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I have been very careful not to drive my 2021 C8 on bad roads, but I do drive it. It is 15 months old but was stored last winter for 3. I have 7,300 miles and noticed when I put it into hibernation last week there are a significant number of tiny defects on the rocker panel paint just aft of the door sills before the wheel well. Both sides affected, but driver's side a bit worse. The rest of the car is outstanding. So, have any of you also experienced this? If so what is the fix? it is only noticeable if I am washing the car and really look. I realize I can pay to have it fixed, but it will only happen again. I wonder if there is a small, one or two inch splash guard that could be placed just at the rear of the door sill hung vertically to divert debris from hitting the rear rocker? Thoughts??
Yup, rocks being thrown by the front wheels. As others mentioned side skirts will solve the problem but it’s a very expensive solution. I went with extended rock guards from EOS. I also had XPEL installed along the lower sides.
Ed. You’re talking a very small area. Order some Xpel, they sell it on their website. Cut out a template with paper to your liking, trace the Xpel and install. Easy and cheap to do.
The Xpel will help to hide some of the minor damage there.
I go by if you got to squint to see it….it’s not there.
Ed. You’re talking a very small area. Order some Xpel, they sell it on their website. Cut out a template with paper to your liking, trace the Xpel and install. Easy and cheap to do.
The Xpel will help to hide some of the minor damage there.
I go by if you got to squint to see it….it’s not there.
Thanks. After reading all the replies this is what I decided to do once it warms up enough in the Spring. I don't mean to offend anyone who took the time to respond, but I just don't like the skirts. To my eye they change the flow of the lines of the beautifully sculpted body too much.
XL splash guards and full-length side skirts (similar to the design shown below) will prevent this from occurring....
This. You can get full length carbon flash painted side skirts from Quinten Racing for around 1k that look just like the ones in the pic above. Theyve saved my C8's side panels from rode debris and pebbles a LOT in 5k miles, and they stick out just barely far enough that you'll likely catch the side skirt before your rear wheel if parallel parking, which could save some $$ if using pricey forged wheels.
They also just plain look nice! I have the Quinten side skirts and a 3 piece splitter from RPI designs on my C8.
Originally Posted by Maxie2U
Never seen a car with different wheel styles on the front and back.
It's the same wheel style on his C8. The rears just have more of a recessed center portion where the lug nuts are to fit over the calipers. The OEM wheels do this too, it's just not as pronounced as some aftermarket ones. The aftermarket ones sometimes do even more of an offset than they need to for cosmetic reasons (people actually desire a certain "stance" with the wheel not recessed as much in the wheel well). You'll notice his tire is more or less flush with the wheel well fender, while my car on stock wheels has an 'overhang' of the fender.
I'd worry about even more peppering of my fenders from the flush-look stance wheels, which is why I wont do it, but I do like the look. There's a style for every taste.
The problem I've had with only installing PPF in the rocker panel area on past Vettes is that after a very short while the PPF looks like crap...It may be self-healing (to a point), however, it will begin to show wear from small road rash pits fairly quickly in this area and requires frequent replacement (yearly) in order to look decent...At least that's been my experience...
I also try not to purchase side skirts that are painted as the flat vertical exposed edges quickly show rash marks as well, which on some designs are fairly large such as with the 5VMs....A relatively inexpensive flat plane side skirt design constructed of either ABS or CF I found to be the best option...This particular design also doesn't detract from the lines of the C8 which personally I like the simplicity and minimal appearance....
When I bought mine even with the OEM side skirts and splash guards my PPF/Ceramic shop owner told me that he would add that section of the car to the full frontal Xpel package that I had him do. He told me that was an area on the car that he wouldn't let me out of his shop without PPF.
When I bought mine even with the OEM side skirts and splash guards my PPF/Ceramic shop owner told me that he would add that section of the car to the full frontal Xpel package that I had him do. He told me that was an area on the car that he wouldn't let me out of his shop without PPF.
Road Rash
