Homemade front clam protection

[Snowphun]

I just finished putting some polycarbonate on the bottom of my front clam, it was very easy to do. Picked up a small piece of polycarbonate from Lowes (it's in the plexiglass and glass area) along with a tube of silicone sealant (in the same place). Both products were GE branded, total cost was $12 or so. The small piece of material is big enough to make two side pieces and a longer piece to go under the license plate.

I made the template by tracing the curve of the bumper onto a piece of paper, then cut the material with a jigsaw and fine tooth blade. Easy to work with and left a nice edge, no cracks.

I was a little worried about the adhesive doing damage to the paint, so I glued a couple small scrap pieces further under the clam, then pried them off after a few days (see third picture). This was hard to do, the adhesive definitely works well. It was easy to clean off the paint with a bit of goof off, it behaved a lot like sticker residue. So with that done I applied the two end pieces today. They are clear, the glue is clear so they look fine on the car. I haven't put the center piece on, I don't know if that's as likely to bottom out.

I don't know how much impact they will take, but in my mind if they alert me that I'm rubbing on a driveway then they've done their job.

[glb]

good work. Was thinking of doing the same and I appreciate the info.

thanks.

[chazzer]

I recently performed the same procedure except I bought my supplies at Home Depot. I also used silicone sealant , not glue. So far I haven't bottomed out yet so I can't say as how well the protectors will perform. I also believe that I will at least here the "Scrunch" before there is a terrible amount of damage done. Thanks for sharing . Be safe .

[FIL]

Interesting. Wonder what is looks like from the front, whether you can see it or not. The part of your clam that scraps first is the very front leading edge. This solution doesn't seem to cover that portion. The problem is that the part of the clam that scraps is visible from the front of the car. Hence, if you scrap you clam, you can see it without necassarily looking at the underside. Therefore, an protector would also be visible from the front, and look a bit ghetto.

Wonder how this will end up looking.

I just decided to put on a CF front spoiler. I just resolved to replace it every couple years as it gets damaged.

[RoadDad]

Originally Posted by FIL

Interesting. Wonder what is looks like from the front, whether you can see it or not. The part of your clam that scraps first is the very front leading edge. This solution doesn't seem to cover that portion. The problem is that the part of the clam that scraps is visible from the front of the car. Hence, if you scrap you clam, you can see it without necassarily looking at the underside. Therefore, an protector would also be visible from the front, and look a bit ghetto.

I've scraped 3 times and you can't see any of them without lying on your back and looking under the car.

[Snowphun]

Originally Posted by RoadDad

I've scraped 3 times and you can't see any of them without lying on your back and looking under the car.

My car came with a small scrape on each side of the front edge (you can see one of them in the picture), and for the most part they are under the car. You certainly cannot see them from normal viewing angles. I expect the new material will hit the driveway first and either drag or get ripped off. Either way it will make a noise and I hope I would be going very slowly in that situation.

The new bits are not visible at all short of getting below the bottom edge. And even then they are clear and small. The entire project took less than an hour and I now have an almost full tube of sealant.