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What is the process to replace the lower front air deflector(s)? These are the deflectors located under the bumper in front of the left and right wheels.
I have a friend who cracked one of his pulling into a parking stall and needs to remove and replace it.
Any help appreciated. I suspect a few bolts holds them on.
Found this in the sticky section under fascia removal. Image courtesy of "Theta". It was just a few bolts on my convertible, and same on my z51 coupe. I haven't been under the Z06 yet but would imagine it's the same. Hope this helps.
Found this in the sticky section under fascia removal. Image courtesy of "Theta". It was just a few bolts on my convertible, and same on my z51 coupe. I haven't been under the Z06 yet but would imagine it's the same. Hope this helps.
His car really don't need it unless he is going to be doing speeds of at least 150 mph on the track are interstate.
Those are not on the car to help the coolant at all. I took mine off the car when I put a splitter on the front.
Agree! I took mine off the day I took museum delivery to install my side skirts and front splitter, and never reinstalled them. Gives more ground clearence and they are a simple install at a later time should you wish.
He likes to keep his C7 in stock condition, but I will mention this to him.
Thanks for the reply.
I understand what you are saying here. Just also wanted to put this out if by chance he would put a splitter on the car. It just didn't look correct are something with those on the car with a splitter.
I am sure he may be a guy that wants to keep it 100% stock looking, but also want it to look like he just drove it off the show room also. Robert
Ok, if he wants to keep the car "stock", take off the torn up part and remove the other side. Buy the 2 replacement pieces and put them in storage. When he gets ready to sell the car, put the new pieces on and enhance the sale!
BECAUSE.... replacing the two front air dams will eventually destroy the 2 new front air dams and you'll be replacing them over and over and over and....
You don't really need them. So why replace fresh plastic to scrape and brutalize just to keep replacing the parts?
Ok, if he wants to keep the car "stock", take off the torn up part and remove the other side. Buy the 2 replacement pieces and put them in storage. When he gets ready to sell the car, put the new pieces on and enhance the sale!
BECAUSE.... replacing the two front air dams will eventually destroy the 2 new front air dams and you'll be replacing them over and over and over and....
You don't really need them. So why replace fresh plastic to scrape and brutalize just to keep replacing the parts?
His car really don't need it unless he is going to be doing speeds of at least 150 mph on the track are interstate.
Those are not on the car to help the coolant at all. I took mine off the car when I put a splitter on the front.
FWIW, also tell him it does reduce drag at highway speeds! That is why the Chevy Volt has one about as big as the C7. GM says it increases mileage achievable on batteries at highway speeds. Volts don't go 150 mph!
Granted is does increase downforce at 150 mph, that is why the center is left off the Z51! According to Tadge it increased front downforce to where it was causing some oversteer at high speeds. He said they are careful to maintain a front/rear downforce balance. They no doubt don't want Ralf Nader writing another book!
I kept my side airdams on when I installed the splitter. Directs air around the from tires, reducing drag. The side air dams do little to increase downforce.
I have a friend who cracked one of his pulling into a parking stall and needs to remove and replace it.
Any help appreciated. I suspect a few bolts holds them on.
..
You suspect right!
Another good reason to reinstall the air dam is they are an early warning signal (if you drive very slowly) that the next lowest thing to hit are the "skid pads!" Hit those several times with my C6 and once with my C7! Fortunately for the C7 installed FANGS when I got the car and no damage!
Each time it occurred I was pulling into a store parking lot and oncoming traffic caused me to pull in much faster than my normal craw!
Chuckle when folks remove the air dams because they "don't like the noise" when they scrap. That sound is like music compared to the terrible aluminum on pavement sound when the skid pads hit!
Some don't like the look so remove them. To each their own - but that shouldn't be justified because they "do nothing!" Like the "Fox who Couldn't Reach the Grapes," they weren't really sour!
Flexible plastic air dams act as a warning before you do real damage and hit the next lowest item, these aluminum skid pads, or what GM calls a radiator support.
My friend pulled into a parking stall that had a broken parking stall cement stop with a piece of rebar sticking up, so it tore the air deflector. Although he has the front cameras, he wasn't looking or watching closely and the rebar sliced the air deflector, thus the reason to replace.
Another good reason to reinstall the air dam is they are an early warning signal (if you drive very slowly) that the next lowest thing to hit are the "skid pads!"
This is exactly why I keep mine on there. Kinda like curb feelers.:
GM has engineers smarter than me. So I leave the deflectors on. If I get the chance to drive fast, I want the car to behave as designed.
I've damaged and replaced all 3 already, but they are not expensive so why not. They are made to scrap and wear and be replaced.
Question (base 2015)?? Can you reuse fasteners/bolts. Found a site (Corvette Mods) and they sell the bolts separate @ $29. Need to replace center & right. Since I'm replacing might as well do left side as well. Total for all 3 minus shipping comes to $113. Bolts extra...smh. Any special tools like torx or hex needed?
Hey nmvettec7 - glad to see you're still around. I hadn't seen a post from you in a while and wondered. But then, I'm only on periodically.
FWIW,
* We live on the side of a mountain, have a steep hump to get into our driveway, and have a very steep road down to the main road.
* I removed the deflectors on our '15 Z51 because I got tired of them always scraping - and nothing else ever hit. I figured if I decided to track the car I'd put them back on for the track day(s).
* I removed them from our GS for the same reason. But I also had to install the ProTeckit splitter protector on our GS because it always scraped - must be just a bit lower in the front than our Z51 (I installed the 'poverty' splitter on the Z51 and the GS has the stage 2 carbon stuff, so that might be it too).
* A lot of guys like to leave the deflectors on for 'early warning' and I get and respect their decision. For me, they were an annoyance. I've never, ever hit the fangs/supports. If I don't take the right angles, I hit the splitter or the bottom bolts/bottom of the skirts mid-car on the outside edge of the car. The deflectors were actually a hindrance in my situation.
* While it's rare, I remember a couple of posts and pictures where the deflectors were scraped so bad that they actually tore the plastic piece that they're bolted thru. I think that's really rare, but I remember at least two.
* I like to sell my cars 'stock' too, so I figured I'd just put them back on when I sell/trade the car.
* Finally, I get that the engineers know what they're doing and they serve a purpose. But if I'm not tracking, combined with the type of scraping problems I have where we live, the cons of leaving them on outweighed the pros.
PS: I've had both cars WELL into triple digit speeds in safe areas. No ill effects from not having those two little deflectors off............:-)
Question (base 2015)?? Can you reuse fasteners/bolts. Found a site (Corvette Mods) and they sell the bolts separate @ $29. Need to replace center & right. Since I'm replacing might as well do left side as well. Total for all 3 minus shipping comes to $113. Bolts extra...smh. Any special tools like torx or hex needed?
Corvette mods is terrible, don’t buy anything from them.
Yes, you can reuse the bolts, no problem. Gmpartsdirect usually has the most competitive prices.
It’s a 7 or 9mm bolt, I can’t recall off the top of my head, but nothing special.
Thanks for the "heads up". So Yeah, they were much cheaper than Mods (over $30 cheaper for all 3). The bonus was that they were in North Carolina and less than a 40 minute drive. Gotta love networking info on this forum.
12-25-2016, 10:05 PM
Replacing lower front air deflector.....
I took mine off the car when I put a splitter on the front. 
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