Spontaneous loss of fender liner at autocross
 

My FR-S spit out the passenger front fender liner during an autocross run. Anybody else have this happen? It was pretty mangled by the time I got it back, but no obvious signs of previous damage, and nothing obviously bent or broken in the fender well.

My best guess is that it was a pretty brake-heavy course and this was my 3rd run, so it had gotten soft enough to sag or let go somewhere. It felt pretty hot/soft when I picked it up at the end of the run group, about 30 minutes later.

I lost mine on the way home from an autox. Check to see if the tabs that mount it to the bumper are broken.

Usually not spontaneous. Cone contact with bumper or running over one usually rips the front mounts out, the wind does the rest. Ahhh, I remember my first like it was 5 years ago....so many cones, so many many liners! Have a new one sitting in the garge in the box right now.

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I've plowed quite a few cones in my day, but now that you mention it, there were cone calls on my previous two runs. Maybe I've just been lucky so far.

Seems its common, especially with wider/sticky tires. I have rubbed mine, and lost one in bumpy lots.

It happens. You have to remember that the liners are only held in place by plastic fasteners
Over time even road debris can take out the fasteners.

And yes I have lost two liners during autox and at a track day. I put the linger in trunk and just ordered the fasteners from the dealership.

Are we talking about losing bits of the car after a crash?

Is a 'linger' the ghouls that hang about corners waiting for the next crash?

Just wait until you spin and broadside a pointer cone at the top of 2nd.

No, I was in the middle of a run, not even near a cone, and there was a loud noise and a little bump and when I looked in my mirror there was a large piece of plastic behind me.

I center-punched a cone and knocked the grill out shortly after I got the car. Fortunately no broad-sides so far.

I lost mine at a track day but that was after running into an apex cone. It didn't come off until about 2 laps later. I think I hit it at the perfect spot that the fender liner didn't wanna be attached to the car anymore.

I haven't had to do it on my twin yet, but my impreza had similar issues, and I discovered that using zipties through 2 adjacent clip holes is a lot sturdier than the push clips.

That said, I would only do it if clip loss and flapping around is what lead to it swallowing its own tongue. If you're ripping them off from rubbing/impact, then the fender liner is coming off anyway, and you want it to be attached with breakable clips as opposed to zipties, so you don't rip through mounting tabs or destroy the fender liner.

I broadsided like Rife said... huge dent in the bottom/side skirt section of the fender, needed bodywork to fix.

I have destroyed two sidemarker assemblies so far. Luckily they are easy to install. Not exactly cheap though :( (30 bucks ish for the OEM ones)