AIR CURTAIN/GRAVEL DEBRIS solution.......

[enginerdify]

Good afternoon all! Been on the Forum about 6 months, and have had the car about 10 days now. Enjoying immensely.
Had seen a number of other comments and/or solutions to the road debris and stones coming through the air curtain on the manual charging port cars, and thought I would offer mine which seems to me to work well. I had already noticed in a week of ownership gravel and such gathering and sitting at the back side of the air curtain aperature.
Bought some automotive grille mesh off Amazon, and after making a paper template and fiddling with it, fitted 2 pieces of mesh either side.
The trick is there is a "trough" behind the horizontal dividers, and with the mesh cut just the right size and fitted into the trough, there seems to be enough tension to hold the two pieces in place against any wind water or debris force.
It has to be fitted from the back side and takes some fettling to get it seated correctly, but I am really pleased with the unseen nature of it and the matching black.
I purchased the smallest mesh this vendor sells- I believe it is 4mmx6mm "rhombic". I believe it will probably keep 95% of debris and gravel off the door anaperture.
I have the template marked with the exact size I used, and a pic of the product off Amazon. Please feel free to comment/critique and offer ideas for improvement.
Also ceramic coated the Mission Es today, so it's been a productive morning!
Cheers.

Brilliant! You should update with the steps to remove the inner plastic moulding with the fins to be able to fit the mesh behind it. This is the best implementation of this solution!

 

[wurzitup]

Brilliant! You should update with the steps to remove the inner plastic moulding with the fins to be able to fit the mesh behind it. This is the best implementation of this solution!

Oh no.... I didn't remove the inner plastic moulding. That was the best part of this solution is that it didn't require any removal of anything.

 

[enginerdify]

Oh no.... I didn't remove the inner plastic moulding. That was the best part of this solution is that it didn't require any removal of anything.

Oh my bad. How did you "insert" the mesh in there then? From the wheel side or the door side?

 

[wurzitup]

Oh my bad. How did you "insert" the mesh in there then? From the wheel side or the door side?

Door side. Bent very slightly to fit and then each piece of two pops into the trough. The trough is on the back "door" side.

 

[GreenDay]

Trying mine today when the Amazon package arrives. Will try to post an action shot if I get it slotted in.

Came across this post coincidentally as I just started noticing the debris in the curtain and along side the car. I can hear the debris crackle when driving after it's rained or I've been through gravel. I'm not sure where that's coming from but it could be due to this. Thanks for posting!

 

[Bajas21]

Trying mine today when the Amazon package arrives. Will try to post an action shot if I get it slotted in.

Came across this post coincidentally as I just started noticing the debris in the curtain and along side the car. I can hear the debris crackle when driving after it's rained or I've been through gravel. I'm not sure where that's coming from but it could be due to this. Thanks for posting!

Please post a video or pictures if you get this to work. I’m still at a loss on how to do this. On the door side, I can even get my fingers in the slot. While the OPs finished product looks great, without taking the trim off, not sure how you achieve the same result.

 

[raharris]

I also have the mesh on its way.

I intend to cut some cardboard to the dimensions posted in this thread so I can figure out how it goes in before I try with mesh - I figure less likely to damage with cardboard as I experiment.

 

[GreenDay]

Please post a video or pictures if you get this to work. I’m still at a loss on how to do this. On the door side, I can even get my fingers in the slot. While the OPs finished product looks great, without taking the trim off, not sure how you achieve the same result.

Ok got it done. Will see how it holds. Not my best work. Here are some additional instructions:

1. Cut the piece as 63mm x 233mm or at close as possible.
2. Now cut that piece into 2 pieces, 2/3 way up across the 233mm side.
3. Bend both pieces. The trick is to bend it very slightly along both 233mm edges, inwards, so the 63mm edges are curved slightly. Not too much but enough that it'll fit through one of the vent holes when slid through on wheel side
4. Now slide the first longer piece through the middle vent, wheel side, so that it now sits on the door side of the vent but at the bottom of the vent
5. Using your fingers through the vent on the wheel side and a thin wooden/plastic spatula on the door side, straighten the curved piece back to flat, whilst also pushing the piece into the groove. Pull with your fingers and push with the spatula (or whatever is thin enough).
6. Repeat with second shorter piece. This was a bit harder but still doable once you get it to stick into the groove. You'll have to slide the second piece through the top of the vent and ensure it doesn't fall to the bottom. Or that you can slide it back up with the spatula or something if it does. You can then work it flat with the spatula and into the groove. Second piece was a pain. But was easier the first time I tried it (left side of car) then we I did all this again on the right side of the car. I might have bent it too much the second time and it took more effort to flatten and get into the groove.
7. Repeat for both curtain. So you'll need 4 pieces in total. 2 x (63mm x 233m). Each cut around 2/3 across 233m edge.

 

[Bajas21]

Amazing. Thank you for the detailed instructions. Will try it this evening. Appreciate you a ton!! Thank again!

 

[Davy021]

Great write up. First one was tough but once I figured it out other side was a breeze. Thanks OP!

 

[snstevens]

You know, this sort of post is why I love this forum! The creativity of this group is amazing

 

[Payton48]

I was able to do this mod today without cutting the mesh in half. What I did was insert the mesh at an angle (pointed upwards) from the door side with one hand. With the other hand, I was able to push the mesh towards the inside gap from the tire side. I then continued to push the mesh in with one hand and slide it into position with the other.

My fingers weren't long enough to get all of the mesh into position so I ended up using a disposable toothbrush to push the mesh into the gap. I have a set of trim/molding tools but found that those were too long and couldn't get to the outside part of the mesh. The shorter toothbrush actually worked better.

 

[satchurator]

To those of you who have done this mod - do you have a sense of how easy it would be to remove the mesh?

Say your mesh has gotten gummed up with something that can't be cleaned in-place and you want to replace the mesh.

OR you want to eek out an extra 0.01 of drag coefficient for your EV cannonball run

 

[Fish Fingers]

To those of you who have done this mod - do you have a sense of how easy it would be to remove the mesh?

Say your mesh has gotten gummed up with something that can't be cleaned in-place and you want to replace the mesh.

OR you want to eek out an extra 0.01 of drag coefficient for your EV cannonball run

I've never taken mine off - but imagine it's really easy to refit.
If it bends, just cut out a new piece to refit (as I've got a roll of the stuff now!).

Cleaning is easy - I just use the power washer / hose to hose through from the door side.

 

[Matt-Taycan]

I put my grill in.

Here are some additional pics for the thread. May help someone else that's considering it. It's surprisingly easy to do.

I opted to only install a piece that's 2/3rd the size of the actual opening. (It's impossible to fit a full-size piece in one anyway. To cover the whole opening, it definitely requires over-lapping of two pieces)
My goal is to reduce the risk of stone chips down the front doors and reduce the build-up of debris in the air curtain opening. I'm confident I don't need to cover the entire opening with mesh/grill.

I'll see how this holds up for now but may tweak it in time to be ever so slightly higher.

Has already withstood pressure washing perfectly well