Vented BRZ Fender Trim!

[zkv476]

Let me start with the disclaimer, this mod isn't for the feint of heart, it requires cutting the fender :p. I take no responsibility for damage and you do this at your own risk!





Since the day I got the car, I've never been a fan of those fake fender vents. Let's face it, who is? I saw a post or two from way back when about the idea of this and I saw one car with the holes cut but nothing else. I decided with a dremel, plastidip, and spray enamel, I'd take a crack at making this look better. Apologies in advance for these blurry cell phone pics.

Obviously this requires the existing BRZ fender garnishes, although FRS owners can cut up the vent in whatever shape they please realistically :p. That or pick up a set of the BRZ garnishes. As far as the functional point, I know if the radiator fan is on e.g. when the A/C is on hot air pours out of these vents. They are normally only released through small little openings towards the end of the hood above the fender. I don't know for sure that they really function at speed, but I intend to find out somehow soon!

Onwards with the DIY!

First remove the fender garnish. It is held on by 6 clips and some double sided sticky tape towards the door side. Use a plastic tool to remove the trim to avoid scratching anything. Start from the rounded side away from the door. You do have to pull firmly to remove the tape. Look at the pictures to get an idea for where the clips and tape are.










The clips then slide off the garnishes.


If you have the chrome fender trim like I do, that's also held on with double sided tape.



As is the black "vent" plastic inset.


Since the region where the clips used to attach to will be cut off the fenders, the entire vent piece will need to be attached via double sided tape. These existing padding pieces must be removed.


I didn't do all that well at cutting the vent out at first and scratched some visible parts unfortunately. At other points I nearly cut too far. By the time I started the second vent I decided to just be conservative. You will want to use a file to smooth out the edge anyway so I decided to leave a bit and file it off after.



Post filing.


Get a piece of gutter guard from Home Depot or Lowes and cut it to approximate size. It even has space invaders to match us 86's haha.




Unfortunately here's where my phone started acting up and I couldn't be as detailed with the pictures. I cut a slit down the center of the metal grille where the pointed piece in the middle of the vent sits, and I bent it and all of the edges of the metal grille inward to sit inside the vent basically. If you want to paint them using different paints you don't want to epoxy them yet.

I set the metal mesh aside and masked off the center of my garnishes since I wanted to re-attach the chrome trim there.


Spray! I used plastidip on the plastic garnishes so I could see how it looked in black and then redo it in the future with better paint. I painted the mesh with gloss black protective enamel.


Now after all the paint dries, attach the mesh to the vent using some form of adhesive. Regular two part epoxy that's clear in those tubes didn't work too well for me as it's already starting to detach on my passenger side. Either I didn't use enough, or didn't hold it down long enough to set, I'm not sure. YMMV.

Now comes the fun part, chopping the fender itself. Hold up your garnish up to the fender and mark off where you want to cut. I recommend covering the area in multiple layers of masking tape, just in case your hand slips with the dremel. After doing that, I remasked the area with new tape and on the inside as well and sprayed the cut areas with some paint to resist rusting.


To reattach the vents, I've marked the regions where I applied 3M Trim Tape in the picture below. Then it's just a matter of re-attaching .


Just take care and do it right the first time if you do end up doing this, I have some paint goofs and the bad epoxy I used means I'll probably end up needing to redo this at some point!

[BadBRZ]

I like, buuuuut .. Unless the area around the vent is a low pressure zone, nothing will bent out of that area...

[extrashaky]

Nice job. It looks pretty cool, but does it actually vent all the way into the engine compartment? Maybe it's just the angle of the pic, but it looks like you only vented into the inside of the fender.

[zkv476]

I suppose I jumped the gun in calling them functional! I was aware of the aerodynamic implications, and I will have to do some testing before I really call them functional, but at the very least, they are functional in an aesthetic way? I will admit I went into this for aesthetics over functionality.

And yes they do vent to the engine compartment, so they work when the car is stationary haha.

[Jmonty]

Takes somes balls to attempt that one, nice work

[Antstronaut]

Looks great! Very nice handy work!
I too am not a fan of the fake plasticy look and just may attempt this myself.

I'm curious, is there a lot that can be seen when looking into the gap?

[BadBRZ]

Nice! It'd be bad ass if it lowered engine temps!

[z3ro]

Any concerns of water getting in there or it holding up during car washes?

[MightyMeeple]

I think it turned out looking great. Well done and thank you for posting!

I would love to have that look for my vents...I'm probably not brave enough to cut my fender.

Question: while I'm curious about it allowing heat out....actually even more concerned about it allowing water into the fender and engine compartment. Can you comment on this?

Thanks!

[skye67]

I have seen on another post, something like that was done and they open the sheet metal of the fender more. Did you do that?

[skye67]

Oh! I guess you did but did not post pictures. Please post

[zinzan]

Like the look, but have my concerns.

The fake vents are a weak part of the car, imo. I prefer the fake vents of the f'in Kia Optima, if they gotta be fake.

[zkv476]

They hold up fine through carwashes, been through a few. Water can get into the vent, but if you examine the area around there you'll notice water can get in through the area below the hood near the windshield anyway that already exists for venting. Water that goes into there drains out through the front door seam. Water virtually has to spray in horizontally to get into the engine bay itself to any significant degree. I considered making a block plate but after seeing how it was I decided it wasn't necessary.

I wish I had more pictures of the cut fender but for whatever reason my phone lost them :/

[B-R-Z]

I hope someone makes\sells these one day. The stock fender trim is so cheesy looking. I might try to buy a set of these to try this on instead of potentially ruining the originals in my fenders.

I don't care so much to vent my engine bay, but I'd like to have actual vents in the fender trim instead of solid plastic. Kia Optima: 1 Subaru BRZ: 0 in this department.