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Any harm to the car, engine if I remove the front lower center, left and right air dam deflectors? My understanding is the C7 "breathes" through the nose and not under the nose like the C4, C5 and partially like the C6.
Are they easily removed?
Reason for removal is my driveway has a STEEP (8% grade) incline and the air dam will scrape when the wheels are still on the edge of the sidewalk while the front air dams reach the driveway incline. Entering the driveway on an angle will not resolve this issue.
Any harm to the car, engine if I remove the front lower center, left and right air dam deflectors? My understanding is the C7 "breathes" through the nose and not under the nose like the C4, C5 and partially like the C6.
Are they easily removed?
Reason for removal is my driveway has a STEEP (8% grade) incline and the air dam will scrape when the wheels are still on the edge of the sidewalk while the front air dams reach the driveway incline. Entering the driveway on an angle will not resolve this issue.
My C6 air dam, center and sides, scarped every time I left the driveway! Did that for 5 years, never needed to replace them just used sandpaper a couple of times to smooth the bottom. It's designed to scrape! Good indicator that the next lowest thing is what GM calls the radiator support and most call skid pads! They are made from aluminum and are costly to replace! Dented mine in the C6 several times!
To answer your question, the car will be fine without the center air dam. Even though at highway speeds the air dam does reduce drag a small amount and improves mpg. However probably not easily measurable. The Chevy Volt has an air dam that is about as low as the C7 and GM says it improves the range when driving on batteries not for high speed performance! The spoiler is easy to remove and some folks have, justifying that is doesn't do anything at highway speeds, which is not correct as it does reduce drag! Quoting GM's Chief Aerodynamics Performance Engineer, John Bednarchik, "While shapes for improving fuel efficiency typically begin to have an effect at highway speeds, lift and drag components become critical from 150 mph to maximum velocity."
At high speeds, ~150 mph, it provides significant front downforce. In fact that is why the Z51 and Z06 don't have a center section, IMO! The clue came recently in a video where Tadge Juechter said the Z06 didn't have one (like the Z51) to reduce the downforce at high speeds since it was promoting oversteer! In 2014 John Bednarchick was quoted as saying it was removed to improve handling but did not say just what! Been lots of speculation about cooling the rear brakes etc but IMO this latest statement by Juechter is probably the main reason it was removed from the Z51 as it had been planned to be included. It's probably a downforce balance issue in combination with the Z51's rear spoiler. Apparently this was defined after additional high speed testing just prior to the first C7 production.
10 or so 7 mm bolts - hated it ......took it off at about 1000 miles.....
and remember if any posts say its need for balance,cooling etc, the GM designers have admitted that's for over 150 MPH...
As others have said it won't hurt to remove them unless you track it at high speeds. Of course, it doesn't hurt anything when it scrapes either.
After reading the feedback it may be better to have them there even if they scrape on the driveway. As an earlier post stated, they are a "good indicator that the next lowest thing is what GM calls the radiator support and most call skid pads! They are made from aluminum and are costly to replace!"
As others have said it won't hurt to remove them unless you track it at high speeds. Of course, it doesn't hurt anything when it scrapes either.
I adjusted the ride height of my early 2014 down slightly less than an inch. Ran it without air dams for about a year. I liked the slim clean look at first but later came up with a solution I like better:
Take your old 3 pieces of air dam and stick on a long strip of normal 7/8" width masking tape even with the bottom edge. Then use a scissors or snips and cut along the top edge of the tape, trimming away the entire taped part. Then reinstall the 3 shortened air dams. On a lowered car you end up with the ground clearance of a stock C7. Or on a stock-height car you have extra clearance. It's real easy, looks good too.
I adjusted the ride height of my early 2014 down slightly less than an inch. Ran it without air dams for about a year. I liked the slim clean look at first but later came up with a solution I like better:
Take your old 3 pieces of air dam and stick on a long strip of normal 7/8" width masking tape even with the bottom edge. Then use a scissors or snips and cut along the top edge of the tape, trimming away the entire taped part. Then reinstall the 3 shortened air dams. On a lowered car you end up with the ground clearance of a stock C7. Or on a stock-height car you have extra clearance. It's real easy, looks good too..
Interesting solution😎. So they are that easy to cut, I would have not thought they'd cut so cleanly.
Interesting solution��. So they are that easy to cut, I would have not thought they'd cut so cleanly.
An idea worth considering.
Thanks!
They are relatively soft rubber like material. They are designed to flex. All I ever did with my C6 that scraped every time I left my driveway (which, by the way, my C7 does not) was reach under and sand the bottom edge a couple of times. That was also very easy, no need to jack up the car.. Some have said they don’t like the sound of the air dam scraping! If that sound bothers you, the next lowest thing to hit are the aluminum skid pads or what GM calls the radiator support! Unfortunately I hit those several times. They are made of aluminum and the noise is much worse! If you’re lucky they will only dent since replacing that assembly is not cheap or easy!
09-14-2015, 01:04 PM
Front Air Dam Removal (on non Z51)
