ChemEng44
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
First off, ZL1 instructions are pretty bad, I went into this knowing that and taking the approach I would need to adapt and come up with a few unique solutions to get around this. After everything is said and done I am very happy with the results and the additional coverage from road/track debris.
The package arrived within 3-4 days and everything was accounted for. The directions never mentioned anything about tension clips I'm not sure exactly why they were provided, so I left them out. I also opted to secure each extension with screws instead of the rivets. I determined they are PLENTY strong enough with just the screws so this way I can remove them without hassle if I ever want to.
Something I noticed right away when double checking symmetry before dry fitting on the car, the alignment of the adhesive tape was WAY off from side to side, I was prepared for something like this and already purchased new double sided tape and adhesion promoter. (Adhesion promoter should ALWAYS be used for projects like this, I read and hear of all kinds of issues that people have with putting on interior pieces or exterior pieces that involve double sided tape and almost every time it's because they didn't know or shell out the extra couple bucks for the promoter)
I had already installed my wheel lip moldings so all I had to do was measure roughly 12" up and peel and clean the old tape off. After attempting to clean the old tape with plastic razor blades and even isopropyl alcohol, the easiest method I came up with was just my finger and elbow grease. (This would have been much easier to put the wheel moldings on for the first time with this kit.)
Since there was no flexibility in how the two pieces, rock guards and side skirt extensions, assembled I opted to attach them both together then mock it up on the car. This part was made much easier after I decided to dry fit the assembly up under the car with an extra jack, measure from the stock side skirt front and back to an even 2 1/8" of reveal, then put one screw in the very front and one in the very back. (There are two screw holes towards the middle portion of the skirt extension that don't line with anything, after further inspection it doesn't seem this caused any structural issues)
After the assembly was together with the screws I lined up the wheel lip molding with the edge of the rock guard and made sure it was tight against the fender edge before scribing my new line to put the double sided tape on the rock guard portion. (Make sure to put all three push pins in the wheel well when mocking it up, I made the mistake of not doing this at first and there was too much flex in the assembly and I almost had to drill and widen one of the holes. Use adhesion promoter wherever the tape will make contact.)
I did think about, for a split second, drilling a new hole to be able to retain the bottom of the molding with a push pin, but opted to just clean and tape it and it seems plenty strong enough the way it is.
Once the new tape was adhered I opted to start with peeling and sticking the rock guard portion first then the wheel lip molding to make sure the gap where they meet was completely concealed. (See bottom pictures for the intersection gap)
After that it's simply putting in the rest of the screws in the side skirt extensions, being careful not to strip them, and it's done.
The rock guard section is retained using the existing push pins, I opted to go back and replace the "long pin" version on top with the original pin that was on the car prior to the wheel moldings and it retains that hole much better now.
As you can see from the below pictures, it is very important to line the junction of where the top of the rock guard starts and the wheel molding follows the edge, I was able to conceal any gaps very well without too much effort and I'm very pleased with the finished product.
The coverage is exactly what I was looking for, it should protect the side of the car and rear quarters MUCH better now.
The package arrived within 3-4 days and everything was accounted for. The directions never mentioned anything about tension clips I'm not sure exactly why they were provided, so I left them out. I also opted to secure each extension with screws instead of the rivets. I determined they are PLENTY strong enough with just the screws so this way I can remove them without hassle if I ever want to.
Something I noticed right away when double checking symmetry before dry fitting on the car, the alignment of the adhesive tape was WAY off from side to side, I was prepared for something like this and already purchased new double sided tape and adhesion promoter. (Adhesion promoter should ALWAYS be used for projects like this, I read and hear of all kinds of issues that people have with putting on interior pieces or exterior pieces that involve double sided tape and almost every time it's because they didn't know or shell out the extra couple bucks for the promoter)
I had already installed my wheel lip moldings so all I had to do was measure roughly 12" up and peel and clean the old tape off. After attempting to clean the old tape with plastic razor blades and even isopropyl alcohol, the easiest method I came up with was just my finger and elbow grease. (This would have been much easier to put the wheel moldings on for the first time with this kit.)
Since there was no flexibility in how the two pieces, rock guards and side skirt extensions, assembled I opted to attach them both together then mock it up on the car. This part was made much easier after I decided to dry fit the assembly up under the car with an extra jack, measure from the stock side skirt front and back to an even 2 1/8" of reveal, then put one screw in the very front and one in the very back. (There are two screw holes towards the middle portion of the skirt extension that don't line with anything, after further inspection it doesn't seem this caused any structural issues)
After the assembly was together with the screws I lined up the wheel lip molding with the edge of the rock guard and made sure it was tight against the fender edge before scribing my new line to put the double sided tape on the rock guard portion. (Make sure to put all three push pins in the wheel well when mocking it up, I made the mistake of not doing this at first and there was too much flex in the assembly and I almost had to drill and widen one of the holes. Use adhesion promoter wherever the tape will make contact.)
I did think about, for a split second, drilling a new hole to be able to retain the bottom of the molding with a push pin, but opted to just clean and tape it and it seems plenty strong enough the way it is.
Once the new tape was adhered I opted to start with peeling and sticking the rock guard portion first then the wheel lip molding to make sure the gap where they meet was completely concealed. (See bottom pictures for the intersection gap)
After that it's simply putting in the rest of the screws in the side skirt extensions, being careful not to strip them, and it's done.
The rock guard section is retained using the existing push pins, I opted to go back and replace the "long pin" version on top with the original pin that was on the car prior to the wheel moldings and it retains that hole much better now.
As you can see from the below pictures, it is very important to line the junction of where the top of the rock guard starts and the wheel molding follows the edge, I was able to conceal any gaps very well without too much effort and I'm very pleased with the finished product.
The coverage is exactly what I was looking for, it should protect the side of the car and rear quarters MUCH better now.
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