These mods have been on the car for a while, but I finally got them *fixed* and took pictures.
I used a heavy gauge steel sheet from Home Depot for the mirror delete replacement panel. There is foam weather stripping between the car and my panel. Black spray paint prevents rust.
I like steel because it can be bent just a little to conform to the car. Also:
I like to make these panels tamper-resistant. In my Civic I used carriage bolts, which I prefer (pictures of that later), but the holes in my Corolla are too small for any carriage bolts carried by Lowes or Home Depot, and I decided against drilling out the car or ordering the right bolts online. My second choice is a flat-head machine screw, which I can (partially) counter-sink in the panel.
That leaves an accessible screw head on the exterior, but the answer is a self-locking nut (nylon retainer type) and washer. Can it be removed from the outside? Probably, but with difficulty. Imagine turning the screw heads and watching those nuts spin freely. (Nothing I do is going to resist an angle grinder though.)
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For the wheel skirts, I did corrugated plastic on a steel strip. I'm afraid these are my ugliest mod so far. They might look better if I paint them white like the car, initially I thought the opposite. EDIT: or what about a black-to-white sunburst?
(This picture also makes me think I need to hurry and fix that rusted out hole under the door, and this car is begging for side skirts, although the doors curve down past the plane of the wheels, which makes things complicated.)
So you can see my skirt attachment method:
What I've got here: two cabinet latches at the bottom. Two angle brackets attached to the wheel well retain the top portion in one direction (used to be velcro but I tore off the hooks on the angle bracket later on). Three angle brackets attached to the back of the wheel skirt that retain the skirt against the wheel well in the other direction (I added a 90 degree fold to the angle brackets). The latches and brackets are pop-riveted in place. I used outdoor caulk over the rivets in the wheel well, hoping to prevent rust there.
Pros:
- It pops on and off in a few seconds. I mesh the angle brackets at the top and then snap the cabinet latches at the bottom and I'm done.
Cons:
- It was really hard to get the cabinet latches positioned correctly, and they aren't aligned very well, so snapping them in place requires a few extra seconds. If I did it again, I would use a 1/8"-1/4" thick piece of plastic (ABS or PETG maybe) screwed onto the wheel well and then attach the latch to that.
- Riveting the angle brackets to the Coroplast looks crummy. Not that I like the look of black-painted Coroplast much anyway...
Other thoughts, now that I've done this once:
- MetroMPG's second wheel skirt attachment method is probably better if Coroplast is used. Keep it simple, don't obsess with how long it takes to undo some screws to remove the skirt. http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...html#post37089
- I like Weatherspotter's method with sheet metal the best overall. Weather Spotter Rear wheel skirts - EcoModder His method might be compatible with cabinet latches. I do like the way the cabinet latches work, they are just a little more difficult to install correctly. (I'd probably have the same problem if I were making cabinets though
.)