loosing my wheel well liners
 

:SHOCKED:

Loosing both parts of the drivers side wheel well liners when at 120+ on track is an eye opening experience. It didnt upset the car but it did make some racket. Both didnt go at once. The front part let go 1st then the rear section. The it also took out the exhaust shroud. Though my car was falling apart (it was). I have a permenant meatball flag on my back bumper now:Freak_ani

Question now is what do I do and what caused this. All the screws and push thingys were in place and snug. The push rivets did not pull out --the liner was ripped over them mostly. Some where gone but not all.
Of course it cracked some of the bumper holes that the push riverts secure to.

Now when I replace this stuff--how do I secure them in a better way?
Install more screws push thingys?, Open the vents in them a little more? Remove them for track w/e's?
I would like to keep the front tire aerio in place.
OD

Very strange! Since this sounds like a one-off thing....any ideas why it happened? Have you ever had the shrouds out or even removed the pushpins? perhaps not put back correctly? Didn't your car burn up once? Body shop might have screwed up something? You say all was normal with them...but that really does fly in the face of logic as they fell out on the road :suspect: There's gotta be a logical reason...

I was looking at my shrouds (have had them out multiple times)...and I notice several pushpins missing...maybe they wear out and start to just fall out...?

Did it happen over a bump, or while going top-speed on a straight? I'm headed to the track next weekend and need to know! :)

Those plastic push-pins are not very strong. Maybe supplement them with a few strategically placed zip ties? Might have to drill a few little holes in the plastic to place the zip ties.

I don't run fender liners in my Spec RX-7, but then it doesn't see the street and doesn't have side-mount oil coolers that need protection from debris. (And the liners are all old enough to rent a car and brittle to boot.)

^ you can buy replacement ones most anywhere that are not the Mazda style screw turn ones, but rather one way push and stay. That's what I'm using to replace the ones that fall out.

www.partsgroup.com :)

http://www.partsgroup.com/images/sales/IMG_5253.JPG

i have had the liners off a few times, but they were fully secured--all push pins tight, all screw in. Lost them on the straight at over 120+--- No bumps, no tire scrub that day, I dont have a clue? Wind got under it some way. Some of the push pins where still in the holes of the body--the plastic pulled around them
I have to get another liner in there as it is a DD car and the abs/dsc wiring is now more exposed etc.
I will be looking into more reinforcment of the way it mounts now.
I will also reinforce the front underpanel more---it would be just my luck---?
OD

OD.. I have lost them before due to the screws in the front loosening up. I have been using lock tight to make sure they stay in there.

point taken.
thanks---i will reinforce that area for sure.
Makes a racket coming out doesnt it.

Note to self: Check screws holding liners in during nut-n-bolt session this weekend...

Maybe the material fatigued over time due to long term thermal deterioration?

Perhaps using diesel oil on the fasteners and then send the pins in for analysis to examine their plastic content. :)

Use new plastic screws and double check them after install. Don't take this the wrong way but this is most likely an install error AND used plastic screws.

OD - Thanks for making this post - really - like I said I had lost some before, but I just carefully looked both sides again and I ended up finding 9 of the push pins in the wheel wells missing total - yikes! Replaced with oneway push fasteners. Getting preped for an HPDE and good thing I looked...and I'd put it all back together last fall w/original turn type pins after having the liners off then. Weird.

I don't think the wheel well area pins missing could cause what happened to you, more likely the undertray screws/pins of the front liner part did you in, but still.

Ok, Ok, :)
Another point taken however--i never replaced those screws--always used the factory ones. They pulled up tight. Maybe i didnt get properly screwed? :) I could always blame those new hawk brake pads you showed me. Damn things stop you so fast the air in the wheelwell cant escape fast enough--so eventually it explodes outward taking the liner with it.
Eric you going to be at RA in June with NASA?
Team--plastic does get more brittle etc over time, probably from all the brake cleaner that has been sprayed around them didnt help anything either?

I am in process of adding addional attachments to the underpanel and factory lip. Using small bolts now that go through top and bottom. From 6 ft away you cant tell that they are there.

This is scary because I get up to 120mph about 3 times on each lap at the track so..........is this a timebomb waiting to go off next track day?

Looked mine over this afternoon while doing brake maintenance, everything was where it needed to be. Also, found about another 1/2 lb of material from the 5-6-7-8 turn combo at Summit Point, which I dumped in a driveway pothole. :)

The undertray, however, was missing 3 screws along the splitter. This explained the slight lopsided grin I thought I'd saw... and why does Mazda want $2 per screw? $1.49 for a pack of 4 from Autozone, couple seconds per with the Dremel and a cutting wheel to take about 1/8" off, no more grin. :icon_tup:

Under my car today, and my right-side piece under the oil cooler was pulling loose. Already pulled off one plastic rivet. Will be reinforcing with cable ties...

same thing happend to me doing 100+ herd some crazy rushing wind noise like i was doing mach 5 lmao so i slowed down and bump bump, look behind and on the road is a half cut, half melted wheel well. I bout shit!

I need both replaced :( left my car at the dealership drive it home and realize they didnt tighten them down...do they or any other site have both or either for sale? I was looking around at the link provided (thanks 9k) but i only saw the driver side

Mine did the same thing going 110+. Heard a loud pop and a scraping sound, the liner detached from the under bumper portion but held on the fender portion - but it bent up under and the tire melted the hell out of it.

Im going to report the same general story here, I was at about 120+ on the track and started hearing a nasty scraping sound. Turned out to be the liners. So I rigged the shit out of it with zipties and a knife (since parts were missing) so that nothing would scrape up against the tires until i could replace it.

I've had one blow out also. I think after time the plastic stretches and the plastic fasteners get loose. I was going to tape the leading edge of the undertray, by the spoiler, with black duct tape anyway. I guess I'll be taping the fender liner too.

Hmm I duct taped a buddy's liners on his 8, for lack of zipties on hand (I have a bucket full at home XD) and that lasted all of a day. maybe my duct tape skills are poor but nevertheless zipties are made of love and happiness IMO.

Olddragger,

One thing to think about, if you lost it the day I think you did, there was a heck of headwind coming down the straight. I am NA and unless drafting, could not get to 120. I think that wind was something like 20 to 30 mph at times. Big motor guys and FI guys did not seem to notice. I talked with a 325 driver and he had problems as well. You could have had an air speed close to 150 or higher, especially in the middle with no trees.

Just a thought.

Thanks Mike--- i had not thought of that. i wondered why it had not happened before.
Never the less---since I now have a permenant meatball flag attached on my car curtesey of my brothers--lol--- i have reinforced these areas for sure!

so, what was the secret that we were supposed to pull from the video?