STi front lip blown up by the wind

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dzmitry

But it is interesting, because the lip is literally tiny as hell. Maybe 1-2 inches out past the connection points? I'm just basing that off of a picture of one. The car is quite high up off the ground as well and based on OPs photo, he looks to be at stock ride height. If he were to scrape the ground due to a slope or something going at such speeds, That would only be a scrape from the bottom. But as many mentioned, it has to be something that caught it and ripped it down under. OP states he has no screws/bolts/whatever left aside from one. And as far as I understand, sounds like OP endured no damage whatsoever to the bumper. So it had to be the cleanest hit ever to catch the half inch of lip that pokes out, rip it clean off with all the hardware, and have no effect on the bumper at all.

Might be harder to see from my photo, but my bumper did endure some damage even though the object barely caught my lip. In fact, it tried to pull the whole bottom portion down, and you can see the bottom grille popped out of its clips. The bumper also endured solid scrapes and paint fully rubbed off near the connection points of the lip.

Ya the thinness of it is what makes it hard for me to believe that there was enough air pressure to just rip it off. Unless he hit mach 1 of course.
If there was a picture of the remains it may be more clear what happened but my guess is that anybody going that fast isn't going to bother to go back and clean up their mess.

[slimfit]

I recently installed mine. Not a fan of the wellnuts using compression to hold this thing in place. It’s possible whoever installed it made the holes too big and they let loose. I followed the instructions to the T and still managed to loose a nut and screw during normal driving. Definitely planing on replacing everything with bolts and locking nuts for some peace of mind.

[chipmunk]

This won't be a comforting post, but... you can feel relieved that nothing else got damaged in the process. Yes those lips aren't cheap, but think about how much worse it could have gotten.

[BioRebel]

Note to self, don't get the sti front lip its apparently a flimsy pos

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by chipmunk

This won't be a comforting post, but... you can feel relieved that nothing else got damaged in the process. Yes those lips aren't cheap, but think about how much worse it could have gotten.

I hit a duck at speed with my Lancer once. It knocked the fog light housing into the wheel well which took out the brake line, wheel sensor and fender liner.
Things could certainly be worse.

[BioRebel]

Originally Posted by KOUKIBLUEBRZ

I've had the car for a month now and last weekend my front lip just decided to commit suicide while running at 220km/h. The dealer installed the lip before I took delivery of the car and they don't want to take responsability for waht happened. I've never scrapped or touched the lip beforehand. Am I crazy to think that the dealership should take responsability for that?

I'd call Subaru corporate and try to get some warranty info on the thing. Can't hurt.

[chipmunk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

I hit a duck at speed with my Lancer once. It knocked the fog light housing into the wheel well which took out the brake line, wheel sensor and fender liner.
Things could certainly be worse.

Safe to say your Lancer got ducked up pretty bad...?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by chipmunk

Safe to say your Lancer got ducked up pretty bad...?

Had a big quack in the bumper yes.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by slimfit

I recently installed mine. Not a fan of the wellnuts using compression to hold this thing in place. It’s possible whoever installed it made the holes too big and they let loose. I followed the instructions to the T and still managed to loose a nut and screw during normal driving. Definitely planing on replacing everything with bolts and locking nuts for some peace of mind.

if it uses those wellnuts, those are less than useless. my armrest included, i've never had an install with those that a bored toddler couldn't pull them out..

and i drilled my armrest wellnut holes 1-size smaller and forced the nuts in to try to provide some amount of friction-fit.


my suggestion? get better mounting hardware, but next time, it'll take the entire bumper off...

[Midnightsky]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

This is possible. Even a slight rise in the road surface could catch it and BOOM. There isn't enough profile for the wind (even at that speed) to rip it off on it's own but deformation and contact would do the job.

And it is on Quebec roads, in Canada.

[slimfit]

Originally Posted by soundman98

if it uses those wellnuts, those are less than useless. my armrest included, i've never had an install with those that a bored toddler couldn't pull them out..

and i drilled my armrest wellnut holes 1-size smaller and forced the nuts in to try to provide some amount of friction-fit.


my suggestion? get better mounting hardware, but next time, it'll take the entire bumper off...

I’m planning of that for sure……BUT, what if it’s designed this way so you don’t rip off your bumper. If OP did hit something, it seems to have worked flawlessly.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by slimfit

I’m planning of that for sure……BUT, what if it’s designed this way so you don’t rip off your bumper. If OP did hit something, it seems to have worked flawlessly.

I would much rather lose a lip than crack a bumper cover!

[mycrors7]

properly installed wellnuts will hold in body panels/pieces just fine. you have to be VERY careful when drilling holes for wellnuts. if theyre not next to perfect, they will cause issues.

like i mentioned earlier, if i yank my lip hard enough, it will want to pull my bumper off... and it's installed with the factory wellnuts.

i always drill small and slowly shave away with the smaller drill bit until i can barely get it in.
wellnuts have held in expensive widebody kits for many people in the past, and they offer some form of protection as it seals the area it's tightening due to them being made from rubber

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by mycrors7

properly installed wellnuts will hold in body panels/pieces just fine. you have to be VERY careful when drilling holes for wellnuts. if theyre not next to perfect, they will cause issues.

like i mentioned earlier, if i yank my lip hard enough, it will want to pull my bumper off... and it's installed with the factory wellnuts.

i always drill small and slowly shave away with the smaller drill bit until i can barely get it in.
wellnuts have held in expensive widebody kits for many people in the past, and they offer some form of protection as it seals the area it's tightening due to them being made from rubber

theoretically.

all my wellnuts get more cracked and wrinkled than a 70+ nude beach...