SIDE SKIRT / CLADDING FITTING
The 16v Probe was never fitted with the cladding to the doors and skirts to the lower body which were fitted as standard on the 24v model.
The skirts and cladding can be removed from a 24v and fitted to a 16v fairly easily, following these easy instructions.
You will need:-
24v Cladding/ Skirts
24v Wheel Arch Extensions
2/4 Spare plastic moulding screws
PU Adhesive (such as “tigerseal”)
Screwdriver
Drill
Pliers
(Masking tape) ?
A 16v Probe !!!
Firstly, removing the skirts and cladding from a 24v…….
Please remember that all of these mouldings have been fitted to the car for around 10 years and so may be a little difficult to remove.
Start with the side sill extension (the small part of skirt behind the front wheels).
Unscrew the 2 plastic screws (shown below), and then carefully pull the piece of skirt away from the body and slightly towards the wheel to release the 2 clips inside (shown in the photograph below).
Once you have pulled the clips free from the body, you can simply slide the side sill extension from the rest of the skirts.
Next to remove is the side sill moulding (the rest of the skirt, fitted underneath the door and between the door and rear wheel).
This piece is screwed from underneath into the flooring, so you will need to get under the car to remove the 6 or 7 screws. There are also 2 plastic screws in the rear wheel well, similar to those removed from the front sill extension piece. Once these are all removed, carefully pull the moulding from the body. Be very careful removing this piece as it is tempting to pull and lever the moulding from the highest point next to the door, which can cause the moulding to crack lower down. The side sill moulding has 11 clips along the upper edge.
Next to remove are the door cladding pieces.
There are 14 clips holding the cladding to the door, and no screws. Carefully pull the cladding from the door and release the clips. The cladding slightly overhangs the door panel at the bottom, and this is a good place to start from.
Lastly….. The 24v was also fitted with rear wheel arch extensions, which you should also remove from the donor car along with the skirts and cladding. These are held by 3 or 4 metal clips which simply slide off into the wheelarch and 6 or so screws, screwed upward through the moulding and wheelarch.
Please Note – remove the screws before removing the clips as the screws may have sharp ends pointing up inside the wheelarch.
Refitting the skirts and cladding to your 16v Probe….
Before we start refitting the skirts to your car, may I firstly point out that when I fitted a set of these, I tried to drill the holes out in the bodywork to match with the positions of the clips. Drilling your car is a horrible experience, and even though my holes were only fractions out, they were impossible to align. Add this to the fact that you have broken the paint where you have drilled and exposed the car to a risk of rusting, I decided that using the PU adhesive is a much safer alternative. PU adhesive is used widely by proffessional body-shops when fitting body kits, so it is more than capable of the job at hand.
Firstly, remove the small infill piece behind the front wheel of your 16v (shown below in silver). This will be fitted with 2 plastic screws as was the side sill extension piece at the beginning of this piece.
Remove the 2 clips from the back of the side sill extension by sliding them out of the mouldings (you may need to use pliers) and apply a little PU adhesive (such as “tigerseal”) to the raised mouldings which the clips were slotted in to.
Then fit the side sill extension with the 2 screws that you just removed from the infill piece.
You may find that the rubber seal may have come away from the skirt, this can be held in place with some masking tape while you fit it to the car.
The next piece to fit is the side sill moulding. Again, remove all of the clips from the back. Slide the front edge of the moulding into the side sill extension (be careful as this piece will not be set yet) and hold the skirt up to the body. Align the bottom of the skirt with the flooring and the rear edge into the rear wheel arch. Please note that the top of the skirt under the door will not run in line with the bottom of the door. Mark the 2 holes through the skirt on the wheel arch lip. Remove the skirt and drill the holes slightly undersize. Apply some more PU adhesive to each raised area (where the clips were fitted) and replace the skirt. Fix the skirt with 2 plastic screws into the wheelarch and the holes you just drilled. (You may need a short screwdriver for this, or removing the rear wheels can help). Fix the skirts as flat as you can with masking tape. You will need to hold the skirts close to the car while you wait for the adhesive to dry. This may take a couple of days !!
Next you will need to get under the car and drill the floor through the holes in the skirt underneath. Use a small drill bit and find some suitable small screws. This will also help hold the skirt in place whilst the adhesive dries. I had to run my car up on ramps to get an electric drill under the car as I did not have enough clearance.
I would recommend leaving the door cladding fitting until after the skirts have bonded properly.
After a day or 2, the adhesive should definitely be bonded, so you can remove the masking tape and fix the door cladding.
Once again, remove all the clips from the rear and apply some more PU adhesive.
The bottom of the door cladding will overhang the bottom of the door at one end, so it is best to align the moulding with the tops of the side sill extension and the side sill moulding pieces already fitted. If either of these pieces is not fitted exactly right, you can disguise this slightly by altering the position of the door cladding piece. Secure the door cladding with masking tape again and leave for a day or two.
The last pieces to fit, are the rear wheel arch extensions.
Simply hold these in place and slide the metal clips in place, gripping the plastic trim and the metal wheelarch. Drill several small holes through the plastic trim and into the wheelarch and fix with small screws. The rear wheelarch trim starts just above the top of the skirt and the end of the first section should line up with the top of the rear bumper. Leave a small gap and fit the bottom section in the same way. As a note, there were 2 widths of rear wheelarch trims available and so some will stick out further from the wheel arch than others. (Please see the photo above of the rear wheelarch trim to aide fitting)
Write up by Darren King (Daz V6)