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Installing Fiberglass Sideskirt?

Old 03-05-2016, 09:03 PM
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Installing Fiberglass Sideskirt?

I dont know why i cant find any tutorials on this, ppl just say do this or that...But how is that gona help anyone? For about a year ive been going through this forum, youtube, and other sites but nothing. Its ridiculous!

I have a 4dr 09 cobalt LT with the VIS Racing Tsc3 Kit...Ive installed the Front and rear bumper, it was easy...But i dont know how to attach the side skirts. I know i have to use screws for the parts that attach on the fenders. And maybe screw above where the side skirt goes into the door?..But how do i keep it from flexing in and out from all the wind? Ppl suggest clips...But my question is what clips and how do i attach those clips to the car and the fiberglass side skirts?

Does anyone have a tutorial on this? I see alot of you ppl have installed pics but how is it that you got them on there? Ya need to have a thread section for each body kit part install. MAINLY the side skirts.

THANKS,
Old 03-05-2016, 10:25 PM
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Pay a body shop.
Old 03-05-2016, 11:18 PM
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Not many ppl run body kits on here anymore. Probably saw old pics
Old 03-06-2016, 03:47 PM
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Its cause no one has tutorials lol, and ppl are just lazy. Hopefully someone who knows how to install side skirts will pop up.

No one runs body shop around here? lol Please help.
Old 03-06-2016, 04:49 PM
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Originally Posted by Joshua Robles
Its cause no one has tutorials lol, and ppl are just lazy. Hopefully someone who knows how to install side skirts will pop up.

No one runs body shop around here? lol Please help.
People are lazy cause they don't make a thread showing you how to put tasteless and dated body kit on your car?

And no one "runs" as in puts body kits on their cars. In my experience fiberglass parts are always poor quality and don't match factory fit and finish. Which is saying a lot from a Cobalt owner.
Old 03-06-2016, 07:00 PM
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Come on guys, play nice.

I just use 3m industrial velcro to hold the skirts onto my car.

The clips people are probably talking about are the stock sideskirt clips which require holes be drilled into the body. Post pics of your skirts, what do the mounting points look like?
Old 03-06-2016, 10:22 PM
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Originally Posted by cluelessk
People are lazy cause they don't make a thread showing you how to put tasteless and dated body kit on your car?

And no one "runs" as in puts body kits on their cars. In my experience fiberglass parts are always poor quality and don't match factory fit and finish. Which is saying a lot from a Cobalt owner.
No they are lazy because they dont want to take the time to build the car up themselves or just learn something new...Yeah paying someone to do it is easy, but you cant say you did it...Fiberglass does need a little work, but isnt that why it says there might need work done to it? I think this is why ppl say stock looks better cause well it takes time and money to do body work, psh of course it does. But in the end the result is awesome. At least when you do it yourself you can save money, ALOT of money.
Old 03-06-2016, 10:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Slowbalt2000
Come on guys, play nice.

I just use 3m industrial velcro to hold the skirts onto my car.

The clips people are probably talking about are the stock sideskirt clips which require holes be drilled into the body. Post pics of your skirts, what do the mounting points look like?
I have no mounting holes or clips on my sideskirt, nor on my car. This is why im having issues installing the side skirt because i dont know what clip to get, and if i do get the clips, how would i install them?

Posted the kit as of now.
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Old 03-06-2016, 10:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Joshua Robles
No they are lazy because they dont want to take the time to build the car up themselves or just learn something new...Yeah paying someone to do it is easy, but you cant say you did it...Fiberglass does need a little work, but isnt that why it says there might need work done to it? I think this is why ppl say stock looks better cause well it takes time and money to do body work, psh of course it does. But in the end the result is awesome. At least when you do it yourself you can save money, ALOT of money.
Thinking a body kit improves looks is very subjective... Extra weight, no flex and who knows how much worse it'll make our already areo challenged cars.

Hacking screw into your car because it's "cooler" than paying someone that understand corrosion protection and vehicle construction is pretty dumb.

Body kits are a fad that died out for the most part that's the reason we don't have any threads explaining the process for installation. Not cause we're lazy.

-Your friendly resident body tech....

Last edited by cluelessk; 03-06-2016 at 11:28 PM. Reason: Spelling mistake someone pointed out when they didn't have a reply for content posted.
Old 03-06-2016, 10:37 PM
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Your*
Old 03-06-2016, 10:44 PM
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I had a body kit on my basemodel cobalt and I definitely regretted having it. Did the car look good when I first got it, yup it did I was also 18 and it was my first car lol, now i prefer the look of the SS bumpers it's a clean and more mature look,

but to help you out post some pics of the side skirts your talking about and maybe we can give you a hand on how to mount them. BTW you need to make your own mounting holes (you will need a drill). since modding a vehicle is different for every person and as long as your happy nothing else really matters
Old 03-06-2016, 11:09 PM
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Originally Posted by Snail_SS
I had a body kit on my basemodel cobalt and I definitely regretted having it. Did the car look good when I first got it, yup it did I was also 18 and it was my first car lol, now i prefer the look of the SS bumpers it's a clean and more mature look,

but to help you out post some pics of the side skirts your talking about and maybe we can give you a hand on how to mount them. BTW you need to make your own mounting holes (you will need a drill). since modding a vehicle is different for every person and as long as your happy nothing else really matters
Here is the side skirt, i just dont know what clips to get and how and were to clip them to...And you got to understand i dont like stock...This is why ppl mod in the first place. New wheels, body kits, tvs, radios, speakers...Get me? Plus if everyone has the same thing, itl just be boring to see the same car over and over.
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Old 03-06-2016, 11:22 PM
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Seems pretty simple to bolt up you will need at least 2 bolts each on the ends (inside the wheel well), if it tucks under the door or doors just use a few bolts to get it to be more firm. All cobalts have some plastic door sills I guess you could call them on the very end you should be able to use some bolts and be able to hide them with that sill
Old 03-06-2016, 11:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Snail_SS
Seems pretty simple to bolt up you will need at least 2 bolts each on the ends (inside the wheel well), if it tucks under the door or doors just use a few bolts to get it to be more firm. All cobalts have some plastic door sills I guess you could call them on the very end you should be able to use some bolts and be able to hide them with that sill
Yes but what about the bottom part? Wouldnt it wiggle all about with the wind? This is where clips come in?
Old 03-07-2016, 09:58 AM
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That's the way I had mine on and they never gave me problems
Old 03-07-2016, 11:06 AM
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If it aint a problem can i see where u drilled ur holes?
Old 03-07-2016, 11:12 AM
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Don't have that car any more lol
Old 03-07-2016, 11:43 AM
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Darn...ANYBODY ELSE HAVE A COBALT WITH SIDESKIRTS? lol
Old 03-07-2016, 11:54 AM
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Lol I could take some pics of the area where to mount it but I will have to be later
Old 03-07-2016, 11:54 AM
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Anything would help thank you
Old 03-07-2016, 12:51 PM
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I would honestly suggest having a body shop install it as well.

But that is just my two cents. With my kit, I went to a body specialist to have it taken care of, just because I wanted mine installed as perfect as I can get it.

On a side note, proper aero kits have come back into style in much of the tuner/import scene. High end kits like Rocket Bunny/Liberty Walk, Varis, INGS +1, CWest, Chargespeed, Buddy Club, etc that most of the knock off kits are made from are selling better than ever. Many of them have actually been wind tunnel tested too, but the Japanese care quite about about their aero and balancing style/performance. Its why i chose the one that I chose.

The CWest long nose kit for the 350Z netted a faster time around Tsukuba Circuit going from stock body to that kit.

But I digress. I would still take it to a body shop to have it properly installed.
Old 03-07-2016, 01:05 PM
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Originally Posted by Scythe_Snake
I would honestly suggest having a body shop install it as well.

But that is just my two cents. With my kit, I went to a body specialist to have it taken care of, just because I wanted mine installed as perfect as I can get it.

On a side note, proper aero kits have come back into style in much of the tuner/import scene. High end kits like Rocket Bunny/Liberty Walk, Varis, INGS +1, CWest, Chargespeed, Buddy Club, etc that most of the knock off kits are made from are selling better than ever. Many of them have actually been wind tunnel tested too, but the Japanese care quite about about their aero and balancing style/performance. Its why i chose the one that I chose.

The CWest long nose kit for the 350Z netted a faster time around Tsukuba Circuit going from stock body to that kit.

But I digress. I would still take it to a body shop to have it properly installed.
Not too argue but a stock GTR was running 10 mph faster than the rocket bunny cars at a Shift Sector event according to Matt Farrah
Old 03-07-2016, 02:50 PM
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Originally Posted by cluelessk
Not too argue but a stock GTR was running 10 mph faster than the rocket bunny cars at a Shift Sector event according to Matt Farrah
I suppose I should have clarified.

Most of the higher end kits are made for road courses where they are not looking at top speed. Also, there were other factors, as I know what you're speaking of exactly.

The Ben Sopra GT-R ran 6 seconds faster, iirc, than the stock body R35s with similar setups and aero stuff. Granted, drivers come into play as well with that.

That is why I used the C-West 350Z as the example. Same day, same conditions, same driver, laps apart. INGS +1 and Varis have had similar experiences.

Aero is a preference, but its not all bad nor does it all look bad.

Also, Matt Farrah has made quite the few mistakes that I've witnessed. He is a normal person and makes mistakes like us. He came to the Chicago half Mile and misquoted alot of times of various cars.
Old 03-07-2016, 05:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Scythe_Snake
I suppose I should have clarified.

Most of the higher end kits are made for road courses where they are not looking at top speed. Also, there were other factors, as I know what you're speaking of exactly.

The Ben Sopra GT-R ran 6 seconds faster, iirc, than the stock body R35s with similar setups and aero stuff. Granted, drivers come into play as well with that.

That is why I used the C-West 350Z as the example. Same day, same conditions, same driver, laps apart. INGS +1 and Varis have had similar experiences.

Aero is a preference, but its not all bad nor does it all look bad.

Also, Matt Farrah has made quite the few mistakes that I've witnessed. He is a normal person and makes mistakes like us. He came to the Chicago half Mile and misquoted alot of times of various cars.
The thing is very few kits especially kits designed for lower end cars have any aero improvement. Downforce or drag usually won't improve. Rocket Bunny kits are also a cosmetic kit besides maybe splitters and wings. All you're doing is creating the need to run less offset and really mess with scrub radius, essentially extending your a-arms and other suspension geometry issues.

The kit OP posted is entirely cosmetic like 95% of the stuff available. I'm willing to bet it has more negative effects than positives.
Old 03-08-2016, 07:22 AM
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Originally Posted by cluelessk
The thing is very few kits especially kits designed for lower end cars have any aero improvement. Downforce or drag usually won't improve. Rocket Bunny kits are also a cosmetic kit besides maybe splitters and wings. All you're doing is creating the need to run less offset and really mess with scrub radius, essentially extending your a-arms and other suspension geometry issues.

The kit OP posted is entirely cosmetic like 95% of the stuff available. I'm willing to bet it has more negative effects than positives.
I did say 'higher end kits', usually costing in the multiple thousands. INGS +1's whole N1 line is an improvement for brake cooling and aero for pretty much every car its designed for. And for many cars an improvement on lap times. Same with C-West. Tsukuba was a big testing ground for both of those companies.

RB's kits are hit or miss. For instance the FR-S/GT-86/BRZ RB kit actually created less drag on that car, by a tad. Also with the ability to fit a decently wide tire, improved grip in some cases. But that depends on the setup. Not everyone who gets those kits are using them for show purposes. Most are, yes. And hell, they look very good at that. But I digress.


I'm not denying that about the OP's kit. Its based off a Buddy Club kit made for the RSX/Integra and many of the honda line cars. Its a more functional setup for those cars, but for this one it was just adapted to fit the cobalt and offers nothing aero wise. But also, I doubt the OP is road racing, so the need for improved aero is nil. For the cobalt, yes a large majority of the body kit items are entirely cosmetic. But that is not the case for every car and every kit, is all I'm saying. :-)

This also kind of dips into the quality vs replica/knock off debate a tad too, but that's a different topic.

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