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Has GM fixed their fender shortage?

5K views 30 replies 12 participants last post by  captjohn 
#1 ·
I admit I have been a bit out of touch with this forum, but had an incident today that caused me to jump back in. After 3-years for bringing my sky to the same dealership, they finally succeeded in cracking my fender when lifting the car. This happened even after providing them with the TSB on the lift points. I caught the problem before leaving the dealership so they really have nothing they can do but fix it now.

What has surprised me is that they said they could get a fender in a 1 day. Frankly, I did not believe it, so I called a competing dealership who said the same thing. Is this just blowing smoke to make me go away for the time being, or has GM actually started producing and stocking these fenders?
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the feedback..that is encouraging.


Fenders were a very big problem not long ago, many posts about national backorder at GM and the only way to get them was from ICS or DDM. More demand than supply. Hopefully that has been corrected. Will see what happens on Monday, since I have an appointment to bring it to the dealer's body shop the next day so they can install, paint, clear coat etc the new fender.
 
#4 ·
If I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath. They are probably being honest telling you 1 day, but that is their regular experience when ordering parts for other models/makes.

For your sake, I hope they are right. Keep us informed!

BTW, ICS is now Source One Auto Parts. They should still have pre-painted fenders for the Sky.
 
#5 ·
I know my front bumper was shipped out from GM in 3 days which was great. I thought there would be a long delay/search for one when I ordered the part online.

I have the cars entire metal body panels in storage, I got a good price on them all and who knows if I'll ever need them, but they'll always have resale I figure.
 
#7 ·
I will keep you posted and I do have my doubts...I think the 1 day is the standard answer they have. But I did see a post that mentioned GM had contracted with someone to make the fenders...we will see.

What is criminal is how many of these are getting broken by dealerships that should know better. Going forward they are not working on the car unless they use the alignment rack and I get to personally watch them.
 
#9 ·
As an update, I just got a call from the GM dealership that the fender came in. I have learned from my experience not to count my chickens before they are hatched, so will update when I actually bring the sky in for the body shop appt tomorrow.

If this all works out the way I hope, then GM does appear to have their fender shortage fixed.

Will let you know how things turn out. Thanks to all who provided feedback.
 
#10 ·
Let us hope so, because last time I tried to order a fender, I had to supply the money, and waited 3 months. The fender never came and I got my money back. Ended up ordering from DDM.. Also be careful that they don't try to "fix" the cracked one. Have them show you the new fender..:skep:
 
#14 ·
So the next question is:

Since GM has now sourced the fenders, have they also changed the mold for the bottom mounting bracket? Is the material thicker at that point now? Or are they still building the same fricken thing that breaks if you look at it cross-eyed?
 
#15 ·
Feedback

I took MidniteBlues' advice and had them show me the part and after waiting 30 minutes for the Body Shop Manager to get to work, they did unbox a brand new primered fender in front of me.

He mentioned that Martinsville, VA had 16 on hand. I assume that is the location of the Distribution Center. Also found out at least one dealership in Missouri stocks the part. Based on this, I would have to say the fender shortage has been resolved.


Whether they have reinforced the fender to prevent repeated damage is unknown, I will take a look when I get the sky back tomorrow, but not sure I will really be able to tell.

Once this saga is over, I will be looking for a new place in the Hampton Roads VA area to bring my SKY..it is not going back to these guys.
 
#16 ·
Final update

Got the sky back late yesterday. They did a pretty good job from what I can tell. I looked closely at the replacement fender and honestly, I don't think there is any reinforcement at the attachment points where the fender normally cracks. So same fender with the same problems.


Thanks to all for your advice.
 
#17 ·
Got the sky back late yesterday. They did a pretty good job from what I can tell. I looked closely at the replacement fender and honestly, I don't think there is any reinforcement at the attachment points where the fender normally cracks. So same fender with the same problems.


Thanks to all for your advice.
Just curious, what was the list price for the fender? sometimes they say it on the invoice..
 
#20 ·
They did not pay retail for the fender, so not sure exactly what they paid. When I was researching the fender availability I believe the quotes were around 300 dollars. If I was paying for this myself I would have gone with DDM, less money and a product that is reinforced.
 
#23 ·
Since we have drifted into mechanical engineering . . .

My observation is that cracking is a result of two different mechanisms. One is interfearance when lifting. I dont see any viable improvement in the overall design making the fenders able to accept the lifting load.

The second source of cracking is apparently vibration due to weakness at the lower attachment point. Reinforcement is likely to help reduce or eliminate vibration induced cracking :D
 
#27 ·
Can you guys tell me how to find DDM? I searched and found DDM Tuning. My body shop replaced a right fender my wife damaged on a curb last may and the part was $281. She did it again :banghead: and now the part is $467!
 
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