B pillars and some rot....

[Vinman]

hey all...I was wondering if any of you knew how to replace or repair (preferable) the B pillars of a coupe. I saw that gmpartsdirect.com has the replacement, but I'm not sure how to swamp them out if its not too bad i'll end up doing it. I was going to get those chrome covers that are on ebay, but I've been thinking they wouldn't look so good on a manta green car that doesn't have any chrome on it other than the factory plastic "chrome" emblems. If it could be painted, what kind of paint should I use that would last, and could or should I clear coat it(if i could paint it)? I'm not too good with body work so I figured I'd ask. I also have a about a half dollar or so sized rot hole just behind my passenger door on the bottom edge, its peeled up some paint. My buddy says to use self etching primer and some "kitty hair" on top of some kind of screen set in the hole, but I'm not sure kitty hair would do it. I'll get the primer and the touch up paint and clear coat (both aerosols because I don't have a compressor). Now that I think of it, i may try to use the primer, touch up paint, and clear coat on my hood ( there are a couple of spots on the front edge where there is no paint, and i'm not the only one with this problem) Thanks all for any help...

[smokinAMD]

I had the same problem on my old Alero. The easy fix was to sand down the rotted area so that it was smooth and flush with the rest of the B-Pillar, and then cover the entire B-Pillar in black vinyl. Problem solved, took like 10 minutes per side.

I need to do it on the new alero too, as when I was cleaning excess wax off the B-Pillars, part of them flaked off, d'oh!

[Vinman]

my b pillars aren't rotted, they're just faded pretty bad (driver's side is gray when its supposed to be black, and tha passenger side is starting to do the same at the top), the rot is on the body just behind the passenger door, up here in new hampshire, we have safety inspections as well as testing for emissions depending on year (my car qualifies for that, which kinda sucks), and having the rot, won't let my car pass because its located near the cabin, luckily i have a buddy who does inspections, and he turned a blind eye, but i don't know if he could next time, not to mention i want to start entering my car in the aotm, and i can't because its not exactly in the best shape. Where would I get the vinyl?

[smokinAMD]

Well the B-Pillar is an easy fix with the vinyl, but the rot (RUST) behind the door is something you'll want a body shop to take care of.

[cavaliers60]

Mine aren't doing that..... What year is your car???

[Vinman]

its a 99

[Vinman]

when i come back on i'll post some photos of the b pillar and the rot, hopefully there is still daylight

[TheMeaningOfLife]

I wetn to advance autop and bought a roll of that carbon fiber stuff an covered the pillars with it and it looks pretty darn good, it takes a while to get on there right. As for the rot, i have it bad to, and i agree leave that to someone who knows exactly what they are doing.

[Vinman]

ok, here are the pics of what I'm talking about

this is my driver's side B pillar


The passenger side


The infamous rot


and a couple of shots of my hood

[alerojack]

mine is a 99 that has the same problem. thought about doing what you guys have done and sanding and covering them with black or carbon fiber vinyl sometime.

[TheMeaningOfLife]

Originally Posted by alerojack

mine is a 99 that has the same problem. thought about doing what you guys have done and sanding and covering them with black or carbon fiber vinyl sometime.

The carbon fiber looks real nice, in the sun u can tell its carbon but if its cloudy or dusk it looks black.

[Vinman]

well i was finally able to find some vinyl i could use for my b pillars..it turns out the only thing i could find was a racing stripe that was wide enough...and here are some after pictures of the pillars...I don't think they came out too bad. I didn't sand, but i did clean the snot outta of them, and there's no issue with the vinyl not sticking


here's the passenger side


and the driver's

[alerored04]

looks nice. Good job. I need to do that too.

[Vinman]

Thanks..the only thing that I don't like is at the bottom b pillar on the driver's side has a couple of air bubbles, but they're not very noticable..I don't think you could see them in the pic.

[CharleyO99Alero]

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I have a '99 also and only the drivers door is like that with the actual B pillar being ok.
But, thankfully, I have no rot!


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