Fender vent inner fastener

[Demonic]

*Speaking softly with head lowered in shame* ....so....guys. I was being stupid today, and while washing the car out of curiosity I tried to inspect and wiggle around the side fender vent to see how it's attached. The bottom portion popped out about a 1/4" from the fender and is blocked from going back in. From what I read there's a fastener on the inside in addition to the double sided tape. Is there any simple way to pop this back in without having to jack up the car, take off the wheel, and remove the wheel liner to access the fastener inside? I feel like a little kid who poked something he wasn't supposed to....

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[honeybadger]

*Speaking softly with head lowered in shame* ....so....guys. I was being stupid today, and while washing the car out of curiosity I tried to inspect and wiggle around the side fender vent to see how it's attached. The bottom portion popped out about a 1/4" from the fender and is blocked from going back in. From what I read there's a fastener on the inside in addition to the double sided tape. Is there any simple way to pop this back in without having to jack up the car, take off the wheel, and remove the wheel liner to access the fastener inside? I feel like a little kid who poked something he wasn't supposed to....

Hmmm. You should be able to just push it back in. You can remove the vendor vent by just pulling back on it. How hard have you tried to pushed it back in?

 

[Demonic]

I went back out and took a closer look with a flashlight. Looks like there are a couple horizontal tabs behind the fender and slots in the back of the vent. Since I popped just the bottom out, it’s now on an angle and the double sided tape on the top half is preventing me from angling it correctly to reconnect with the tab behind the fender. I think I’m going to have to just remove the vent and replace the tape.

 

[honeybadger]

Ahh, that could do it. It's easy enough to add some low heat with a heat gun to loosen the adhesive and then pull it right out. I have to do it from time to time as the heavy track use seems to push mine out every 6 or so months.

 

[Demonic]

That's what I ended up doing. There's a strip of double-sided tape on the door-side of the plastic vent. The horizontal sections of the vent slide over plastic tabs on a mount inside the fender. I used the heat gun to remove the vent, replace sections of the tape, and re-insert it after having to straighten one of the plastic mounting tabs that had gotten bent inside.

 

[Niz55]

That is what I did also. I replaced the tape and also heated the top corner portion and bend it back in so it can sit perfectly flush when installed.

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