[Z06] Rear Brake Vent Plastic
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 48,557
Likes: 3
From: Mid-Michigan
St. Jude Donor '09
Rear Brake Vent Plastic
I am going to have to replace my rear brake vent covers. The plastic is all gouged up. I've examined close-up pictures of other's cars and they all look so nice and smooth even with twice the mileagee. Can't begin to imagine what caused this. Bought the car like that but there are no paint chips anywhere. All I can think is maybe somebody's poodle or pet monkey chewed on them? 
Anybody else seen this? Is it possible to get carbon fiber replacements or do those only come as stick on covers?
Anybody else seen this? Is it possible to get carbon fiber replacements or do those only come as stick on covers?
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 48,557
Likes: 3
From: Mid-Michigan
St. Jude Donor '09
I've got no problem running over things after 30 years of motorcylces where that's not optional. It's quite amazing the things I haven't hit though! A week after I got the Z there was a huge loaf of concrete sitting in the left tire track of the freeway. It was comoflaged to the max and I was looking ahead to the offramp. Noticed something wasn't right in my periphial vision. Close! But I didn't even hit the hole it came out of. 
MixZ06 - Replacements are sold through vendors. Non-Z Vettes have an install proc and I was reading up on that. Turns out they are bolted on from behind. We remove the inner wheel well to get at the nuts. No mention how to remove that, so it must be simple as pie
Then we just need to keep the poodle shooters handy.
MixZ06 - Replacements are sold through vendors. Non-Z Vettes have an install proc and I was reading up on that. Turns out they are bolted on from behind. We remove the inner wheel well to get at the nuts. No mention how to remove that, so it must be simple as pie
Then we just need to keep the poodle shooters handy.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,077
Likes: 1
From: Greenville SC
I replaced mine with stock replacement ones. It is a pain in the ****. You have to jack the car, remove wheel remove complete inner fender liner and brake duct as a unit, THEN you can get to the nuts that hold these on. Reasembly is a bigger pain because as I said you can't just install one piece then the other then the other. The brake duct has to go through this big fender liner and those two have to be juggled quite a bit to attach them to the brake vent plastics you replaced.
If you like solving 3 dimentional puzzles you will love the job...
Now I just apply a little tire dressing to hide the inevitable wear since they were replaced (which is what I would have done in the first place if I had known what a pain it was to replace them).
MD
If you like solving 3 dimentional puzzles you will love the job...
Now I just apply a little tire dressing to hide the inevitable wear since they were replaced (which is what I would have done in the first place if I had known what a pain it was to replace them).
MD
Tech Contributor
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 41,058
Likes: 9,821
From: Charlotte, NC (formerly Endicott, NY)
You can also use a product called Black Chrome which helps cover up the marks in black plastic.
If you decide to replace them make sure you put some rope caulk over the space where the rocker panel pins slide into the rear quarter panel holes. This will prevent those little stones from getting into the seam between the quarter panel and the rocker. You know the stones that seem to be too big to have gotten into the seam. They come from inside the fender when the wheel kicks them up and past the inner fenderwell.
Bill
If you decide to replace them make sure you put some rope caulk over the space where the rocker panel pins slide into the rear quarter panel holes. This will prevent those little stones from getting into the seam between the quarter panel and the rocker. You know the stones that seem to be too big to have gotten into the seam. They come from inside the fender when the wheel kicks them up and past the inner fenderwell.
Bill
