interesting. you'd think in my climate-- very high temps, unrelenting sun and hot, dry air that all of what you describe: plastic chrome peeling and the wood grain bubbling would have shown the same plight that befell yours.
did you use some type of cleaner or detailing product on them? that may have been the beginning of their demise.
also, if you don't use the supplied torque wrench to install the panels it will cause torsion in the plastic understructure which stresses the foundation and thereby causes fatal decomposition of the chemical bond and thus, excoriation of the thin chrome foil. the woodgrain laminate suffers the same demise in that the substratum is moved from its natural lineal plane, as such a small air gap that is created allows for different atmospheric conditions to exist and the resulting chemical reaction cannot outgas properly leaving a surface that is not entirely uniform.
