Removing the 4th gen air dam

I'm inclined to remove the 4th gen air dam... but I'm not thrilled about the unfinished look underneath... and particularly that the exposed ends of the wheel well felt when the air dam is removed.

Any solutions to the unfinished look and the exposed wheel well felt?

 

Get you a skid plate and cross member. Also search this topic as it has been discussed before and people have posted a few options including putting a heavily trimmed air damn back on.

 

You will get over it, looks better regardless of the minor bits....
Put all your screws back in there proper locations so the dont get lost.
Some of them hold the felt in place...

 

The rci skid plate bar and a real skid plate would help. I have an Off Road and it does not come with one

 

I did not like the unfinished look either, so when I was cutting up the big piece of plastic to put it in my trash bin, I had a moment of inspiration. I cut the entire thing down to about an inch and reinstalled it. I think it looks much better!

This thread has pics at post #11...

For Sale - 2024 Tacoma front air dam/spoiler | Page 2 | Tacoma World

 

Oh, and even if you install a skid plate, the 2 corner pieces will cover the felt ends,

Hey Off Road owners - since you do not have a spoiler, do you have some kind of trim that covers the ends of the felt wheel well liners where they terminate at the front bumper corners?? It seems like Toyota would not just leave those ends exposed...

 

Would like to see a picture of this as well. Just pulled the spoiler off my hybrid.

 

Guess not everyone in the US has a toyota dealer within 15 minutes, just a few miles down the road of their house?

 

I just put the felt on the inside of the bumper and put the screws in. Was not that complicated.

 

I would prefer no air dam. Took mine off when I had my 3rd Gen and lost about 2 miles per gallon gas mileage plus a lot noisier on the highway, which is 75% of my driving. I ended up putting it back on. Not sure what I’ll do yet on this truck.

 

my experience has been about .5 mpg loss and zero extra noise on the 4th gen. (I did have to plug the holes in the control arms due to noise). I drive almost 1k miles a week.

 

OK, this is both simple and brilliant. I can't believe I did not think of this...

 

It's your truck, you can do whatever you want.

I got mine off before I went to off road park. I haven't put it back on since.

 

Don't feel bad, I didn't either. I saw the one extra screw to take out and was like naw... Then I saw the picture and this is the only way. Easy and looks 100 times better. I also trimmed the middle section to about an inch and bolted it back up.

 

Checked your pics and it looks great. What did you use to cut those smooth lines? I was debating a router or jigsaw before I start hacking away

 

Thanks! I just used a jigsaw and a file to smooth it out. One area got a little ugly, so I touched it with an angle grinder.

The pics might look better than it looks up close and in person. But I doubt anyone will ever even notice it...

 

I would imagine a 90 degree angled "air" die grinder with a medium grit 3m scotchbrite grinding disk would work nicely on getting a nice clean edge after trimming..
But not everyone has the luxury of a large compressor & variety of airtools..
3" 60 Grit Roloc® Conditioning Disc

 

Umm... When I said "angle grinder", I was referring to the $20 Harbor Freight Tools special I had laying around...

 

I wasnt talking trash or bashing...
Was just commenting those little 90 deg air die grinders with a 60 grit disc are great for shaping & cleaning-up plastic....