I know, I know... it is hard to believe, but after almost one year of waiting I finally got my replacement set in on Saturday and installed them yesterday.

It took me about 6 hours to cut out and install the Aeroguard Clearmask shielding to the insides of the guards to cut down on gravel chips (hopefully). and I also applied a layer of Clearmask to the mating surfaces of the guards where they come in contact with the body just in case. Driver's side fit up pretty well, Passenger side had to be slightly modified - especially the right rear (not much improvement over the first set I received a few weeks ago).

Anyway, here are a few snapshots...

 

Looks great John... Mine were a little more difficult fitting around the ACI side skirts...

 

Looks good, are they made for the C5? They look like the C6 Zo6 ones I put on my C5.

 

Yes, they are made for the C5.

http://www.apsisusa.com/C5%20Corvett...le%20index.htm

 

They look great!

 

I can imagine. I had to grind off quite a bit of the right rear to get it to fit - had to take off about 1/8" thickness at top and go deep (into the 3m tape area) and had to notch the transition between the rear fascia and body panel a bit more. Also had to get a longer screw for the Passenger Front bottom than what was supplied.

Other than that, my only real complaint was that this replacement set still had some surface imperfections? If you were going to paint these, that would not be a big problem as you could hand sand these down in prep to make them perfect, but I did not want these to be "glossy". Gloss black splash guards on a gloss black car just would look like an after-thought to me as they could have just made the car that way as a single piece to begin with. It is also a bit more forgiving - since the fit is not "perfect" you would not notice it as much due to the texture difference. Eventually, I may just sand these few imperfections out on the car, tape it off and repaint the outside areas if they get to bugging me too much with a rattle-can. For now, applying a coat of Rejex, followed by a coat of Griots Vinyl & Rubber Dressing helped considerably.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like mine a lot but I think they could have fitted better. Getting around the ACI side skirts I bet was a you know what. Mine may come off some day, especally if I get rear flairs, and I may do someting for my brake ducts to protect them more.. Looking at that angle for next year.... Something I have planned for the front of the car....

 

they look great, damn you can eat off your rims

 

They look really good and you did a good job making them fit and they color match your Vette perfectly

 

I think they look sharp ....

 

Don't get me wrong, they look great but, for nearly 4 bills you shouldn't have to do any moding or have fitmit issues, in opinion.

 

i like how they look on the rear. i dont like the idea of the rear ones on the front, though.

i love the shine on your tires!

 

I can understand having to do some minor tweaking in fitment on the rears since they span two panels and not all C5s will be exactly the same there. The fronts, however should be pretty straight forward. Since my lower passenger screw would not reach the female threads, I can only assume that the passenger front guard is a bit thicker or rotated a bit more when fitting up?

I actually did not mind (personally) having to use the Dremel to make them fit - I expected some of that, but the surface imperfections have me scratching my head. Hard to imagine going 99% of the way and then just not finishing them completely? Don't get me wrong, these would probably be acceptable for most everyday cars, but I did expect the outside surfaces to be close to perfect (no pits, dings or flat spots) - and 99% of that area does look fine - it is that last 1-2% where it looks like body putty was used to fill in some areas and just never fully feathered. My first set had the same problem (maybe I got the same set back?)

 

very well done congrats on the install

 

Oddly, after 8 years of daily driving, I do not have a single chip behind the rear tires, unfortunately I cannot say the same behind the front tires - they really kick up the gravel (especially when making turns) - so from a protection standpoint I need the fronts more than the rears.

Tire shine courtesy of Zaino.

 

They do in fact!

 

These look fabulous on your black car!

Not sure how'd they look on silver -- contrasting colors would emphasize fitment flaws -- and it appears there are some -- without painting them the body color.

You deserve a 'Hero, Class A+' award for craftsmanship and perseverance!

 

Actually, IMO any fitment flaws will show up more if they ARE painted to match the body color/texture. I think the satin black would look fine on silver myself - you could find a silver ZO6 C6 and get a pretty good idea since ALL the factory splash guards are black (and they are black from the factory for a reason). These splash guards do protect the body panels behind them, but they do so at a price - these guards (like all splash guards) now become part of the body to an onlooker and since the insides of these are now perpendicular to the buck-shot on the roads they are going to take a beating (just like the factory fender liners), but unlike the fender liners, these will be sticking out in clear view from front angles and if they are going to get all beaten up and look bad, then all you have done is change "where" the chips occur (and get more to boot).

I can only think of five possible solutions to this problem in any Splash Guard:

(1) Make them out of a heavy-duty lightweight somewhat resilient material that is black all the way through that does not need to be painted and can take a beating (not an option here - these are as hard as the body panels they are protecting). Something like the factory guards I suspect. Even my inner fender liners still look amazingly good after 8 years of punishment.

(2) Cover the danger-zone with something like a ClearMask like I did (we will see how well that stands up - has done great on my front bumper the last year, but even the front bumper is not two inches from the rock acceleration force in most cases). One downside to this solution is that it gives the inside a high-gloss appearance - fine if you are painting your guards to match - otherwise not an outstanding option.

(3) Affix a layer of 1/16" Industrial close-celled Neoprene to the impact surfaces - this would have been a great option to have offered, then you could just replace those over time if they got hammered (this will be my next option if the ClearMask fails).

(4) Use an automotive spray-on texture which is available at professional auto paint stores (they use it on Toyotas, etc. for this very application) - it is like an undercoating, but not as thick-texture and comes in a rattle can.

(5) The big guns - Linex - expensive, lots of texture - last resort.

As far as fitment, I really only had to grind on one of the four guards to get it to behave - the other three I did not modify.

 

Those look great. Hope they do a good job for you.

 

Yeah, so much for the rumor that "chrome" does not last. I have had these chrome Speedlines on this car driven every day for 8 years and not a single scratch or nick (yet). Look just like the day I installed them and 3 sets of tires swapped in that time. Good chrome can last a long time - problem is you never know if the job was done right until it is too late!