driving down the road today, those little thumb clip screw cap things that hold on our wheel well liner's and various other liners, yeah well it decided to not do its job, the front came down, scraped on the road, went under the tire which in turn ripped every other one out and I saw my entire wheel well liner behind me.

Does nissan carry this part normally? And are there alternatives to those little cap things, are they a certain thread size that I can just replace with screws or something?

I feel uneasy driving through puddles/rocks now that my CAI Filter is completely and utterly exposed

 

These are called "clips" but they are basically expansion fasteners. The plastic gets old and breaks. They are $2-3 each at the dealer.

 

Go to advanced auto/napa/autozone and get some. They have alot, any brand one should fit.

 

This happened to me recently too. Just driving along on the highway, then heard a scraping sound and as I was pulling over to the right to check it out, it completely came loose and started flopping around in the air.

Finally got to the shoulder and had to rip it off cause it was so torn up. Scratched my fender a little bit too.

 

sorry guys i could help but actually laugh when i read these stories....

it happened to me too, cause the stupid body shop didnt even bother to snap it back on so after about a day it wiggled free and feel to the freeway.

made the worst noise i have ever heard while driving a car, made me cringe that i thought my car was dying.

 

The whole incident has given me an idea though. after seeing how it tore itself up, with some heat and some bending an adequate scoop could be made out of it. put some holes in the back portion to prevent any water build up and we have a CAI scoop for the true CAI's

 

In my case it was the A/C shop. Fortunately or unfortunately the compressor they put on failed again and I did a DIY replacement and added back all the missing fasteners.

They even managed to strip the belt tensioner adjustment bolt. What a mess!!!

 

Are there any specific tools or methods to go about taking these things out? They're such a pain

 

Use a small jeweler's flat blade screw driver and lift up the pin in the middle, then wiggle out the body of the fastener.