Scruff Vette

I've never broken any on the C5-C6's that I've had...but I have hit them hard on the street quite a few times. Typically coming out of a driveway or side road angled down T-ing into anaother road. I keep a can of semi-gloss Rustoleum paint handy to touch them up as needed.

LS WON

...no reason to replace is for three or four hundred dollars,

Unless you support the Corvette tax.

Whisky

I have a different point of view. Our car are pretty low and I think it's designed to be the first thing you hit if you drive too far over a curb or parking bumper. It may be called a "radiator support" but I think it's more of a crash brace.
Think of it, if the part of it that hangs down on each side wasn't there, what do you think would eventually stop you when you went to far? Better that then the oil pan or expensive suspension parts. I also think it's designed break or distort if crunched too hard so as not to transfer the energy to more expensive parts.

I replaced one on a C5 that was distorted when I bought the car. It wasn't too hard to replace but like a previous poster mentioned it had a lot of wiring going through the webbing. You just need a little patience and a few hours to take it off and put it back on.

cartop2

Wow! Some really critical comments here. I drive several cars and ocassionally forget the bumper is out there so far. I usually stop so far away my wife thinks I'm nuts. I was careless once and barely scraped the underside of my facia before stopping. I did not go far enough to hit the aluminum skid bars and got one really thin scratch (lucky).

Someone said the rails are the same on the C5 and C6. Is that technically correct? It sure seems my C5 had rails that were attached differently than my C6. I've read posts here that said not to use the little rollers, because the new C6 design isn't sturdy enough to take the loads the C5 rails could handle.

I agree we should stay off the curbs and steep drive entrances, but sometimes a small error in judgment on clearance or stopping distance can be really expensive if the rails are not strong enough or easily replaced.

Sinister Evil

It's a simple "do it yourself" fix. I wouldn't buy a new one, unless the support is broken in places that are not at joints where there are old weld marks. Most of these are breaking at the supports where GM did a ****ty weld job. Just take it to a shop that does welding on aluminum and have them reweld the supports back together and bend it back into form. I would recommend you remove the front air dam and the wheel well liners. i would also get the side marker light and some other wiring out of the way by disconnecting them so that the support can be dropped. It really is not that bad. If you have a 13mm long socket and ratchet with an extension and a short 13mm socket, you will be okay with removal of the support. you will need a flat head screwdriver to remove the plastic snap bolts on the air dam center piece and wheel well covers. I have the radiator resting on a wood block while my car is on jackstands waiting for the piece to come back. I'm going to sand it and paint it and slap it back in and be more careful about how fast I hit bumps, parking stops, curbs etc.......

VETFEVER

That wiring thing is really wired - I have had the rad support off my car a couple of times to adjust the plumbing for my blower and the wiring is not routed as you describe here - some one must have been messing around at assembly time....

3 Z06ZR1

3 Z06ZR1

Thats perfect! For clowns that can't slow way down for driveway. I pass on the steep ones . Figure I don't need in there that bad.
There a few that have broken them. But they drive hard and don't make good choices sometimes. Can you get the OP a discount?

GreySteele06

Skid Plate????

You must have the Z71 option from the Silverado!!

My Z71 Silverado has skid plates. Need to make a Z51/Z71 option.

If you dont hit it on anything it wont break. Im pretty sure with any low slung sports car that we normally get compared to you would break things if you run the bottom of the front end into them.

Ive scraped mine a couple times but you can NOT think of it as a skid plate

saplumr

I kinda like it. I bet it wouldn't add much weight if it was made of alum...oh, nevermind.

SUB VETTE

I have wheels on mine, which has helped me get out of my driveway for the past four years without scraping up the lower fascia badly; but the other day I parked too close too a curb and hit the wheels, breaking the welds on the support at the frame bracket. So the wheels won't help always. I'm going to try and get this weded back together since a new one from Gene goes for about $330.

qcdoc1

Damn there are some bad replies here.. I dont drive like a crack head and I do try to watch for those steep entrance/exits...
However there is the time the wheel came off the truck and I didnt have time to avoid it.. and then the time I didnt realize the exit of the gas station had a deep gutter line...then there was the other day turning around in the church yard, a freakin hole that I didnt see:eek :
So I have torn up 3, I have a template and can repair it my self. The wheels actually helped when it went thru the hole in the yard.
So anyway you are not alone and FYI the welding from GM sucks SO to all those who want to talk trash ez does it...

SUB VETTE

Yea, the welds are just spot welds, easy to break. Could be that GM designed it that way so the welds are the first break point.

naschmitz

The official GM name for this piece is as the OP typed it, a Radiator Support Skid Plate. Here, check it out at Gene Culley's site:

http://www.gmpartshouseusa.com/partl...layCatalogid=0

Feel free to ignore the facts and continue with the stupid remarks as needed!

Gearhead Jim

Someone might make money by building a jig to re-weld them precisely, then either doing a rapid repair or an exchange program.

haljensen

If you run into something and damage a part of the car it's operator error, not a design or parts name flaw.

Should fenders and bumpers be made stronger so people can't damage them by running into things?

SacCityCorvette

Hi,
SacCityCorvette has a product that will allow the skid plates to just slide on what ever they bump into. Sliding is much better than just digging into what the skid plates are rubbing against. The Fangs slide instead of the bare aluminum digging in and trying to tear off the skid plate/lower radiator support. They are called Fangs and they are 6 times more abrasion resistant then steel, also they are very impact resistant. Plus you only loose 1/8 inch of ground clearance.
And they are lighter and look better then Wayne O's cool setup.
The Fang are the best available protection you can buy.

Here is a link to a couple videos of us trying to trash them.
http://www.saccitycorvette.com/See-t...n-Action-.html

Here is a link with the full low down.
http://www.saccitycorvette.com/C6-Fangs.html

naschmitz

Too bad you didn't post this sooner. Then the stupid posts in this thread would have been bashing a forum vendor and they'd be gone.

I think your product looks like a good idea. That probably makes me a "reckless" "crack head" "clown" who "should be driving pickup truck."

cthusker

Do you need to remove the bracket to install these?

calemasters

I have a 2005 MY with 40,000 miles. Mine has never broken. We both have the same "horrible" design, so why has mine not broken? What could be the difference between your car and my car?

Corvette + Driver1 = Broken Support
Corvette + Driver2 = OEM Support