What are those flaps in front of the rear tire for? They are connected to the side skirts. Mine seem to be taking a beating. My passenger side one was all tweeked. When I moved it to put it back straight a bunch of pebbles came out. Any one experience the same thing?

 

They're generally for aerodynamics....

 

, though not doing much in terms of saving fuel.

 

So if one breaks, it wouldn't hurt to remove the other then?

 

Not at all, it is just an air deflector . I don't think you'll notice any difference at all.

 

Yeah...Just part of all the little tweaks they made to improve the Aero by 4%. Not super critical..

 

I believe it's one of those little detail differences between the 2010s and the 2011s. They're for aerodynamics. I am guess they help at high speeds. My 1999 BMW 540i 6MT had them, and they were more pronounced. Maybe it's something that's handy on the autobahn?

 

The EXACT same thing happened to mine...passenger side flap in front of rear wheel was bent and twisted to hell...I dont remember anything happening to cause that flap to get all bent out of shape like it was...it was kind of a struggle to get it sitting right again! I never bottomed out, curbed it, or even took it that fast. Strange...perhaps there is some twisting and torquing going on pulling it out of position?

 

Yeah I was able to twist mine somewhat straight. It's not as straight as the driver side but hey, they'll eventually get damaged the more I drive it.

 

Pics of said flaps?