PROTECTING YOUR NOSE

By Howard

The nose of your C5 is subject to damage, both from the road to the underside and rocks, etc, to the paint.

Several issues ago, I told about the “Invisible Bra” we had installed on the ’01. It is a clear plastic 3M product that is cut like a stencil and used to cover and protect the forward painted surfaces. It was put to the test on the trip to Laughlin in March. The front was hit by a sharp rock. The plastic film was torn, but it did not get through to the painted surface (photo 1). It’s hard to see in the photo, but the Invisible Bra did its job. The damaged piece can be removed and a new piece applied.

The lower skid plates can be damaged by driveways, dips at intersections and so on. There are several items that can be used to protect them. I got a set of “Bumper Savers” at a car show last year. (Actually, the couple next to us had a C3. They won the “Bumper Savers” in the raffle and did not know what they were. I said “I was thinking of getting a set of those for the C5”, so he gave them to me.) These are brackets with urethane wheels that bolt to the stock skid plates (photo 2). But to install them, you must drill through the skid plates to bolt the Bumper Savers in. The skid plates must be drilled just right so the brackets rest against the front fascia. Another option is the skid plate stiffeners. These are made of heavy metal plate with legs that go over the stock skid plates (photo 3). If the stock skid plates have been beat up, it might be necessary to hammer them back into shape. The stiffeners just fit against the stock parts and the legs get a bolt over the top of them. This is the option we went with. Installation was less than 10 minutes.