From my understanding its to help protect the underside such as the engine and battery area. So if you remove it it's more vulnerable to kickup from driving around. If it's hanging down it might just have broke off where the secure points are. As a temp fix, you could open a new hole and then just zip tie it back up. I would suggest at minimum doing that. If it stays great. Good luck

 

For the driver's side.

Shield: 23363169
Deflector: 84052477

 

It's primarily for aerodynamics, although yes it will also provide some protection to road debris. Mine were constantly getting damaged due to standing water in roads and parking lots, and I'd get sections dragging. I've just been cutting away the dragging parts as they occur, and I don't intend to replace them.

 

Thanks everyone. I pulled mine off today, and it's actually in decent shape except for a couple of the corners. I have a fiberglass boat repair kit that I used a very small amount of on my boat a couple years back. I'm considering reinforcing the corners with woven fiberglass and epoxy and then drilling holes for the bolts in lieu of spending ~$100 on a new one or leaving it off. I think I'm going to try it tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes.

 

I will say my Volt got quieter when I had my panels replaced.

 

Well, I attempted to reinforce the 6 spots (3 of them are pictured) that broke with woven fiberglass and epoxy. We'll see how it's cured in the morning, and hopefully i can put it back on tomorrow afternoon.

 

Reassembly wasn't an issue at all. Seems to be very stable. All the 7mm bolts/screws went on no problem. When I drained the transmission/electric drive unit fluid a few months ago, the 10 mm bolt closest to the front of the car sheered off (with what I felt wasn't a whole lot of torque, although maybe I don't know my own strength, lol). Today I tried to drill out the sheered off bolt but didn't have much luck. Fortunately, there is a spot near that one where I could zip tie the panel to the cross brace. The other 2 10mm bolts started to hang up as well, so I chased the threads on both the car and the bolts with my tap/die and then used some anti-sieze to hopefully help them stay less corroded. Overall, the car drives great (definitely quieter as Obermd pointed out). I'll keep an eye on how it holds up, but so far so good and substantially cheaper than a new panel.

 

did you know an armor plate for the VOLT exists to protect the engine of the volt?

 

Google?

 

I used black JB Weld and some bandages. Basically epoxied the bandages over the blown out holes and/or corners. Worked good! I had 1 hole too thick but the others worked good. I JB welded both sides for strength and redrilled the holes. Those mats are pricey since they don't make them anymore.

 

JB Weld

I have used JB Weld epoxy putty's on wood, plastic, plumbing, and just now on a bathtub I'm refinishing. The 64 year old drain needed some cutting to remove and I gouged/nicked the enameled porcelain in the process. Filled with JB Weld Water, sanded, no more gouge.