner to tear from.

 

This is a very common problem with any 98-02 Firebird. My girlfriends 99 Firebird had both panels crack in the same exact spots on both door panels. Mine are also starting to do this. I have mentioned it before but had no takers, but I was considering a possible class action suit against Pontiac for this problem if they don't want to cooperate. This is an obvious defect in the craftsmanship of either the door panels or the door itself. Either way it is to common for it not to be worthy of a class action suit. These cracks occur in the same exact spots on every car, and on both door panels. I can run a rope from the crack on my drivers side door panel, to the crack on the passengers side and it is a perfect straight line. Again these cracks are all in the same exact spot. So does anyone want to pursue something against Pontiac to get this problem resolved? Perhaps an online website with a registry of sorts describing the problem with pictures of the problem.

 

Mine has cracks on both door panels. The crack on the passenger side is slightly larger than the one on the drivers side on my t/a

 

I was looking closer yesterday. Both tops of the panel under that black moulding sort of dip in that spot. I mean it's not straight. It's a definate design flaw.............I wonder if we can go after GM as a class action suit?

I beat the General before with my 00 T/A after they told me detonation was normal that ALL LS1's detonate.

**** them, needless to say, 6 weeks later I had my 01 on order. Sucks when a Girl knows more about that car then they do.

 

I have the same problem on both doors. I use a premium plastic/vinyl care product, my car is garage kept and rarely driven in the winter.

It's a 2000 trans am convertable, the cracks appeared almost instantaineously at about 62K miles. The passenger side is completely cracked through down to the vinyl, the driver side is cracked through but currently only half way to the vinyl.

The suggestion about the window is a good one but what good is a window if you can't roll it all the way down.

I'm thinking that there must be a (sorry for stating the obvious)design problem.

Any ideas on where to get replacements?