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)

Lost mine when doing spirited driving with 18x9 wheels. Once they start to rub your tread and you're shifting weight around, they'll catch and get ripped out if you're unlucky.

Oof, that almost makes me want to throw any chance of winning and put lip/sideskirts on to class myself into SP or SM

Piff you knew what I tried to spell. :slap::bonk:

STX
can run the OE stuff...

2013 BRZ. There is no oem stuff. Just STI stuff that doesn’t count :/

I mean, doesn't count how? For STX it's legal, far as I understand how the rules work. Heck, for locals I'd never think twice about running it on an FR-S even. I'd bump out happily to get away from competing with anyone that felt it was worth throwing a fit over.

It's aero that doesn't come from the factory nor was it 'port installed' they are dealership stick on parts from the "performance catalog" which are expressly not allowed in 14.2.F

14.2.F.2
... This does not allow for parts sold through a manufacturer’s performance catalog (e.g., Ford Racing, HPD, Mazdaspeed, Mopar Performance, Mugen, NISMO, SPT, TRD, etc).

Agreed it's in the noise, but I wouldn't call it legal unless I missed something.

Also +1 on broadsiding a cone at >50mph and picking up a rocker panel dent, mine is the size of my hand. Funny story, I had gotten my car back from the body shop on Friday, they fucked it up and needed to fix something but hey autox, put another dent in it Saturday afternoon, dropped it off Monday saying yeah that dent is my fault, you just gotta fix that one.
:bonk:

Nah, it came on cars from the factory and was not a dealer installed option. Just because it is also available through said catalog doesn't make it not legal. The only question is whether it's legal on a '13 because no car in that year came with it. My fuzzy understanding is that it'd not be legal in street, but it is fine in touring.



My '14 had a huge cone-shaped dent I hid under STI trim right in front of the rear wheel. My current car has a dent pretty far up the door from the top of a cone (bit too aggressive into the finish and didn't look where I should have because I was too close to the timers and was watching them with fear... so spun hard through a wall). Even with STI skirts.

Ah I can make an argument for that now, 14.2.F.1, side skirts were standard on certain models of the car: For the FR-S they had the 'Release Series 1.0' model and the BRZ had the 'Series Blue' model that both had side skirts (and a lip I think).

I'm pretty sure that the FR-S didn't have any other models (pure price yo) so there were no 'factory side skirts' on regular FR-S's those were absolutely dealer add ons (like the 5-axis stuff).

Series.Blue was 2015, don’t the options need to be available on that specific model year?

Last year, we had a sweepy 90 degree right hander. No drama riding the limiter in 2nd. Tried grabbing 3rd and hit a bump just right and the car snap spun and I took out the outside wall. Pushed the pass front fender (behind the tire) about 6 inches.

This year, I spun at a rain event and broadsided a slalom cone with triple laydowns. The base of 1 cone put a dent below the door and then the base of the next one put a crease just in front of the rear wheel.

Both events in relatively cold weather.

The way I'm reading the street touring rules I'd say the years don't matter, but I could be wrong.

That might be an issue for Street cars and converting over to the 'option package' or whatever.

This is consistent with my read of the rules.

Perhaps... 14.2.F.1 seems to state that if it was standard or optional part on a US Model of the vehicle its ok. A model being

"A group of cars of a given make which have virtually identical bodies and chassis but are readily distinguished from other models of the same make by virtue of a major difference in body appearance and/or chassis design. The names by which the manufacturer designates these groups have no bearing on this definition even though two (2) groups may be designated identically" as per section 12. So that should span years? I think a 2015 Series.Blue BRZ is the same model as a 2013 limited.

I'd hate to buy some sideskirts and a lip and get classed into SM. Not that I'm competitive in STX. I can barely drive the car! but I do want to follow the rules.

Unless you're running nationals, don't fret it. But you'd be fine anyway but even if it were on the edge it'd be a sad protest. Like I said, locally I'd be fine with an 86 or FRS running STI skirts. Even nationally, but I understand why the rule is what it is. I might argue that they're all the same manufacturer, and the fact some are badged Toyota, scion, or Subaru is irrelevant. They're very obviously the same car. That might be pushing it.

They didn't let the BRZ install the TRD lowering springs in CS/DS that the FRS could install so unfortunately I'd treat the different manufacturer separate since section 12 precedes both section 13 and 14.

This is why people don't like scca rules.

Yeah. Street vs touring still. Not needing to do full update/backdate makes it fuzzier to me. Still stupid. But get it, could get really out of hand on different platforms.

I am totally amused by this.

<- comes from a world of side mount intercoolers, where losing a fenderliner is considered a gift from the boost gods

Put a co-driver in the car and he knocked one out at basically the first turn at speed in his first run (stupid SSC car!). Also had a new experience. The Scion badge fell off the front bumper.

Happened to me last year. Fast left hander, some body lean to the right and probably hit a bump while leaned over a bit and yup - hot sticky tire grabbed it and ripped the liner out mid-corner.

Felt like I had rolled a sidewall and gotten a flat.