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Fender liner-less on semi-street car

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8.8K views 69 replies 24 participants last post by  aurdraco  
#1 ·
What precautions or recomendations are necessary to take when not running fenderliners? Car in question is my 02 GT. There is an electronic box on the pass. side(I think it's called the CCRM), that i've semi covered with a plastic bag at the moment.

Reason for this is that the pass. side finally just ripped apart and fell out due to years of soft spring/wide R-comp useage and I just don't feel like putting them back in. Call it lazy, but if I don't need something and there's no ill effects, then I can justify it.
 
#2 ·
You will get a bunch if small dents in the front fenders without the liners from small rocks thron up by the tires It will look like the fender was shot with buckshot. I will try to get some pics of my racecar that has had no liners.

Jim
 
#13 ·
Oh crap. I never even thought about rocks and what not when I threw away the liners for my car.
 
#16 ·
Mine have been out for 2 years and not only is there no damage, there was also no extra noise (I thought rocks bouncing around would make noise), and the area has stayed clean on it's own. I pulled about 5 lbs of crap (dirt and junk) down when I yanked mine a few years ago, they seem to trap more stuff in than they keep out.

Of course the Fox body sheet metal may be different than a New Edge and I don't drive the car on the street a ton but it's probably seen 1,000 or so miles and no problems.
 
#17 ·
My initial concerns were misc. wire loom, electronic items and water/dirt somehow in the leading edge of the door jamb.

I know the second I remove the driver side liner, i'll get stuck in some Katrina type storm the 10 times I drive the car on the street. I suppose i'll just ball-up and drop the liner this week.
 
#20 ·
Ehhh, probably not. I'll see how much money the stuff MFE is talking about is, and then go from there. If I go that route, i'll post some picture so someone else can make their own judgement call if they want to or not.
 
#19 ·
Somewhere around here or c-c.com is info on how a guy used some step-protector material from Home Depot to make new, roomier liners. I took mine out at the beginning of the season, and yes it most certainly is louder. No dents from underneath yet either, but all the complaints I've heard about that come from drivers of newer-model cars.
 
#21 ·
Got some tire rub on my liners as well, thinking about pulling them.

My only issue will be the intake, and AFM power pipe puts a huge filter in the fender area. Rocks aren't an issue but I do fear the water, so I'll need to fab up some sort of protection for it.
 
#22 ·
It's pretty easy to mount up a shield for the filters and air intakes out of sheet aluminum from the Depot.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Maybe a stupid idea, but something like Dynomat would be a good option. Meaning a foam with a sticky side to cushion the insides of your fender from rocks. I would think buying enough DM would cost a pretty penny, but I'm sure there must be another foam that could do the same job.

I saw a few aluminum bodied Cobras at a show I went to recently and all of them were running a sort of foam padding in the wheel wells to prevent those dings.

As for the electronics, I wouldn't put too much thought into protecting them. Nothing on a car is sealed, and there are very few places where the engineers deemed safe enough to not use precautions to allow for a bit of moisture.

I'd say line the fender somehow for aesthetics, zip tie the electronics/hoses so they don't get physically damaged and go.
 
#24 ·
Stopped by the Depot today and all they seem to have(or where I was directed)was the sandpaper looking/feeling stuff you put on steps to not slip. Seemed kinda thin and a big roll was 30$

At WalMart, they had those THICK rubber strips(appx. 24" x 6") that came in a package of 2 for 8$ I think when I head back to Wally, i'll pick up 2 sets of those and start *******'in it up.

I may later on put some louvers/vents on the tops of the fenders so I may hold off....for now.
 
#25 ·
I ran linerless on a TT/Auto-x/Street car for 10 years without a problem, perhaps I was just not very observant, or maybe I was just lucky. I will also state that the 79 did not have any electronics or air filters in the fenderwells. It did run with Hoosiers, BFG r-1's and other sticky tires and I never noticed any adverse rock chips, water issues, or door hinge accumulations. Never noticed any change in the noise level either.
Derald.
 
#27 ·
What might work well is the foam tool box liner they sell at Sears. They used to sell it so that you could cut to fit your tool box drawers (I just preferred to do the same thing with carpet runner as it's cheaper and rubber holds up better than the foam when tossing a screwdriver or pair of pliers in the box). Not sure how well spray adhesive would work or if you could tape pieces together and hold parts in with the Christmas tree fasteners where there are holes. Just a thought.
 
#28 ·
I had to remove my driver side inner fender guard for a day or two for a repair i was doing. From that i could definately see the benefit of having one. My door hinges got way dirtier. Rocks and small things were pinging on the bottom side of the fender. And i was dreading rain the whole time because of the electrical connectors. But from being lowered and taking a few spirited corners, both of my guards have holes at the middle area and have been rubbed in other areas.

IMO, making one from scratch would be a massive PITB. I had thought about just modifying my stock one a little to get some extra room. RhinoLiner is a descent idea but it wont protect the hinge area. And over time the grit might tear up the pins and bushings prematurely. Also it will cause road dirt to build up in the lower fender areas and also in the running boards on our 99-04s.