I wanted to do something productive (and free) last night, so I removed the air pump tube thing with its muffler. I also removed the skinny black plastic piece that runs along the bottom of the front lip, because mine was hanging down, and the mounting points were busted. Then I remembered reading how the brake ducts didn't really make a difference, so I removed those.



Any downside to be expected from all this? Do the ducts protect some stuff underneath?



Also, my front driver's side fender is flared outward slightly (previous owner had a fender bender..haha). While under there, I noticed the piece that's keeping it out. Sorry I don't have a pic. It's like a long triangle, with holes cut out of it. It bolts the fender to the rest of the car. It is bent, so I tried bending it back, with screwdriver and hand. Evidently, this is a very tough little piece of metal. Any ideas on how to straighten it out? It's bent toward the fender, so it's kinda hard to access one side of it. I guess I could remove the fender, and remove the little metal mounting bracket to fix it, but that seems so unnecessary.

 

try bending it gently from the fender maybe? i know the thing youre talking about, mine looks like something chewed on it. i did pull the fender off to straighten it, and its not very co-operative.



yours sounds like what happens when someone runs, onto or over something. it seems like pushing up on the bottom of the fender makes ot bow out up top



mike

 

now that you mention it, it looks as if he ran over something. There is a metal piece that runs along the bottom front on each side, the front lip mounts to it, the brake duct mounts to it, and it's bent to hell, and now rusted. And it looks like it was pushed from the bottom, like you said.



Only one side of the triangle is bent, so I tried sticking a screwdriver in the middle of the triagle, and using leverage. In it's current state, I don't think I can use any sort of hand power to straighten it. I thought about tying a piece of cable to it, and pulling it somehow, but I'm afraid I'd bend the whole thing some other way.



and what do you mean, "bending it gently from the fender?"