Alright, what are these things? (1 Viewer)

[tomatopants]

I don't have a clue what you would call them, but they're basically rubber-like sheets and they're inside of the wheel wells, and they're held on by little plastic fasteners.


I noticed them 10 minutes ago when I took off my left front tire to see if I could find what's creaking and grinding. Kinda sounds like dry ball bearings.


There's 3 of them on each side, I think, and all I can think of as their reason for existing is to help prevent water from getting on the engine/surrounding area.


And since I doubt the previous owners ever looked at them either, a couple of the plastic fastners fell off.


Would it be okay if I just took them off completely, or would some terrible catastrophic deal happen if I did.


If you don't understand what the bejesus I'm talking about, I can take pictures tomorrow.

 

[trevdawg]

This topic is useless without pictures...

hahaha, I think pictures might help. Not sure if I have those things your talking about.. then again wasn't paying attention when i put on the new brake pads last weekend.;p

 

[CodyRx7]

You mean the mudflap looking material between the wheel well and the engine compartment?

Lots of people have them off. They do serve to keep water and rocks out of there...probably keeps things cleaner in there as well.

 

[cartercd]

Here is a photo. I had the center piece pulled off during my suspension install. You can buy the plastic clips at any auto parts store. I bought some rubber flooring material at Home Depot to replace a section that was torn. It has held up for years with no problems.

The only advantage I could see to removing them would be potentially increased airflow through the engine bay, but that doesn't outweigh the disadvantages to me.

 

[cruiserdan]

There's 3 of them on each side

That is not correct.


There are only two on the exhaust side. The rearmost one is not present because the exhaust pipes would melt it. 3FE and diesel exhausts exit on the left and 1FZ ehxaust exits on the right.

 

[tech_dog]

Why would anyone have these off? I had one of mine go bad, and it was clear that more dirt was accumulating in the engine bay. That crud surely works its way into bearings, contacts, etc.

Dan was nice enough to send me one for a very nominal charge. Replacements are cheap and extremely easy to install.

 

[wussyPup]

That is not correct.


There are only two on the exhaust side. The rearmost one is not present because the exhaust pipes would melt it. 3FE exhausts exit on the left and 1FZ and diesel exhausts exit on the right.

fixed it, I think...