[Will M]

I had a similar problem where the passenger side skirt came loose at the front, hanging out like some sort of pedestrian sweeper. Fortunately, I saw it in the side-view mirror just before pulling out onto a faster road. I took it off (no damage, except the loss of the front fastener) and drove without the skirt for a few weeks waiting for the part. The car is ugly with the skirt removed.

The fastener itself was remarkably expensive, being a specialized screw (~$16). It seemed to be carbon-fiber instead of metal and had a weird, zig-zag thread on it. Basically, to tighten, you push in, turn 1/4 turn and then let it spring back out some. If it doesn't spring back out, it doesn't lock, hence the lost screw.

Don't expect it to act like a normal screw. Just turn it 1/4 turn and let it lock and test to make sure it won't pull out.

It won't help you with this skirt, but it might help you with the NEXT one.

 

[Will M]

They are "Quarter-turn fastners"
http://www.southco.com/pdf/7-3.pdf is the documentation.
I'm not sure mine has the spring in them!

Well, the idea is the same, but they don't LOOK the same. This is a challenge to describe. Instead of having a protruding tab that locks into a special spring, as your document reveals, the receptical just has two protrusions in from a circular hole, while Honda's quarter turn fastener has what looks like an oversized roofing nail with a pair of odd-looking, nearly question mark shaped grooves in the sides of the shaft and an oversized flat-head screw slot in the head.

The shaft's grooves start out from the pointy end: straight, parallel with the shaft of the fastener. It then it turns to 45 degrees to the right, like a steep screw thead, then it reverses itself, turning 90 degrees to the right (resulting in it heading back toward the pointy end at 45 degrees), then there's a short segment going parallel to the shaft again, heading back to the pointy end, but stopping.

Basically, you push in and twist until you engage that first straight run, then push in straight until you hit the end of that straight run, then turn 1/8th turn to the right while pushing in for that first 45 degree part, then turn another 1/8th turn to the right while letting it come out some for that 90 degree reversal, then release and the fastener locks in that last straight run.

If it turns more than a quarter turn, then odds are you have not pushed while turning in order to engage that first straight run of the fastener. You need to push in and twist and feel that snag to get the angle right, then push in farther before starting the 1/4 twist.

I hope this helps.

 

[Will M]

Re: Scratched Skirt

Speaking of skirts, Here's a tip for everyone: When you remove them, keep them in your hatch, or in a place where they won't get blown over by the wind or stepped on or ...

I say this because I was washing my baby one time and it was pretty windy. I had the skirts laying on the pavement beside my car when the wind took one up and flipped it right over!

"Flipped right over"? I was changing a tire on Interstate when an 18 wheeler whooshed by. The skirt, perched on the removed trunk well to keep it clean, flew about 15 feet and landed in deep grass. Bye bye $16 fastener, never seen again. Lesson learned.