Side skirts fastening

[tasdrouille]

I started do more aero stuff on the TDI lately. I finished blocking the front end (including the intercooler vent...) and replaced the passenger side mirror with a block off plate.

Next I want to go with side and wheel skirts to complement the airdam. I have a pretty good idea on how to go about the wheel skirts, but I don't know how I should attach the side skirts.

I'd like to avoid screws, it's already rusty enough and I'm trying to retard the inevitable as much as possible..

Any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks

Talking about rust, in case you ever wondered what my forum handle stands for, it could liberally be translated to rustbucket.

[justpassntime]

Going to be hard to avoid unless you can figure a clamp system that will hold it.

As for the rust you can try this. No welding, cut or grind out the rust. Treat the area with some type of rust inhibitor. Make a metal patch that goes behind the hole. You need a automotive body adhesive. Either rivet (flush rivets work best) or use screws after the adhesive is dry grind of the heads flush fill with body filler, prep and paint.

Check this out for more detail and a flush fit panel method. Both of these work for rotten rocker panels too.

.: Popular Mechanics - Be the first to know :.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

Tape works. Or, Velcro.

[MetroMPG]

Ah! That's what the username means. I thought it was something like "t'as d'rouille" - "you've got rust".

3M makes some double sided adhesive "tape" that I've been told is nearly impossible to remove once set. I think Daox mentioned it to me, and Ivan (ForkenSwift co-conspirator) mentioned using it at his work once.

[Johnny Mullet]

So I would be "Vokuhila with a tasdrouille" ??

[MetroMPG]

OK Mullet, I need an explanation...

[Johnny Mullet]

"Mullet with a Rust Bucket"

I guess that's French and German? I dunno, just throwing it out there.

[Bror Jace]

I thought long and hard about how to attach side skirts to a car without drilling into the fender lip. I came up with two ideas:

Option 1: Make tabs from scrap aluminum, steel or very thick plastic (strong stuff, like nylon) bent at 90 degree angles. You might want to pre-drill a small screw hole into these tabs. Glue these onto the fender lip wioth epoxy putty or commercial construction adhesive and each tab becomes an attachment point for the skirt. Use a small (button-head if possible) screw to secure the skirt to each tab. I would think you'll need a minimum of 4-5 tabs per wheel well.

Option 2: When you form your skirt, be sure to leave enough plastic around the edges so that you can form multiple tabs. Bend these 90 degrees and secure them to the fender well lip with a small binder clip. I would think 6 clipped tabs would be minimum for an average wheel well. It depends how secure each clip is.

Depending on the shape (curvature) of the wheel well, you may need additional structure in the form of a metal brace running along the bottom of the skirt to keep the skirt curved (slightly) and away from the tire.

[justpassntime]

I need to get some pics of my attachments.

My wheel skirts are held on by one screw and two pins. There are three tabs and a bracket that are the mount points for the 1/4" metal rods (1 top and 1 bottom) that support my skirts. My skirts are sheet metal from the top of an old S10 cab.

The top rod (straight) slides through a tab at the rear of the wheel well and the front of the rod has a bracket attached. That fits into a bracket mounted to where the trim used to be right in front of the wheel well and these brackets are held together by one screw. If you look closely at the pic the hole in the front of the skirt about midway up the door. That is where you poke the screwdriver to get to the one screw.

The bottom rod (U shaped) slips through tabs (really metal wire clamps) and are pinned in place.

Pull the two pins and one screw and the skirt comes right off. Going back on is a pain in the butt.

I only had to drill one additional hole that wasn't already put there at the factory.

[tasdrouille]

That's all great suggestions guys, thanks. I thought about making the side and wheel skirts actually one piece. That might make it easier to attach and more streamlined.

Darin, you were just an apostrophe away with "t'as d'rouille". It would be "tas d'rouille", which literally is "heap of rust".

Johnny, a mullet in the Province of Quebec is known as a "coupe Longueuil" named after a Montreal suburb where this haircut was pretty popular in the 80s. Vokuhila is the German word.