[DocWheezer]

If it is just the last hole that is questionable, it may be possible to trim that end of the air dam short so it ends at the next hole. Or you could trim both ends if it looks uneven.

My gen 1 air dam is starting to look bad and I would like to remove it completely. The only thing holding me back is the lack of work space under there. I will need some jack stands, I think. It will be nice to not hear scraping any more. I'm not worried about a slight loss of efficiency since there are benefits to losing the air dam.

Berry,
New member here in my 60's with a used/new to me 2014 Volt I bought week and a ha!f ago. Previous owner beat up the lower air dam. It was pretty unsightly and ragged. I don't know if you're still contemplating removing the lower air dam.
Two nights ago I put a large harbor freight movers pad on the floor and got down on the floor and slowly removed the air dam. It wasn't hard at all. Getting up from the floor was another matter lol. You don't need to jack up or raise the car at all in order to remove the air dam.
I'm still undecided, if I'll replace it with the shorter version.

Take care

 

[DocWheezer]

I have no evidence to support this, but it is possible that air dam is there to do more than just help aerodynamics. It might also divert rain and road water spray down and away from important components under the car: battery and battery connections being a couple possibilities.

Mike

That very well may be one of the functions of the air dam. Luckily here in southern Nevada we get less than 4" of rain a year.
Come Spring I will most likely install the shorter air dam.

Take Care

 

[DocWheezer]

Thanks for the tips. I did remove the dam. I left it off for about a year and eventually installed the shorter dam. I like the short dam since it drags a lot less and looks a lot better than the original. I created a lot of work space by taking advantage of a hump in my driveway and also pulling the front wheels onto a low stack of boards for an extra 3 inches of lift.

I did not notice any change in efficiency for any of those 3 configurations. However the differences are probably smaller than 5% which is hard to measure among the other noise, but still may be worthwhile.

Another consideration is that the dam influences how air moves through the cooling system. I would not want to negatively affect that. The engineers may have that optimized and I would not want to find out on a really hot day that I have inadequate cooling.

Thank You for replying
Here in Las Vegas heat is a REAL concern. But we're heading into fall and winter now. I'm going to wait.
As I told Mike above, come this Spring I'll probably install the short version air dam.

Take Care