Bubbling Chrome Trim

[JimG]

Hi all - hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I finally had the time to wash and wax the truck. However, in the process of washing it - I found that my chrome trim on the passenger door and the driver's side ext. cab door had bubbles. I don't know how to explain it but the chrome actually bubbled up. Anyone seen this before?

Got some pics with the camera - they're not great but they should illustrate the point:

Pic #1: Driver's side ext. cab door

Pic #2: Passenger door #1

Pic #3: Passenger door #2

Those aren't pits you see - they're bubbles.

Now, I have Majorguard but it doesn't cover trim and the factory warranty's long gone (figures). Is this another case of GM going with the lowball bidder? Obviously I'm going to have to repair it myself. So far I was thinking GMPartsdirect.com and getting the exact pieces from them. Anyone have the P/Ns? I don't want to rip the trim off yet. Another option I found was www.pickupgear.com. They have a $40 kit that includes 16' of the stuff.

[99-2door]

I can't believe that guy is putting that 88-98 trim on that NBS truck on that site.

[97whitez71]

My wife's 2001 Suburban is doing the exact same thing. Don't know what to do to fix it.

[smooth68]

I'm thinking of removing mine for a cleaner look - the stock trim doesn't have any bubbles yet though...

 

[sxmax]

Mine is doing the same thing.... See signature for trucks. Maybe its an 03 thing....

[asilverblazer]

Grilles on the OBS 88-89ish did the same thing... Don't remember the fix

[foghorn23]

I've also seen the horizontal chrome bar on the grille that contains the bowtie with the bubbling problem on 99-00 trucks. Guess its a case of the low bidder as mentioned above.

 

vroten

[Mighty HD]

mine is doing it too. I'm not worried about it---I dont want some idiot taking a razor blade to remove it. I assume leave it on there till it completely gets nasty, AND the warranty is just about up.

[JimG]

smooth68

Be careful - I know from removing the tailgate cap (to install my diamond plate one) the quality of the paint ain't great under the trim. And no, this is not where the tape was. Just all over, the paint had bubbles and other flaws in it that you wont' see. Hopefully they do a better job under the door trim but I doubt it.

 

Geez - seems like a lot of people are having the same problem. Well that makes me feel a little better. At least I know it's not just my truck. Now I'm stuck trying to figure out what to do with it. I REALLY would love to go to GM and complain about this and the front grille but I'm sure all I'll get is lip service and a quote for repairs. Regarding my front grille, the chrome's not bubbling - it's worn off in the top corners and starting down the sides now.

 

If anyone's interested, I did some digging and came up with the following part numbers:

 

15744371 - MLDG-F/DL [Molding - Front Door] $38.96 (self-explanatory)

15744372 - MLDG-B/SL [Molding - Body Side] $26.43 (unsure)

15744373 - MLDG-B/SL [Molding - Body Side] $26.43 (unsure)

15744374 - MLDG-B/SL [Molding - Body Side] $11.71 (tiny piece goes b/t end of cab and bed)

15744375 - MLDG-B/SL [Molding - Body Side] $13.40 (slightly longer than 15744374)

15744376 - MLDG-BX/L [Molding - Body Side] $26.20 (unsure)

15744377 - MLDG-BX/L [Molding - Body Side] $24.07 (unsure)

 

Right now I'm thinking that the guy at Pickupgear.com has a decent price - I'm trying figure out what happens when you cut it to fit . . .

 

Edit - For the heck of it I checked alldata.com; they have nothing on it. As a side note, when did alldata.com become part of Autozone?

[cdmm151]

I have a 2002 suburban that did the samething. I had mine replaced under warranty.

 

Good luck

[99-2door]

Grilles on the OBS 88-89ish did the same thing...  Don't remember the fix

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

The only fix for that was a new grille.

[DEV1ST8R]

Same story here. The "chrome" appears to be plastic with a cheap "chrome" sticker over it. Don't know why they couldn't put actual pieces of metal in there.

[JimG]

They saved a few bucks/truck which adds up to a lot in the eyes of the bean counters.

However, the cost of the warranty repair eats into that savings and probably runs it close to a break-even condition. The factory assembly line's going to install whatever they're given, no change in the labor rate to do this.

However for the warranty work GM's paying a service tech to rip off this POS cheap trim and replace it with a new piece of POS trim. So they're paying the cost of the part plus the cost of the labor. I hate it when stuff's done so cheap . . . the painted radio buttons are another great example. Fortunately I'm one step closer to permanently addressing that issue

Now I'm trying to figure out how I want to replace this crappy chrome. Anyone replaced theirs? Better yet - anyone know the exact P/Ns I need?

[etex211]

Just this week, we had all of the body side moldings changed under warranty on my wife's Tahoe for this very reason.

[kosb]

I had the grille replaced under warranty 3 times on my truck and now its doing it again but its out of warranty. So I havent decided if im going to fix it or let it go. Its also happening on the back of my mirrors.