I replaced my front splitter last weekend, and thought I'd share a tip: there are a few different plastic rivets available for the job, but I used a 3/8" white plastic drywall anchor along with steel washers. Perfectly snug fit, no gaps between splitter and bumper cover. Simple d-i-y job that took no more than 45 minutes for removal and replacement. Cheers.

 

My mechanic had a comment about this a while ago.

The front splitter is designed to break off. The plastic pop rivets are intended to be a weak point. Better you lose the front splitter than transfer the load up into the far less disposable bumper to which it is attached.

What did you have in mind when you used the metal rivets? Not criticizing.. Just curious.

 

I was aware that the splitter is designed to break away, thanks to all the info available here on Rennlist. Therefore, using anything stronger than the factory rivets may represent a risk that too much force will be transmitted to the bumper cover when the splitter comes into contact with a road surface.

So, yes, I may be taking a chance with what I did, but please note that I used *plastic* drywall anchors, which are not particularly strong; the washers are adding some strength to the connection but I think the splitter will still break away first if I scrape something hard enough.

I was more interested in getting a firm, airtight connection between splitter and bumper so that during high speed driving on the track, the splitter is less likely to break away due to aero forces.

 

A strip of clear tape covering the lip and bumper joint is all that's needed to stop the air penetrating the gap at high speed.

 

I believe there is a double back tape that's suposed to be used along with the "plastic rivits". The combination of the two should be adequate to hold the splitter in place with no gaps. Till you wack it on something, of course.

 

i have replace way more lips than i care to admit.
i dont know much about the dry wall rivets, but if you do use the factory stuff, you MUST use double sided tape or somehow cover up the gap (the gap is not visible but it is there).... if you dont, at <100mph for 1/2 mile or so, it will blow right off. that happend to me 4x before i learned my lesson. now with factory rivets and double sided tape, it only falls off when i hit something really hard.

 

So true. Got so tired of losing it, my good friend viperbob did a tremendous job of attaching it using additional bracing. Next time I had a large whack, a new bumper was needed. Hence, I have the RS bumper, and a much more loosely attached lip spoiler.

 

My procedure:
- OEM rivets, preferably the screw in type vs. the "pop-in" type, but I have a combination of the two.
- 3M double sided tape
- Mount splitter and then run a bead of silicon sealant along the gap.

Has worked fine so far.

 

I simply check mine before and during track outings. OEM fasteners and all, it seems to hang on just fine even with 130mph speeds. I'm still wearing my original splitter.

I wonder if losing one for the 1st time does just that little bit of stretching and rounding of the holes in the bumper to accelerate future splitters coming off?

 

all you need is a tiny air gap and it will fall off as you approach T2 braking zone at LS. or T1 TH.

 

I have found that if I can see light between the splitter and cover, it will come off at speed. They seem to slide enough that they get off line but did have one hit.

 

LOL, I did the silicon on the previous splitter; it did the job but a pain in the *** to clean up!

 

racers tape on the gap works good too....easier to clean up

 

Just replaced my splitter a few weeks ago...I ordered all the pop rivets and screw rivets from the dealer (they were actually cheaper than Pelican or vertex) IIRC it was about $6.00 shipped to my house, I ordered 10 of each kind. Job took about :30 min to do (also used double sided tape) now the front is lookin good again. maybe it'll stay that way for a bit, these damn Louisiana roads suck for the 3.

 

LA isn't the only place. Damn near anything off a track!