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Don't drill deep.Drivers side has the tranny lines in the rocker.A drill stop is your friend.
Working from middle to sides will get you a tight install.Fender washers on the small rivet heads will give more holding area.Stainless hardware is a must.Skirt info only.Havn't dun splitter
No rush,take your time
If you have an A8 be very careful drilling holes for the rivets on the left side because the transmission lines run very close to the bottom of the rocker panel.
If you drill through one of the lines you will be really really screwed. There is no easy way to repair or replace those transmission lines.
Ummm... Place chisel on exposed part of rivet. Hit chisel...
Seriously, though. I would just drill them out. The indented nature of a rivet means you're going to go dead center every time when drilling. Very minimal risk. Just use a drill bit stop (or a bunch of electrical tape around the bit like I did).
Also there are better fasteners to use than rivets when you put the new pieces on. Are they called Scrivets or something like that?
The problem with Scrivets, IMO is similar to screws. On my 2014 Z51 and the dealer tech used on GM skirts on my Grand Sport use rivets because there is very little material behind the composite rocker panel when finished. The composite rocker panel is very close to the aluminum side rails. Pic below may be a better way to view what I am referring to. They are aluminum rivets, easily removed if needed. On my 2014 C7 I used a small stainless fender washer to spread the load. the GM rivets have a large plastic head that does the same.
In fact I was able to slip a piece of sheet metal behind the rocker panel before I drilled to stop the depth. The composite material drills like butter. The only issue is physiological- drilling the first hole! Once that is done it's very easy!
PS: For the person who for whatever reason does not want to drill them out if that were needed, that stainless washer can make the chisel method work great! The holes are very close to the bottom so only an ant would see them if the skirts were removed!
this is gonna sound dumb but I’ve never done that before any tips, how to’s. Then how do the new ones go on?
Drilling out rivets is easy, it just sounds like it could be disastrous. Get an electric drill and something to lubricate with, I just used some cheap lubricating oil I had left over from a project. You want a bit that about the size of the shaft of the rivet (the section that goes through the hole in the part). If there is no indentation in the rivet to hold your bit in place while you start to drill, you will need a spring loaded punch to get you a small dent to hold the tip of the bit in place as you begin to drill. Keep the bit lubricated by dropping a drop of the oil ever so often to keep the bit from causing too much friction and heating up. That is how you damage your bit. Once you start getting through, use a screw driver and hammer and try to tap the cap off (Think of a nail....it has a flat head at the top. If you drilled down the center of a nail, there would be a whole down the center of the head of the nail. That flat nail head would now look like a ring. This is called the cap). The cap needs to come off as it is what is holding the parts together. In this case, the skirt to the car. With slight tapping around the edges it should pop off. If this is not happening, you may not be far enough through. Or you didn't drill enough away so try a bigger bit. Be aware, you don't want so big a bit that once you get through the cap you start drilling into the panel. Take your time on the first one and you will understand. After you do one, you will find the confidence for the rest.
As for new ones, if you want to rivet the new ones on, you will need rivet gun.
What you want are 3/16 large head aluminum rivets. If you have enough room behind the panel exploding rivets may work even better. No need to monkey around with washers with the large head rivets.
Here is what the backside of the exploding rivets look like
If you have an A8 be very careful drilling holes for the rivets on the left side because the transmission lines run very close to the bottom of the rocker panel.
09-21-2018, 07:18 PM
Are side skirts and front splitter riveted on ?
Once that is done it's very easy! 
