I bought a pair of these a couple of years ago and installed them on my 2005 C6. After several months they both came loose and fell out. So then I took the car to West Coast Corvettes and paid them an obscene amount of money to re-install them. I think it came to about $400. After about two weeks the one one the driver's side fell off and the other one never did completely come loose but did flop around. By now I was fed up with the whole thing and fished them out of the fenders and gave up on them. W.C. Corvettes said if I left the car overnight they could "try" to epoxy them in place. That wasn't a practical solution for me so I just ate it. I live over an hour away and would have to have somebody follow me over and bring me home and then take me back to pick up the car. That's four hours of driving that somebody would have to do. I am not sure I have good enough friends to even ask them to do that.

As a sidenote, when I took the grilles out I found a flashlight that West Coast Corvettes had left in the fender. So I guess it wasn't a total loss although the flashlight was kind of a piece of crap.

Now I am picking up a new 2008 tomorrow and would really like to have those mesh grilles in the fender. I did read on this forum some time ago that the ones that the Chevy dealer installs....also for an obsc ene amount of money.

My question is to you who do have the GM ones installed by the dealer. Have they stayed in position and if so, how long have you had them? I don't mind paying a Chevy dealer to put them in but not if they are going to be constantly coming loose.

 

The GM ones are not going to fall out. They do cost more, considerably more, but you get what you pay for. The GM ones are attached to a plastic frame that attaches up in the wheel wells using the plastic push pins that hold the wheel well liners in. Once they are installed, they are there until you remove them. I love mine.

 

Check out the ones from Apsis. They mount from the outside. DIY!! $175/ set

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...ighlight=apsis

I'm planning on buying a set... Here's a pic...

 

They dont look good on the with the black wheels ,
if the wheels were chrome or polished I maybe would install..

 

Thanks for the input. I do recall reading some time ago that the GM ones had a much better method for holding them in place.

The Apsis grilles are obviously very, very nice. Possibly a little too much bling for my taste. But I do like the idea of installing them from the outside since taking those inner fender panels off is a pain.

 

I believe they will be making them with different finishes... Or you could always have them painted... Still a lot less than the ones from GM. I can't imagine spending more than 20 minutes to prep and apply these.

 

I gotta agree that if you install chrome or polished stainless on your body you should have chrome wheels to match. Blacked out grills would look great with those blacked out wheels.

Now I might have to get thos Apsis grills to match my chrome wheels and being on black they will stand out.

 

I did the GM ones a few months back. I can definitively say they are not going anywhere. As mentioned it utilizes 2 of the wheel well pins and it also uses 3M double sided tape and some clips. It is IN THERE and they look good. The install was not all that hard and only required a screwdriver to pry out the pins and a nut driver to remove 3 screws on each side. You can do it yourself and save alot on the dealer install. Should only take 15 minutes per side if you take your time.

 

I have black outs/ black wheels, but also a few S.S. pieces... I like the contrast. I think they would look nice on my car... I was thinking of masking off the S.S. mesh and painting the outside high gloss black. I already have the S.S. grills from Race Mesh... but the do come loose...





Matching front grill...

 

I did my own with stainless gutter guard from Home Depot, using Pipedreams DIY instructions. Total cost about $3.00

 

Just curious what is the Gm PN# and what is retail cost just to compare to the $175 Apsis set? thanks Frank

 

Another good example of why owners should learn to do a lot of their own work ... sorry to hear you got hornswoggled.

 

Do you have a link to the DIY instructions? I checked Pipedreams website and found the template however coild not find mounting instructions.

Thanks!

 

If you're going to glue them in use epoxy putty. Clean the surface of the inner fender with Windex for the dirt/dust and then wipe with charcoal lighter fluid or mineral spirits. Put a couple pieces of duct tape on to hold them in position, mix 20% of the stick at a time. Holds good and is easy to do. The double sided tape falls off, the silicone is a PIA to work with and messy.

 

As I stated in my original post, I did install them myself. I followed the instructions to the letter and even went overboard in cleaning the area where the two-sided tape was to be applied because by the time I bought them, I had heard of other people having a problem with the tape not sticking. The install job I did lasted about 8 months before they came loose. The $400 job from West Coast Corvettes lasted a couple of weeks.

So spare me the comments about "learning to do my own work." I have built complete race cars from the ground up so I am not some no-nothing newbie.

 

Forget all the epoxy and adhesive crap and just get the GM parts. I went through that mess and did nothing but waste money.

 

Didn't come to forum for long time. Just see this thread today.

We will have polished stainless finishing, black powder coating finishing, color matching finishing & carbon finishing. We are reaching to the final stage of mold making so we will have parts ready soon.

 

Your words, as I read them, suggested you were rather disappointed with the quality of work ... esp for the $$ ... should have spared you my comment since it was clearly my misread.

Not bashing you, but rather overpriced/underquality service.

Have a great holiday.

 

2 years and mines are perfect, trick is industrial velcro

 

Oh, I see said the blind man. ;~)