How to: Install of ZL1 GT500 side skirt extensions with rock guards and HP wheel lip moldings

[ChemEng44]

@ChemEng44 did I put these together correctly? The pre-installed 3M is towards the wheel the way I have it. From pics on page 1, it doesnt look like I got it right.
Do we use 3M on both sides? Part to stick to the inner wheel well/fender and the other to the wheel lip molding?

Doesn’t look like it, switch the verticals and you should be good, tape should be on the fender side.

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[NJMike]

Dang it!
I flipped them around. I have 20+ feet of 3M tape just in case I made mistakes. Adhesion promoter arrived last night

 

[ChemEng44]

Dang it!
I flipped them around. I have 20+ feet of 3M tape just in case I made mistakes. Adhesion promoter arrived last night

Oh, had you already replaced the original adhesive tape?

 

[NJMike]

no...the picture I sent was from today in my dining room (wife is not happy I have car parts in the dining room ) I just unscrewed and flipped the pieces a little while ago

The tape in the picture was on the pieces when I received the kit. I got the extra for just such "emergencies" like "in case Mike makes a mistake installing" or "need the tape on both sides" or I tried to install and have to peel off the tape and reapply in the right place. Can you tell Im paranoid about trying to do this.

 

[NJMike]

As expected, I have no idea what I'm doing. The existing trim piece is angled down and when I align the piece to see if it fits, it clearly doesnt look right to me.
Is it supposed have a tilt like that?

 

[ChemEng44]

As expected, I have no idea what I'm doing. The existing trim piece is angled down and when I align the piece to see if it fits, it clearly doesnt look right to me.
Is it supposed have a tilt like that?

It does have a little tilt, looks much better when it’s back on the ground.

 

[NJMike]

Ok...thank you so much. I managed to get the driver side on and it came out pretty good. Removing the fender liner/extension adhesive was the hardest part. What a chore.
Not having a second pair of hands makes it difficult. I used some wood blocks to hold the rock guard up against the body. Then I partially reinstalled the front push pins to locate the "mud flap" in its proper place.
Measured the front and back of the guard, then put a screw in the back hole. Added about 4 or 5 more screws underneath.
As someone previously noted the inner holes dont have a place to bite into, but 5 or 6 underneath is plenty.
Tomorrow will attempt passenger side if my body doesnt stiffen up

 

[NJMike]

Just wanted to share my perspective and one or two things I did a little differently. However huge thanks to @ChemEng44 for this thread in the first place as it was very helpful.
1) make sure you are in the right frame of mind when tackling this. Despite having my quiet prayer time with the Lord in the morning, I still got quite frustrated. Thank God my neighbor was getting his mail right at the peak of my craziness on the driver side. He talked me off the ledge! LOL
2) it is not necessary to remove the wheels. The jack I own is like 40-50 years old and did not fit under the car. I drove up on some 2x2 pieces of plywood I had lying around, then was able to get the car up a little higher. I turned the wheel full left when doing the driver side and full right on the passenger side to give room to work.

 

[NJMike]

3) the most time consuming part of this was removing all the 3M stickiness from the wheel lip molding. If you have Cup 2 tires this is really a needed add on to save your paint! Dont have the wheel lip put on before installing these. Your patience and back will thank you! My back is still sore.
4) Here is the one thing I did a little different that helped me breeze through the passenger side. As ChemEng44 says he used a jack to hold the piece in place, I used blocks of wood. When the neighbor came over he gave the idea of installing the push pins in front to help hold the alignment in place. I did not put the pins in all the way, but the first piece (much like a molly) but not the inner piece (like a screw in the molly), again to secure it temporarily.

 

[NJMike]

5) with all the temporary holders in place, I went to measure the distance front and back and found that mine were 2 & 3/8" - ChemEng44 was 2 & 1/8' but as long as they are straight and plum, no worries. With things tightly where they should be I secured the underneath screws, one in front, one in back as stated earlier. Then did the first 3M piece to the inner fender.
6) the screws are plenty strong to hold and I put in about 5 or 6. Having a right angle driver is helpful for this if you cant lift the car high enough. If not have a stubby screwdriver for good leverage on the ground.
7) The last thing I did a little differently was installed a screw in the hole for the fender liner. You will need a washer in front if you chose this method. I did not get a pic of that

 

[IanKar]

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.

This is an older post but wish I found it before I put my ZL1 rock guards on. I also already had put my fender flares on and was worried about pulling it off and even pulling off some paint so put the guards over the fender flares. I now know I can try your method and it would look better.

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