Chevy Colorado & GMC Canyon banner

Air Dam Removal - The Easy Way

86K views 85 replies 56 participants last post by  MichaelSmiley 
#1 ·
Colorado - Air Dam Removal

Tools Needed:
1/4 inch ratchet
1/4 inch socket
7 mm socket
T15 x 1 inch torx insert bit

Procedure:
1. Remove semi-triangular shaped waffle pattern plastic just before each front wheel and attached to fender skirt. Remove the 6 torx and 1 7mm bolt, twist slightly and pull out each.
2. Remove all remaining torx bolts holding on the air dam. Sometimes it helps to slightly bend the plastic to get the torx bit correctly engaged.

Pretty simple, just a lot of small torx bolts. I find it helps to put a little tape on the torx bit to make it stay in the 1/4 inch socket. The tools were all from a common craftsman set but any should work. You may need to lift the front slightly although I did not have to with 1" level installed. There is a lot of incorrect information on air dam removal out there - beware and drive it like you stole it.
 
#7 ·
I'll be honest, this is what I expected to see when I opened the post. But only because that's how I (unintentionally) removed the air dam on my Jeep Grand Cherokee when I had that.


I just dedicated an hour to take the air dam off correctly on my Collie.
 
#6 ·
Some of us tend to prefer to take the least destructive manner to work on things. About the only time I resort to destructive techniques to disassemble an item I plan on keeping, like my truck, is to drill out rivets.

Patience is a virtue that we all seem to be short of these days.
 
#9 ·
Meh...to be expected. Go to chevy.com and they show a Camaro and Colorado next to each other as car/truck of the year. The Camaro has a better approach angle/clearance than the 'truck'....
 
  • Like
Reactions: CrashFix
#10 ·
the easy way was a zip disk, no one would ever put it back on once removed
 
  • Like
Reactions: .445277
#12 ·
I drove my truck up on my ramps and did it similar to OP. I loosened the screws holding part of the wheel liners and from there I was able to access the side mounts of the air dam. The middle ones are fairly easy, although two of them are behind something. I don't remember exactly. But overall with some patience you can get it.
 
#13 ·
Lifting? An hour? WTF trucks are you guys getting? It took me 20 minutes with a ratcheting offset screwdriver, with the truck sitting on the ground... I had to remove 4 screws to lower the mounting piece to get access to a couple screws, and that was the only "difficult" part. Then I spent about 2.5 minutes reversing the nut clips so if I ever want to put the air dam back on, it'll be 2 minutes with a drill.
 
#15 ·
If I ever get a couple of hours of time on a weekend where I can do this, I think I am going to remove it, flip the clips, and remount, just so I can see what all this fuss is about.
 
#18 ·
If I flip the clips, I should be able to make it a simple job.

My driving is 99% highway/city. Would be nice if I think I am going to go offroad to remove it. Typically if I am going to an environment that might be a bit out of the way, I will be carrying tools to do a removal, but spending an hour crawling under my truck on a dusty or muddy road to remove is not my idea of fun.
 
#32 ·
I took mine off as soon as I realized a small curb could take it out. I did it in about 45 minutes with just two pairs of pliers and zero damage.
Less than 30 minutes here with a pair of those tiny vise grips and a skinny hemostat roach clip. I tried the #15 torx small bit in a ratchet wrench and it was only successful for the several couple screws in the middle. So since the tip of the screws do not have threads I could clamp straight onto the tip of each screw with the tiny vise grips. I could turn the screws in all the way in until I ran out of screw to hold with the vise grip. Now the roach clips will fit between the air dam & loose bumper to grab and rotate the screw about a 3rd of a turn each time a few times till the screw is out. Do the vise grip procedure 1st to all screws then go back and do the roach clip procedure while the air dam is hanging loose. Do the center screw last so the thing hangs even till the last screw is out. TA-DA
 
#35 ·
If you aren't sure what vice grips are, not sure you are qualified to remove your air dam.:grin2:

Needle nose vice grips - I love the pair of these i have, don't use often, but invaluable when you need them.

10 Ways To Lighten Your Motorcycle Tool Roll - Page 11 of 11 - ADV Pulse

Regular vice grips

Robot Check


Roach clips, old school we called them alligator clips

Robot Check

Interestingly, when I looked up Alligator Clips, I also got links to roach clip (expected that, I will let the readers search for roach clip & urban dictionary for the history of this, I was always worried some over zealous cop would bust me for the stash of alligator clips I kept for electrical projects) and to CROCODILE CLIPS. Have to assume the croc reference is an Aussie thing.
 
#42 ·
Thanks for the write-up Bill. One thing that may not be obvious to some is that you will need to reinstall the waffle pattern plastic pieces after you remove the dam with the 6 torx bolts and 1 7mm bolt for each side. Additionally, there's a couple of torx bolts on each side near where the tow hooks are; you will also need to temporarily remove those 4 (two on each side) bolts so you can pull the dam down far enough to get your ratchet in around the tow hook area. Reinstall those 4 after dam is removed.
 
#43 · (Edited)
I did this project to my new canyon tonight and I've read that the air dam has 13 screws, but mine only had 11. There were 2 blanks on it which would be the 4th hole in on each side. Also, around the same area there was a screw on each side facing down that holds the bumper on. When I removed the air dam I had to take those 2 screws out and flip the clip from the bumper up to the black plastic underneath the bumper and reinstall the screw up through so I didn't have a screw sticking out on each side. I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere unless I missed it. Oh and it took me about 1.5 hours in my cramped garage with hardly any room and I left the truck on the ground. It was still a pain in the ass and I'm glad it's done.
 
#44 · (Edited)
#49 · (Edited)
[B said:
Premo;3880105]Not sharp at all, the cutoff wheel will slightly melt the plastic and leave a little stuble that I just used a rasp to go over the edge to smooth it out.[[/B]/QUOTE]

Premo -- thanks! That looks really fantastic. If you don't mind, what cutting wheel did you use in your grinder? I have an old DeWalt hand-held that I think uses 4" discs. Never cut with it though, so I'm not sure what type of disc is best for the air dam? Many Thanks! (PS - I'm guessing some decent masking tape would be good enough to ensure the cutting line is accurate and symmetric?)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top