ILS07

I drive my VY '07Z several times a week (rain or shine) and don't track the car at all. I've ordered a set of Forgestar F14 wheels for it and decided to further spruce up the outside with the ZR1 splitter, side skirts, spoiler, and maybe a more aggressive rear diffuser. Since I drive the car a lot, I was wondering what those of you who have done these upgrades already have experienced. I love how carbon fiber looks on yellow, but if the splitter and side skirts in particular get a lot of abuse from the street (mainly rock chips), then I may opt for gloss black fiberglass versions.

My questions:

Which material/manufacturer did you go and how well has it held up to street driving? If I go with a different diffuser, does anyone know which ones work with the 4.5" Akrapovic tips? (I've seen pics of C7's diffuser with Akrapovic tips on another post, not sure about others) Since my wheels are coming with 30mm/50mm offsets, would the extra wide side skirts be a better choice since the wider track will be throwing more of the road at the bodywork?

Z06Ronald

My carbon fiber front splitter, side skirts and rear diffuser are from APR Performance; everything is protected by VentureShield. Alternatively you can use Xpel. It's not cheap, but it protects very well.
I have B&B Fusions, I'm pretty sure that your Akrapovic tips fit within the diffuser opening.

ILS07

Do you have a reverse light solution? That's a mark in favor of the C7 diffuser is I can reuse the reverse lights, but I've heard C7 has had some consistency problems in the past. There's a post of their customers showing installed products and it would appear that some of their QC issues have been taken care of in the past year.

APR seems to have flagship status in the CF part world from what I understand, just wish their wasn't such a disparity in prices...I'd like to also send a set of heads out to be worked over to prep for a cam install. My birthday is July 4 () and I can only give myself so many b-day presents at a time. I guess I need to get back out and start working the corner again.

--Brad

Z06Ronald

Please watch the 1st picture closely and you'll see one of the two small LED backup lights above the license plate.

ILS07

Stealthy, I like it. Last question, those appear to be the extra wide skirts, nyet? If so, I think that would be the way to go since there's still some tire protruding past the wider mud flap.

VetteVinnie

Carbon fiber here. I love the look of it with my black car.

Side note, regardless of what you choose, I'd put some clear film on the splitter. I have yet to get any chips or blemishes on the skirts, but I dinged the front splitter the first week it was on the car.

ILS07

Yea, I'm leaning toward carbon fiber (always had CF pieces on my motorcycles), I was trying to have my cake and eat it too by going the fiberglass route so I'd still be able to send my other heads off.

That raises another question about the splitter...how much more does it drag/scrape than the stock Z06 piece? I know by poking it out there a little more it's going to be more vulnerable, but I haven't seen many people comment on if it happens the same as with the stock piece or if they've had to come up with new routes to get somewhere after installing it. Our roads aren't the worst I've been on, but in places they could be better. Also, does the CF piece you installed have good flexibility to handle some moderate scrapes?

I'm half expecting someone to say "Buy it, bolt it on, and see what happens".

Bill Dearborn

They will all get dinged by stones if you drive the car. A month ago I repaired the Cianci fiberglass ones I installed on my car a few years ago. Sanded them down and filled in the stone chips along the edges and refinished them in flat black. Let the car sit for a week or so and then drove it to cars and coffee at the beginning if June. On the 17 mile drive the driver side front tire threw one stone up that hit the vertical piece in front of the rear wheel well. Instant stone chip again. Right on top of the repaired area. Impact point is about 1/4 inch in diameter. It is located where I can mask off the car's finish so can do the repair right on the car. Not sure what that would do to CF but I suspect it might be a little harder to repair.

Bill

Z06Ronald

I'm not aware that the side skirts are extra wide ...

ILS07

Ah, it must have been the low angle you took the shot that made them look wider, which to me is a good thing.

Bill made an excellent and practical point. I know anything that close to the road surface is going to show some battle scars over time, and as much as I like the look and "wow" factor of carbon fiber, fiberglass pieces with a gloss black finish sounds like the way to go for me given how much I drive the car...worse case scenario it can be repaired and repainted every year. I'm still on the fence about what to do on the diffuser...I really like C7's race version since I can reuse the existing lights. Anyone know of a reason my paint guy can't light sand the finish on the carbon fiber piece and paint it black to match everything else? I know that's probably a WTF question for most, but given the lack of reasonably priced alternatives that I know for sure will work with the 4.5" Akra tips, it is what it is.

Anyone know how RPI is coming along? They've got a ZR1 aero kit unpainted on their site, but I don't know how much they've gotten back in the swing of things since the fire. I've read they're body stuff has been consistently rated higher in fitment quality than C7.

Thanks for the input guys, I'm usually all about the end justifying the means, but it seems in this case less is more. Now where did I put those cylinder heads...