Has anyone removed their front, bottom frame bracket from the car ? This is the square tubing piece that the "frame saver" wheels mount to. Mine has a few scratches and I want to remove it, straighten out the scratches and re-install. I see splits in the bumper cover that look like it allows the thing to drop down. I also see several things attached to it. If anyone has any experience removing this please let me know what is involved.

Thanks, Tom

 

This piece holds the radiator in the car. You really need to remove the front bumper, radiator and then unbolt it. This would also require moving the a/c condensor. I suggest you get under the car, tape everything up, and spray it on the car. It was not designed to be removed.

Dave

 

Hello Tom. I am new to the forum but have replaced several C5 skid plates.
The front frame bracket you are talking about sounds like the skid plate. One of its purposes is to bang on the ground if you get too carried away, so it is supposed to get scratched up.

In addition to being a skid plate, it is a catch all to which the the air pump, horn, center air deflector, the hood that pushes air into the radiator, and a couple of retaining brackets are attached. It also holds up the radiator.

I've never seen one that wasn't scratched. Most likely the only part that is scratched up is what you can see without taking anything apart. If you saw the factory welding and paint job and welding, you would not be impressed. So anything you do right would stick out like a sore thumb.

If you just want to paint it, it may be easier to just loosen up the underside of the bumper cover and push it aside temporarily. If you want to get at the whole skid plate it might be easier to just remove the front bumper cover. You can then see the whole thing clearly. However, it will still be difficult to paint the underside with a sprayer because it is still close to the ground, and you'll wind up having to take everthing off of it and then remove it. You won't have to jack the car up if you take the bumper cover off.

If you ever replace it, the skid plate is sold unpainted (at least the ones I've seen). It is made out of a very thin light alloy steel and if you hold it in your hand you would think it was aluminum. At any rate, it is one of the most difficult pieces of metal I have ever tried to paint (in terms of adhesion). I can tell you right now that your run of the mill automotive primers do no stick to it so don't even bother, even if you sand and clean it first. It will look beautiful but the paint will chip off with your fingernail. I won't tell you all the acrylic lacquers and enamels I have tried. I wind up having to sand it with 320 and use a shellac based primer (like Zinser from Lowe's) to get anything to adhere to it. You may not have this problem if your's is already painted from the factory. I am not a body man so maybe somebody else has a better idea about how to get paint to stick to it.

If you do decide to pull the skid plate out, you can do it by yourself. It is held to the frame by four bolts (13mm). The junk that attaches to it is 8 bolts (10mm) and a couple of screws for the radiator hood (7mm). Brace the radiator so that it doesn't sag too much. Make sure the rubber radiator isolators (on top of the skid plate) are still on when you put it back together. The right one is attached to the radiator. The left one is attached to the skid plate itself and is prone to falling off.

Caveat: There are a few hidden bolts on the bumper cover. If you need to know where they are I can tell you. Also, if you are thinking about replacing it rather than painting it, don't even buy one unless it comes with 8 press nuts installed (7 small, 1 large). Ken Fechtner here at this Forum could probably set you up correctly. It takes a special tool to get them to seat (tightening them up with a bolt rarely works). Even the special tool is semi useless and I wind up having them brazed on (and not by your average muffler monkey who might not know what it is made of). So don't strip any nuts while your're fiddling around!

Short answer: You can do it, it's intuitive, but it's a lot of hassle for a couple of scratches nobody can see and everybody else has, too. If they bug you, try a foam roller with a little black paint on it. If you don't want it to get scratched again, you might want to buy some A&A frame savers from Andy here at the forum and let them take the beating. But then Andy's wheels will be scratched instead!

 

Thanks NevadaVette and Dave for the info. You definetly know what I am talking about, it looks like it would come right out but I bet I'd be a hurtin' if I stripped out a press nut, I've been there before. Think I'll just enamel paint it on the car for now.,

Thanks, Tom
:D :D