I did a little experimenting with looking at cause and effects of splash guards on the C7. Pretty basic fundamentals going on but hopefully it might spur the aftermarket to come up with more options. While the replacement GM splash guard's extra width give a slight amount of side protection they offer no additional rocker panel and lower door protection from rock chips because they are no longer than stock guards.



This picture shows the area that will be hit with debris thrown from the tires. The top tape is the highest range, the lower is the most common area. I despise rock chips and now that this area is becoming heavily populated with Amish, the horse sheit splattered up the side of the car is becoming a huge problem. Clear paint protection helps with the chips but it too will soon be damaged especially with how many rocks the Z51 tires throw. So in order to stop the rocks and manure before they hit the car I tried two things.

First, I trialed a traditional splash guard, the type I use on my Silverado. When the standard front guard is removed from the C7 there are three screws under it that work great to mount a splash guard. I mounted it as low as I could go to use the top screw and lined up the reinforcing groove to the bottom of the fender. This left the bottom 2.25" off the ground with my car being lowered on stock bolts. This probably wouldn't work in the land of speed bumps, something I don't have to worry about.



The second trial used a brush style extension mounted under the GM wide splash guard. The flexibility of the brush allows it to hang much lower without damage concerns. The C7 is flat under the front fender simplifying mounting options. Using a 4" brush resulted in the bottom being about 1" off the ground.



Today was about 40 and the county road I live on has finally melted off along with my driveway finally getting passable by a Corvette. Off I went with one of each splash guards on the car and some temporary wrap on the rockers to see what the results would be. I was horrified to listen to the number of rocks and sand being thrown inside the wheel wells. Once I got on the state highway it was better, just a lot of salt from the snow earlier in the week. When I got back I checked the rockers for a splash pattern of mud, slush and grit.

The longer splash guard still allowed some debris to get on the rocker panel from just in front of the rear of the door and about 3" high by the rear tire.



The brush guard kept the complete rocker and door free of any debris even though that tire had rolled through some mud. Naturally the lower the guard the better the protection.

I'm not sure what I will do. I have been thinking of adding side skirts, which according to Jagamajajaran, do a great job of protecting as well as looking good. I had bought some extra bulk SunTek film but used up most of it on the spoiler, behind the rear wheels on the fender and bumper, and on the door sills. I may do the lower sides.

One solution would be for GM or the aftermarket to make a stock snap-in wide splash guard that would have a rubber flap or a brush that would extend lower to provide more protection. GM could easily mold in a groove in the bottom of the wider guard that could have a slide in rubber flap extension to do just that. Or, how about it aftermarket, put your thinking cap on.

Today.

 

Thanks for the interesting post.
Seeing the snow in your photo hurts! I've had my Z51 Stingray since March 4th and I have just 125 miles on it. It's too cold and the roads still have a lot of salt residue. The forecast for this coming week is for a "major" coastal storm. Could be rain, snow or a mix. And Spring began on the 20th.

 

Good information Ray. I was going to try some other flaps also when I get my C7 as the GM splash guard's look worthless as they hang not much lower than the wheelwell itself.

 

Thanks for posting this great information. Clearly the brush style guards work best, they don't look great but from a protection standpoint it seems they get the job done.

 

on a C7

 

Interesting analysis. I have the GM splash guards and got a rock chip right along the trajectory that you show in your first image. The rock hit the door and the rear fender in front of the wheel and behind the GM film. Fortunately, after much anguish, I was able to touch up the chips so that no one but me can find them.

 

Very inventive,but i will stick with the after market GM guards with my full body wrapping.R

 

Xpel on the rocker panels and the bottom of the doors PLUS the GM splash guards was the answer for me!

 

The rear wheels will also do some paint damage to our beloved cars. Unfortunately there is not much of an option other than the GM splash guards and clear paint protection. The way the area behind the splash guard is molded, it prevents a traditional flat guard from fitting tight to the opening. I'm not sure how the stainless flat one that is available gets around this unless it is laser cut to fit around the bumps that are there.

The only option I see here is paint protection. I put some SunTek on the bumper and the bottom of the rear fender. The side of the fender cover really doesn't need protection as the curvature of the fender turns in so it is out of the debris path. The wide guard helps a little here but adding some clear here would render the wider guard useless. The camera flash picks up the edge of the film.



The rear won't get hammered as bad as the rocker panels as the angle of attack is different. It tends to be under the line of sight but it will haunt some of us anyway.



In conclusion, Expel or SunTek paint protection is the number one thing you can do to prevent rock chips. The accessory GM splash guards are a waste of money. You are much better off using the $130 towards paint protection. Some will argue that something is better than nothing, trying to justify the screwing they (me included) got by spending $130 for a few ounces of Chinese plastic. At least they look like they belong on the car. I admire those who can stay oblivious to rock chips and just enjoy driving their Corvette. I need to work on that. :lol

 

Does anyone know if the C6 GS splash guards, front and rear would fit the C7? I really liked the way my GS was protected by the standard splash guards, would like the same protection for my future C7, if they fit.

 

I bet they can be carved/fitted to look good. I put them on my C5...just a little bit of trial and error with a sharp blade.....got the contours just right and installed with tape and screws....no reason why the C7 would require anything else....maybe a vendor can do the grunt work for us, then sell a turdload of them.

 

Hell, you should go work for GM! We spend $90,000 + on a car, and then spend another $1,000+ on Expel and then another couple hundred on some splash guards that look like hell and don't match the trim of the car and if you buy the GM slash guards they don't do the job protecting the paint!! What em I missing?

 

Since no one has mentioned an alternative; this was my "experiment" and what I think is a more atheistic solution used on my September 2013 built Z51 that looked perfect when I sold it three weeks ago.

When I got my car I installed GM splash guards. The rears worked fine for the 3 1/2 years I had the car. However the heavy GM plastic protection over the rocker panels was still getting marked from pebbles thrown up from the Z51 tires. You can see where by looking at the location GM put the heavy plastic, from the center of the door back to up mid way up on the rear wheel well. GM knew where the problem was!

I installed LG Motorsports, full width, carbon fiber side skirts (to match my visible carbon fiber roof.) They worked so well after ~6 months I saw no more marking of the GM plastic that had already discolored. I removed the plastic (not a fan of covering my cars with plastic of any type.) For the remaining ~3 years drove the car and in some places I always encounter small pebbles on the road. Could hear them hit the bottom on the side skirts but no marks on the rocker panels or top of the side skirts. Just sold the car and it looked new, no marks!

For my Grand Sport on order I opted for the more expensive full length side skirts and already have the slightly wider ASC front and GM rear splash guards ready to install. FWIW

 

If you add the long rockers to the sides it makes a huge difference I think and probably solves the problem on the sides....

 

The base Stingray tires do not through much of anything except horse manure. We have lots of Amish in our area too. I wish they would get cars. Just for safety reasons let alone the manure.

 

FYI...Nobody is looking, nor does anybody care except you!

Never have I sold a car or traded one in where the buyer or dealer was nit pickin a rock chip.

 

I have a GS on order and if it ever gets made my plan is to install APSIS integrated spat / splash guard. I hoping that with the wider spat / splash guard and side skirts would give me good protection. I like how the integrated spat / splash guard looks all one piece and not having the joint area were the other style spat and wheel guard meet. What do you think of my choice. Dave

 

 

Good work sir. I do love good old American ingenuity. I have the small ones, and thought they're better than nothing. Now, you have given me inspiration that there is something better that doesn't look out of place on the car.

Also, when you say "traditional slash guard" can you tell me what brand they are, and where you bought them?

 

^^^ You'll have to either PM or EM him because he posted originally 3 years ago. It's an old thread; he may not even own a Stingray by now.