All C6 Z06 Owners, PLEASE READ

[EFE Z06]

To all C6 Z06 owners!

On February1 2006 I picked up my long awaited new machine silver Z06 at my local Chevrolet dealer. It was over a year from when I gave them a deposit till the car finally arrived! I can say that this has been one of the most thrilling cars I’ve ever owned and my long list of sports cars extends over 30 years.

In a little over a year I’ve owned my Z06 there have been a few minor problems but nothing that the dealer didn’t keep care of, except one! This one problem really wasn’t something they or any other local Chevrolet dealer could fix for new Z06 owners.

I believe I was one of the first C6 Z06 owners to file a complaint regarding the chips and scar damage to the paint on and around the rear side brake vent intakes. I made my complaint in the first month of owning the car when I noticed the chips beginning. The damage is caused by the overly wide and protruding front tires throwing rocks and road debris directly at the lower rear rocker panels, the front lower area of the rear fenders, the rear brake vents and the front of the rear fender flares. I’ll admit the problem is probably amplified here in the part of Arizona where I live because of all the construction and dirty roads, but no other vehicle I own has this particular problem as does the Z06. And for good reason, it is caused by a design flaw and not because of dirty roads!

Most cars have wheels and tires that are designed to fit within and covered by the fender wells. When a wheel and tire is so wide that it protrudes outside the fender, it then becomes a spinning sticky rubber slingshot for anything it picks up on the road, thus the need for mudguards as seen on the rear of most commercial trucks. The C6 Z06 has extra wide wheels and tires on both the front and rear. Being that the rear wheels and tires are extremely wide and could easily make a following car a machine gun target, GM wisely installed well designed mudguards that are integrated into the inner fender moldings. They failed to do the same for the front wheels! They also protrude from the fenders approximately 1 to 1 ½ inch at the lower rear, and thus throw road debris up and back towards the rear of the car.

Being that the Z06 has extra wide rear fenders and rear brake vents protruding out from the body, they become the target for the front machine gun rather than the debris flying past and hitting any following cars that might be in the rear. The Z06 front wheels and tires need the same type of mudguards as GM installed in the rear of the car, though not necessarily as wide. This would completely solve the problem and spare the car’s rear area from receiving tons of chips and scars as perhaps some of you have experienced.

Last year a GM regional rep came up to my local dealership to examine the problem I was experiencing in the very first month of owning the car. He took pictures and admitted it was a problem GM hadn’t seen until then. He told me he would go back and notify the engineers right away. A few weeks later he called and said they would be re-designing new front mudguards and I would probably see them in a few months, that was in Feb 06. When the 07 model came out I thought for sure they would have the new protectors on the now $4000 higher priced Z06, no such thing! I called GM again (Nov 06) and asked what happened to the mudguards that were supposed to fix the problem? They acted like they knew nothing about it. I filed a complaint again and it seemed to fall on deaf ears, all this time the rear area of my car continued to get worse. I finally realized GM was not addressing the problem as was told to me by that rep last year.

I finally decided I’d have to fix my car myself before the damage gets any worse. I didn’t want to repaint the entire rear quarter panels because a future buyer might think the car was wrecked or something similar. So I had a local detail shop try to repair the chips and scars as best they could and then had Venture Shield (same as on my front bumper) clear guard installed over the damaged area. It’s not perfect but it’s much better and now protected from any further damage.

What’s amazing about this problem is, Chevy has installed a front type of mudguard in front of the front wheels on the Z06 and from what I’ve been told, it is there as a wind deflector to help lower the drag on the car. If they had installed that exact same deflector on the rear of the wheels I wouldn’t be having this discussion nor would my $75k sports car have chip damage all over the front of the rear quarter panel!

I’ve had several communications with GM’s customer service over the last couple of weeks trying to get them to admit the problem was design and not road hazard as they are trying to pass it off as. I also discovered through our conversations that they really wouldn’t make a re-design unless they received enough complaints to merit it. Ah, now the truth is revealed! The reason why they haven’t addressed the problem and fixed it is because not enough Z06 owners have complained. Even though that service rep saw and admitted there was a problem when he examined my car last year, I have no doubt GM was weighing the cost of re-design vs. the complaints, and since the car had received such high reviews who was going to listen to one or two complaining customers? If this kind of problem arose on any top of the line Lexus, Acura or BMW, I have absolutely no doubt they would bend over backwards to help the customer and solve the problem, they know how important the finish on their cars is to customer that buy them! And how do I know this, because I’ve bought expensive cars from Japanese and German manufacturers and experienced a much different attitude, especially when they discover design flaws! Some of you may have heard about Japanese assembly lines STOPPING when they discovered a defect in their product, it's true!

I haven’t bought a new GM car in over 25 years and then when I buy Chevy’s very top of the line icon (Corvette Z06) they want to pass the buck on their design flaw as simply a road hazard problem. My only objection to their poor excuse is, none of my other cars experience any similar damage from road hazard as the Corvette does, now I wonder why that is? Give me a break GM, YOU got a problem and YOU don’t want to fix it! How many customers have to scream before YOU fix the problem that you caused, know about and refuse to fix? Doesn't a $75,000 car deserve a little more attention than this? It's no wonder why Toyota is becoming the number one car company in the world, you guys just won't learn how they did it!

The reason why GM hasn’t addressed and fixed this problem is because Z06 owners haven’t complained enough! I’m asking all C6 Z06 owners to examine the area of their car as discussed in this posting. Some will have more and some less damage, but if you see the area around your rear brake vents getting small chips, it will only get worse as time passes.

I’m requesting that everyone who has damage on their Z06 please go to www.Chevrolet.com and file a complaint or call Chevy Customer Service, it’s the only way they are going to address the problem. For those who have recently purchased or are planning on purchasing a new Z06, the first thing you want to do is have Venture Shield installed in the area I’ve mentioned. 3M also makes a clear guard but it is too hard and stiff to fit properly around and into the brake vents, so I recommend the more pliable Venture Shield. A VS dealer in Phoenix used my Z06 as a proto and now offer a pre-cut pattern that can be bought and installed by an experienced installer. It requires removing the black plastic vent inserts that pop out from the outside using a proper flat tool. You’ll also need to cover the lower rocker panels as they also get machined gunned from the tires.

Thanks for being patient and reading this posting, it will spare many of you Z06 owners a lot of grief if you take steps to protect your car before the damage happens, who knows if GM will ever help?

EFE Z06

PS:

Here is the Venture Shield Dealer to buy pre-cut patterns for any Corvettes.

Lex International Inc.

Phoenix, AZ

888-488-9343

480-632-0900

Todd

[Robert and Elizabeth]

Thank you for making us aware of this problem. We really have not seen this with our car as of yet in that area, but it is only six months old. What we have noticed is little chips on the front and also the side mirrors from just normal driving. We are going to invest in a clear bra for the front and side mirrors and I guess now for the rear rocker panels and brake vents too.

E~

[EFE Z06]

Thank you for making us aware of this problem. We really have not seen this with our car as of yet in that area, but it is only six months old. What we have noticed is little chips on the front and also the side mirrors from just normal driving. We are going to invest in a clear bra for the front and side mirrors and I guess now for the rear rocker panels and brake vents too.

E~

You're welcome! Take the time to get up close and look at the rear vent area in the sun, you may have just not noticed the tiny chips (especially around the edge of the vent). Success!

EFE Z06

[Loud Pedal]

I haven't seen any of this myself. I can see how it could happen, but so far mine looks fine.

[Guest Sidewinder]

EFE Z06,

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you realize your dealing with GM right? They could give a crap less about your problems. They had over 1.5 million vehicles with piston slap in '99 to '02, one of which was my '02 NHRA Special Edition Firebird 1 of 62 made, that they denied anything was wrong with. I was sitting in the waiting room at my local GM dealer talking to a guy that had purchased a Caddy not 6 months earlier who's car was burning a qt of oil every 500 miles. GM's fix for the Caddy was replacing the PCV valve with one that had a smaller hole in it . I guess what I'm saying is good luck but your wasting your time calling and complaining. Face it, they got one over on ya and now your on your own. Kinda like buying a racing DTE rearend and when you get it in the mail and the warranty paper says "We will void your warranty if you damage this item while racing."

Good Luck

[dss LT1]

I absolutely agree with Sidewinder. I had problems with two GM vehicles including a Vette. I tried doing everything to get a resolution. My issues were engine/performance related, not cosmetic. I tried the BBB, NADA, any other organization I could try and got zilch. They don't care, the people on the other end of the Customer Service line have no authority to do anything. Most of the dealers don't care. Unfortunately you are just going to continue to frustrate yourself and expend precious brain cells trying to deal with them. You already have installed your own "fix" so I'd recommend leaving it at that and enjoy your car. As you said, this was your first GM car in a looong time, so you inherently knew there was a compromise to be made somewhere along the way...

I was so pissed the last time that I would just call the Customer Service line and take out some frustration on whoever was unlucky to answer, knowing full well it would not get me anywhere - just some satisfaction that I wasted some of their employee's time. I ended up trading the first problem for an Acura and ended up fixing the Vette problem caused by Freeway Chevy and GM myself.

This is also a reason why I have never bought a brand new Vette. I don't willingly let GM or its dealers directly make any $$ off me.

[Buccaneer]

I feel your pain after spending that much cash, but ever own a C3? That issue has been around for a long time now. Granted, a C3 doesn't have rear brake vents, but the front tires if you have the optional wide tires throw stones and whatever at the rear wheel front flare and it takes a beating and that was from 68-82 model years. Ask me how I know this, my fingers are still sore from all the sanding it took to get them out. You would have thought they would have fixed it somewhere in that time frame huh. Like Mark said, you are dealing with GM, not BMW.

I sure hope you and any other Z06 owner with this issue get it resolved, but enjoy the car for now or let me enjoy it for you...LOL!

[EFE Z06]

As I stated when I first posted this thread, I realized the problem in the first month I owned the car and had a Regional Service Rep come look at it, take pictures and said he would report it back to the engineers. I have no way of knowing whether he did or didn't but he was definitely aware of my discontent from that time forward. My complaints to GM have seem to fall on deaf ears, that's why I've posted this complaint on several Corvette sites and asked all who have the problem to also file a complaint.

Thankfully my local dealer (Lamb Chevrolet) from whom I bought my car has been very helpful with a few other problems I've experienced and has tried to bend over backwards to accommodate my needs anyway they could. I know, I know, a rare dealership!

Anyhow, I've kept the service manager at Lamb up to date with my communications and discontent with GM over this issue and let him know it wasn't anything to do with the dealership, but rather GM's failure to admit the problem was their design. My dealer's service manager went to bat for me with the Regional Rep and I'm happy to report that something is being done although I'm not at liberty to share it. It's more of a local appeasing than anything from GM! I guess a year of complaining has finally paid off but I don't know whether many of you would get the same results unless your dealer really cares for their customers? Of course my dealer wants to keep my business and is doing as much as they can to have me buy my next car from them again, but on the other hand they sell GM cars and I have lost confidence that that manufacturer will help if I have another questionable problem with another one of their cars? I'm sure it's a rare thing to see a dealership be your friend more than the manufacturer, but that's the case here!

GM Update!

I just found out that GM has put out a Technical Bulletin on a new plastic insert for the brake vent. I understand owners will have to go to their dealership and ask for it. The new insert evidently has larger outer edges that protrude out and cover the painted edge of the vent, that's where the worst chipping occurs. That's a first step but they still need well formed guards behind the front wheels as in the rear.

EFE Z06

[Eddie44]

I can certainly understand your being upset Ed however to say you've lost confidence in GM and their response to problems is naive. I would bet you a steak dinner that Ford, Chrysler and 90% of the import manufacturers would have responded in a similar fashion. For some reason that's the way society is now days. I believe we as consumers are to blame for that lack of customer service. We've all come to the point that we accept it. I commend you for complaining until something was done and I'm not sure most of us would have persisted that long.

If you're not going to buy a GM the next time around then let me know where you find the 10% that will respond willingly to your complaints.

[EFE Z06]

I guess I got spoiled buying foreign cars for so many years, there was a whole lot of difference when I dealt with Toyota, Honda and BMW!

I raced Chevy's in the 1960's, worked for Chevrolet in the 1970's and always bought their cars during that time. I saw so much discontent with their service and customer satisfaction that I decided not to buy anymore of their cars by 1980.

The C5 was the first Corvette I'd even consider after not owning Corvettes since the 70's.

My Z06 overall as been a good car and I'm happy with its performance and reliability so far (9600 miles). But having to deal with GM once again has revived my past feelings, they still do not have the right attitude regarding customer satisfaction issues and it doesn't matter how much the car cost!

Toyota offered Lexus and Honda offered Acura in order to offer customers a more upgraded and finer car, and along with that upgraded price tag came a new and much better customer satisfaction oriented type service. They felt if customers would spend the extra money for one of their premium cars, they deserve the type of service that goes along with that type of buyer. The same thing can be said for BMW which I also owned, the customer relationship and satisfaction is paramount with them and it ought to be because of the price one pays for those cars!

Does GM treat $75,000 Corvette buyers any different than those that buy a Chevette? From my experience then and now - NO! I guess I could say what I've heard others who stop buying GM cars have said;

" I not only want a good car for $75,000, but I also want a company that will bend over backwards to prove to me that spending $75,000 with their company will give me the type of customer satisfaction I deserve for spending that much money!"

My latest experience shows they haven't improved much in that particular area in the last 20 years. Sorry GM, you've got a long ways to go to gain my confidence after the sale.

EFE Z06