20th Jan 2009, 15:59

If it makes any Pontiac owners feel better, my neighbor had to had the power windows on her brand new BMW X5 repaired six times in one year before she traded it in. One day she sat in her car, put on the seat belt and the anchor pulled out -the seat belt mechansim had never been properly tightened into place. And Consumer Reports had called the X5 the safest vehicle ever made. What a laugh.

22nd Jan 2009, 17:02

Having had a couple of 5-series BMW's in our family I'm not surprised to hear of problems with them. These vehicles, and Mercedes (my family has had a couple of C-class Mercs over the years as well) are grossly over rated.

Our Pontiac and GMC have been every bit as reliable, and with the exception of the snob factor, are just as good in virtually every respect.

Our dog's car, an 8-year-old Grand Am, has been an absolutely awesome car, with no repairs ever except for 1 light bulb recently. No window problems, no security system issues, no blown head gaskets... absolutely NOTHING. It has proven to be one of the best, most reliable vehicles we have ever owned.

2nd May 2009, 08:52

I replaced the passenger window clips and the driver side power window's motor about a year ago in my 2002 Grand Am. I purchased the clips from The GM dealer at about $40.00 each. What a joke for two pieces of plastic! I must say that the installation of the clips is not that easy because, 1. the clips were broken and the figuring out of how to install them was like putting a puzzle together without the picture and, 2. because there is not much room to maneuver around and you can't see from the inside of the door. Now the driver side window clips broke about two months ago and the glass is held by a piece of wood that I installed! Like some of you, I WILL NEVER BUY A PONTIAC AGAIN!

18th Jun 2009, 03:59

I've owned an '01 Grand Am GT since 2003, and I've had these plastic clips inside the windows fail on each window at least once -- the front driver's side window 3 times & the passenger twice!

I'm just lucky I have access to a mechanic at work, or I would've been out some serious cash...It's definitely a faulty design, and until Pontiac fixes it or somebody makes an aftermarket part with stronger plastic or metal (or better adhesive), it's going to continue happening.

My car has had no problems besides the windows, other than regular maintenance stuff, but damn... I've had to order parts for these windows SEVEN TIMES!!!

21st Jun 2009, 02:00

I keep seeing these complaints on the Grand Am window clips so I KNOW it is a real problem. However my 2001 Grand Am with just under 80,000 miles on it has NEVER had even ONE of these clips break (or anything else, the car has been perfect). I inquired among members of a Grand Am club I belong to and none of them had ever had this problem either, including some with over 200,000 miles on their cars. Since we live in the Sunbelt, where it seldom gets below freezing, I am wondering if cold causes these clips to get brittle. Do you guys having this problem live in northern states? I've been curious about this, as no one here has ever heard of this problem.

18th Jul 2009, 21:13

1999 Grand AM GT 2 door.

Driver side clips have failed seven times. Passenger side just failed, plus the regulator clips broke as well. I paid the dealer $400 the first time to fix the driver side, and the sash clips failed within a year each time after that, so they had to fix it for free. The last time I said forget this and a friend of mine made a metal clip and used a flexible glue, which has worked fine. The passenger side looks like a nightmare because the regulator clips have shattered, so it's either glue the pieces back together or pay an arm and a leg for plastic garbage. I can take these windows apart in my sleep now, which is wrong.

18th Sep 2009, 00:44

Thanks for all the helpful tips. I feel confident that I can fix my own window with minimun cost and my 12 year old son to help get his sister's car back on the road. I haven't owned a car since my 1970 Maverick. (We drive trucks only). Bought a 2001 Grand Am last fall and think it is awesome... especially the mileage after driving trucks all my life. It rarely sits idle and has about 230,000 kms. to date.

13th Jan 2010, 16:52

I have a 99 Grand Am and have had both sash clips fail on both sides, along with the guide clips on the passenger side. I know it broke when the previous owner had it, because I found more broken clips inside the door. I got the parts online, but just wondering the best strategy to remove the epoxy from the old sash clips, to remove the from the window without breaking the window. I'm pretty accident prone, so I know just going at it probably won't end well. Any tips would be helpful.

16th Jan 2010, 10:30

My daughter has a 1999 Grand Am SE, and we live in a Midwest state. I was driving the car the other day, the temp was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit, and I stopped to give a guy I know a ride, since he was walking home a long way in the cold weather. He got in and slammed the door, and I heard something drop. Now the passengers side front window will not go back all the way up, and is leaning to one side.

I must say that this site is awesome because of all the great helpful comments people took the time to post on here. I now feel confident enough to undertake the job. I am disappointed at all of the comments suggesting that since they have not had these types of problems, that nobody else should either. We take care of our cars too, but there is an expectation that the car will still work in cold weather if someone slams the door once in a blue moon. If that expectation is false, then they should state that up front when you buy the car.

6th Feb 2010, 13:49

My Husband has a 2002 Pontiac Grand AM, which he has had since it was new. It only has about 80,000 miles on it, and slowly in the past 4 years each window has gone out. Now they are all wedged with random things to stay up, due to the fact that we checked into getting them fixed and it almost cost more than the car is worth to get them fixed. So our door stoppers will have to do the job until we can unload the heap of junk and get my husband a nice car.

Oh, and also the plastic interior is warping in random places. This car HAS NOT been abused at all, and is basically only used for my husband to go back and forth to work, then gets parked in a garage. I would never buy Pontiac again.