pebbles in lower sill
 

Hello..does anyone have a easy way to remove the small pebbles that gather between the lower rocker sill and the rear quarter panel ??

Undo the few bolts that hold the rear fender liner by there and then just blow/shake them out.

:iagree:

Easy to get out
Just be careful pulling fender out
Long term fix is filling inner fender gap with body. I used large cell foam rubber you can get at any hardware store. about 1 inch sq

After you blow the pebbles out get some black silcone and cut a small hole in the tip and squease some in from front to rear. put everything back together and no more pebble problem. Let the car sit for about a day to give the silicone a chance to dry abit and you're good to go.

There is a TSB so if you are under warranty the dealer can fill the gap for you.

:iagree: Permanent fix.

What TSB is that? I've never heard of or seen it.

I would like to see a DIY on this. Not sure exactly where to put the silicone... Thanks.

Would also like to know...........never seen it... :thumbs:

Link to a non-supporting vendor deleted.

Members are not prohibited from mentioning it when they have a good (or bad, for that matter) experience with a non-supporting vendor. But such mentions cannot be so specific (address, phone number, e-mail address, URL, price, part number, offer to send contact information via PMs, etc.) or so frequent that they become marketing and promotional references.

Excellent illustration. When the weather breaks, its the first thing I'm doing. Thanks for the posting! :cheers:

^interested in the deleted info/photos removed above.

When the you remove the rear tire, you can get into the wheel well and see the gap that allows the small rocks in. I don't like the black silicon idea, but it works. Used some readily available foam from the hardware store and cut it to size to fill the gap.

Please PM me the removed pictures. Thanks

What TSB????

Have not a clue where you put the silicone?? and why black?

The foam goes in the rear wheel well. You can feel the gap between inner and outer fenders .Fill with weather striping foam. it will keep rocks out. No need to take wheel off.
Someone referred to TSB- if there is one post number??
someone else mention black silicone cutting a hole?? better description is needed.

Pics of this would be greatly appreciated.

where is the tsb?

Easier method is to fill the crack on the outside where the pepples collect with a clear silicon caulk. No more pepples and problem solved.

good link I was going to do this myself

Thanks to all for the replies !... will be doing this over the next week.

I'm pretty sure there was never a TSB on this since all C6 models have this issue and was never fixed. They wouldn't issue a TSB just for removing the pebbles.

The guy that suggested using silicone was talking about cutting a small hole in the tip of the silicone tube - no hole drilling needed on the car. Just apply a seam of silicone right where the pebbles accumulate. Not sure why he recommended black silicone (unless you have a black car). I used clear silicone.

Problem with using silicone is the rocks still get into the fender, you just can not see them. The weather stripping method keeps the rocks from getting into the fender cavity. Also I think this is only a problem with wide body cars Z06, GS & ZR1. GM did not change inner fender design for wide body. Would have been nice if it did not need fix? maybe C7 is the fix.

Yes, the problem is only with wide bodies. I also tried the weather stripping method and that didn't work so well for me. The problem is that the weather stripping doesn't totally seal the gap (unless you really stuff a lot of it in there and pack it really tight which is difficult to do). So I am using a combination of the two methods which works for me.

Sorry guys I have been offline. I do not have it but I have seen it. My service advisor showed it to me and fixed my 07Z06 and my 09ZR. He also fixed my friends 13 GS. If you go and complain about it they should be able to find the TSB.

INFORMATION

Bulletin No.: 11-08-65-001A

Date: June 22, 2011

Subject: Information on Small Rocks, Sand and Gravel (Road Debris) Trapped Between Quarter Panel and Rocker Panel and Installing Adhesive Back Shim Stock

Models:
2005-2011 Chevrolet Corvette
Built Prior to VIN Breakpoint B5107578

Supercede:
This bulletin is being revised to update the repair information. Please discard Corporate Bulletin Number 11-08-65-001 (Section 08 - Body and Accessories).


Some customers may comment that road debris has found its way in between the outer quarter panel and rocker, and is visible in the gap between the two panels. This condition may be caused by debris being carried up by the tires and collecting in the gap between the panels. An example of this condition is shown in the grap [...]

Quick can you post the rest of the TSB? Couldn't find it on google.

I opened up the quarter panel last night, wow was it dirty!

Gonna go buy some weather stripping.

It works, did the foam insert on my Z07 and no more problems. :thumbs:

Looks like they charge for that info...

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/alld...engineid=4047/

My car is at the dealer now I told them about the problem and they said they found the TSB and fixed it for me. I'm going to pick it up today.

Try to get a copy of the TSB so it can be posted here, although we do have the TSB number which should allow any dealer to find it.

I have a copy of the tsb but I can't post it showing the illustrations contained in it. If anyone here can post it, pm me your email and I'll get a copy to you.

On it :)

Just did this last week. Just undo 3 small bolts and shake/blow them out and then put a small bead of clear silicon to help prevent it from happening again.

Some one should save these, I don't know how long imgur will host images.

Attachment 48377188

Attachment 48377189

Attachment 48377190

Attachment 48377191

Thank you Wolf!

+1 good stuff

You're welcome.

Personally I think this solution is better:

http://www.nakidparts.com/id22.html

I just used some weather stripping from Home Depot to fill in the gap from the wheel well to the quarter panel.

This would eliminate the source of the rocks, rather than just stopping them from falling all the way down to your lower sill.

If you follow the TSB you'll have about 5 lbs of rocks accumulate inside your panel. Doesn't seem kosher to me.

Thanks Wolf!

That's what I was thinking, just prevents them from being visible. I guess that is GM's philosophy: out of sight, out of mind.

:iagree:

Just to say, I have a Base Z51 2007 and had plenty of rocks and dirt coming out of that spot last time I washed it. I sprayed water up that crack until no dirt came out, took a while. So it's not just wide bodied vettes

Now I just recived a call from the dealer 3 days after they got it saying they cannot do this for my car as its only for certin models

What I dont understand is in the picture its a 427 vert my car is a 2009 Z and mine is not covered... any insight

The TSB states that it applies to Corvettes built to VIN xxxxx.

Just do it yourself with some weatherstripping along the wheel well.

20 minute job.

Dealerships are retarded.

Well actually the TSB is just fine because any small pebbles that get inside just drop into the bottom of the inner splash guard and fall out under the car. There will be no build up of "rocks".

Both methods will work OK but the TSB prevents anything getting into the external gap so the GM fix is actually better. Those inner guards move around an awful lot with the wind and water buffeting but that has no effect on the GM fix because the panel is bolted in place onto the foam strip.

Only took me 20 minutes to do this.

Was surprised how much build up was caught in there. I figured it was the two or three visible pebbles.

I used the 1" foam weatherstrip suggested.

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/...6z/image-1.jpg

I had the car up on my race ramps doing some work today and thought I would take a stab at this while I was still going.

This is what 65,000 miles of crap looks like:

Attachment 48376894

Thanks for the tips!

I got you all beat, had like a pound of dirt in there!!! And that's not even all of it. There was packed up dry mud in there, so I had to scrub with a wet rag for 5 minutes till I got everything out of there.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...0402-00203.jpg

Need to clean mine out again. jesus. lol

the solution we hit upon was to use seam sealer, use a liberal amount to fill the gap above the tire, thats the entry point for all the crap that accumulates, seam sealer fills the gap and is flexible, easy to remove if needed, easy to re apply. A friend of mine who is a paint and body guy recommended this method and it works very well, takes about 30 minutes to solve the problem. I'm taking my fender wells out of the rear of my car to add some insulation to deaden tire noise. I could take pics of what we did if anyone is interested

Photos
 

Yes some photos would be good when you do project.

6 years is a lot of dirt to accumulate!

I had this same problem and it's an eye sore. I took my pressure washer and hit the open space pushed all debris back out.

Noticed this on my C6 Z and didn't realize it was an issue. Gonna let my pebbles simmer a few more miles and hope they turn to diamonds.

man, I shoulda thought of this years ago