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WARNING!   CLADDING SHORTAGE

ASAGOT

Full Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2003
Messages
137
Location
Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Following a brief and encounter wth a toyota where his front end was surgically removed by my 2003 Av,I contacted my dealer in South Jersey to replace three pieces of scratched cladding on my drivers side. Well, to make a long story short, THERE ISN'T ANY AVAILABLE!!!! There have some in Mexico but none here. Unbelievable...no cladding...HELP!!!!!
 
ASAGOT,

Relax - ?this happens quite often. GM doesn't stockpile thousands of part numbers, they have them built on demand - just like the Assembly Division tries to keep minimal stock on hand. Each part has a "history" - how often it was ordered, the type of order ( Overnight, special, stock, etc. ) that was required, and other factors. Since the '02 cladding isn't used in production anymore, they might have cut the onhand balances to a point where they have occasionally "run out" of a given part ( ever heard the term "It's on Backorder" ? - I think GM invented the phrase ), and have to wait until the supplier makes another batch, packages, and ships them out. Since the Av is only 2 model years old, they will keep the light cladding for a while, at least. However, in the future, you might expect to see the '03 numbers replacing the '02 ones and the phrase "Paint to Match" will become the most bitter statement any '02 owner can expect to hear......... ( I have no special insider knowledge about this - I just spent 20 years of my life as a "Parts Guy" for a Chevy dealer, and I'm working from memory about this.....)

Hope this helps, ;D

Jake

I just re-read your post and realized that you have an '03 - same difference. "Supply on Demand" warehousing has been used for quite some time with all the major manufacturers, and in this case, since production has slowed some, they merely got caught with more demand than stock.......Of course, this doesn't make your situation any easier, but it might help to understand why this happens in the first place. They might even instruct your dealer to use '02 pieces and have them painted darker! ( I hope that's not the case...... :6: )

J
 
I know I have been waiting on a replacement on my driver's side rear door cladding because "it's on backorder" since around the middle of Feb.
I can't tell if the dealer's jerking me around or if he's really having a problem getting the part.
 
According to the General there are some in Mexico and the rest are "backordered." The left rear cladding was ripped clean in the collision and part of my butt is now naked!
 
I feel your pain, guys. Back in December, '01, I had a fender bender. Lost both pieces of cladding on the drivers side bed, as well as the running board. The board was there in 1 week, but the cladding took over 45 days. All cladding was in Mexico.

Hang in there. It will get there sooner or later.
 
ASAGOT said:
According to the General there are some in Mexico and the rest are "backordered." The left rear cladding was ripped clean in the collision and part of my butt is now naked!

:eek: :eek: :eek:

A piece of cladding was falling off of my 03. They had to order the replacement from Mexico. It took all of 5 days. No big deal. Installation was about an hour.

Keep an eye on them when they do the replacement. They scratched my clearcoat above the cladding. :8: :7: I drove it right back in the body shop for them to fix it before I took it home.



P.S. - Valley Forge, PA GTG is May 25. (sorry for the shameless plug, everyone ;) )
 
it only took a few days for my autobody to get the front bumper claddin this past week..

btw, anyone need a slightly damaged front cladding from an `02? only a small piece that screws onto the wheel well broke off.. >:D
 
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