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Hello everyone this is actually my first post so I'm looking forward to getting some great advice. Here's my problem, I have a heritage edition with really low miles (14k) and everything looks great except there are a few bubbles in the hood stripes especially around the blisters (see pictures). This bugs me but I also would like to keep the car as original as possible. Do you guys think it's bad enough to replace or just leave it alone? Also how much of a pain is it to get them replaced? Thanks in advance.
Thank you! It's been my dream car and now I'm at a point in my life were I can afford it so I bought the best one I could find. I look forward to having many great memories in it.
Please excuse my ignorance I am just now learning so I hope I don't get blasted to much. I do know it's the 305. Here's a pic of the parts sticker. If you could give me an idea what those codes mean I'd appreciate it. I only know the ZO3 and of course Z28.
LB9 is the Tuned Port 305 CID, 5.0L, L98 would be the TPI 350 or 5.7L, MK6 is the World Class T-5 5 speed transmission, MD8 is the Automatic Transmission.
Just keep in mind that it will get worse. Much worse. So eventually you will be asking in a more serious manner how to deal with it, so I encourage anyone with suggestions to post them.
JMHO here (your money your ride) but being that 'patina' is all the rage these days, I'd leave it alone. I agree with PurelyPMD. Wait until things start really looking cheezy, then do the paint AND the stripes, in the original color scheme of course.
Nice ride, BTW!
I think that those have already been redone-I'd bet on it. It looks like someone put them on with the blisters in place and just cut around them.. Both of mine from the factory looked far better. I can take a pic of my old stock hood with the vinyl and it goes further under the blisters. I would lean towards pulling them off and having a good body shop put on new ones. Other route would be that since they aren't original anymore just have a good body shop paint on the stripes and re-clear the entire hood and hatch lid-Unless you want to enter it in serious car shows as stock and they would know stock was vinyl stickers.
Tibo - my stripes are looking that way also. I have a reverse scheme on my Z03 (black stripes on red), and they are bubbling and peeling around the blisters and edges just like his. Maybe the environment these cars have lived their lives could play a role in durability of the vinyl stripes. Honestly, over time any vinyl striping will begin to peel off if there isn't a layer of clear coat over it to really seal it in.
Sure, sure, enviornment can play a role in how long vinyl lasts. It's probably more likely that vinyl stripes will fade before they blister. My 92 nor my 91 (had heritage stripes and was an abandoned desert car) didn't look like that. But what I am basing my opinion for this guy's stripes is that if you look at the stripes where they meet up with and go around the blisters it looks like a half assed job. Like they had cut out the blister area before installing them and installed them with the blisters on OR they installed them with the blisters on and then tried to cut around the blisters-which would explain why the all bubbles appear to be angled and straight. Factory would have a clean cut edge in the vinyl.
Am I mistaken or not, as I do not have a heritage edition car, but have a few friends with them...are the hood blisters painted, and the stripes on the car are vinyl, correct? I agree with PurelyPMD, as I always do, keep the originals on there!
Last edited by TkernIROC1986; Jun 28, 2016 at 08:04 AM.
Here is my old hood, it sat in the desert for a while as evidenced by the faded outline. It was not a low mileage garage queen. The vinyl should go underneath the blisters by an inch. Your vinyl stripes were redone and if they weren't redone then they were applied by a drunk factory worker (which is entirely possible thanks to investigative reporting).
