2017~2024 A place for moisture to collect, but be careful!

TBarney

'17 CX-5 AWD GT Prem. Original owner of 91 Miata.
:
Atlanta metro
Had the CX-5 up on my lift (heh) the other day doing an oil change, and looking around while I was under there, I noticed some leaves peeking out under the trim just behind the front wheels. (No comments on the tires, please, they're getting replaced soon, and yes, it does look like the toe is out.)
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I'm garage -stored and hadn't been out in the rain recently, so things were dry, but there was a nice little handful of leaves stuck in there. Gently prying down the plastic trim allowed me to rake them out of there so they wouldn't allow moisture to sit against the sheet metal.
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But being the genius that I am, I thought I'd try to remove the little trim from the outside, just to see if I missed anything. There is one push-in trim panel fastener inside the wheel well, and then the rest is held on by clips. Which I discovered after removing the fastener and then pulling too hard to try to get it loose! The POP I heard wasn't clips releasing, it was plastic breaking! Doh!
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Those horizontal things inside those circles are the broken half of the posts that attach the outer part to the inner part. Here's what it should look like from the back side:
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And here's what I did to it, with a close up of how those posts are plastic-welded to the inner piece:
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That piece of trim is part number KB7W-51-W80B, it's only $7, and it is on national back-order. Naturally. :) Luckily, with the help of some CA glue and gorilla tape (the gooey stuff like Flex Tape,) I was able to rejoin the two pieces so that they clipped back in place on my fender. Hopefully it will hold on for a month or two and the part will be available. Good as new? For now...
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Honestly, I'm not sure how you'd get that part off without it breaking. I was only able to release the clips after I broke it because I could slide a screwdriver into those rectangular holes and press down on the clips. Maybe you're supposed to take the entire fender trim off, and then remove this little piece?

At any rate, trying to remove it to get to the leaves was overkill. There wasn't any more hiding behind there than I'd been able to get out from gently pulling down on the trim. So, check your fenders! And don't man-handle stuff!
 
Honestly, I'm not sure how you'd get that part off without it breaking. I was only able to release the clips after I broke it because I could slide a screwdriver into those rectangular holes and press down on the clips. Maybe you're supposed to take the entire fender trim off, and then remove this little piece?
You need to remove that plastic piece you broke to install the front OEM mud flaps. I did the same thing on the drivers side. Fortunately my local dealer had one in stock & as you pointed out it was relatively cheap. Once I saw how the inside clips were configured, I was able to pull the one off the passenger side with no issues. The parts department also pointed out the parts for the 2 sides which are mirror images of each other actually have different prices. I don't remember the exact prices but it was a couple dollars difference.
 
You need to remove that plastic piece you broke to install the front OEM mud flaps. I did the same thing on the drivers side. Fortunately my local dealer had one in stock & as you pointed out it was relatively cheap. Once I saw how the inside clips were configured, I was able to pull the one off the passenger side with no issues. The parts department also pointed out the parts for the 2 sides which are mirror images of each other actually have different prices. I don't remember the exact prices but it was a couple dollars difference.
So how did you remove it? Just made sure to pull straight out? I think I was lifting it from the bottom and so that's why it broke.

And yeah, it's only $5 or so for the passenger side.
 
So how did you remove it? Just made sure to pull straight out? I think I was lifting it from the bottom and so that's why it broke.

And yeah, it's only $5 or so for the passenger side.
I believe that's how I did it. That's what's illustrated in the pdf installation instructions for the front mud flaps. I think I was just a little overly aggressive when I pulled off the drivers side. As I mentioned above, once I saw the backside of the trim piece as you show in your pictures, it becomes a bit more intuitive as to how to pull it off without breaking anything.

 
I think the silt and dirt that accumulates in the plastic fasteners makes them very difficult to remove.

Plastic is very light and doesn't rust but it seems to get more brittle with age.
 
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