club.liberty.asn.au

Hi Guys,

I recently bought the following two items and would love for them to be installed on my Liberty:
https://www.ultrex.com.au/subaru-liberty-side-skirts-my04-my09-side-splats
https://www.ultrex.com.au/subaru-liberty-front-lip-non-spec-b-my07-08-09

Unfortunately it's proving harder than I thought!
It's not a simple double-sided tape install. I've been told there would have to be holes to secure these (with screws), and I assume perhaps a strong adhesive also.
Also they are slightly warped which means using a hot-air gun by a skilled professional (I couldn't do this).
So far I've been to three panel beaters. Two of them won't install these, and the third (can install but) is too busy for this small job.

Could anyone please recommend any panel beaters in the Sydney area that could do this job?
I live in the North Shore, but would be happy to travel if it's not crazy far.
This would be a great help, as my only option now is to ask garages one by one until someone is able or willing to install these.

My ride is an MY07 2.5i blue sedan


Previous mods...
I installed a Sports Grill, and it was a simple job.
My uncle installed the rear Diffuser. But didn't want to touch the Front-lip.

Once the side-skirts and lip are done, all that's left would be to buy gun-metal coloured rims. And this cosmetic project would be finished. How sweet would that be!

Thank you.

Diy may be the best option.
You need knowledge, tools, materials, preparation and time.

If and when I do these two mods, I’ll start preparing by leaving the mods in the sun, on a flat surface, propped where necessary to get them to straighten out.

Read the FSM sections (link in my signature) regarding removal of the front bumper and skirts. The exact procedure is spelled out with pictures and text.

I just had my bumper off to access my headlights for restoration, the hardest part is the body poppit plugs get jammed up with dirt, so start by soaking them with soapy water spray and buy some spares from the dealer or self serve wreckers, and buy a $15 trim removal tool from repco etc.

Once the parts are ready to be offered up for fit, clean the mating surfaces with isopropyl alcohol, heat up a little with a heat gun or hair dryer for good adhesion, and use high quality 3m double sided tape. You want the thick wide professional tape.

At this point you can add short black flat head self tapping screws (repco etc) in unseen areas for strengthening the bond, and use quick release masking tape to temporarily hold it all together.

Once it’s all set, mask off the join edges and lay down a 5mm bead of black urethane across the joint, wiping the bead to concave with your finger and peeling off the tape before the urethane sets.

Then reinstall as per FSM.

Then count your hours spent, times by 100 and that’s how much money you saved yourself!

Obviously it’s harder in the real world so research around the issues like this:
https://www.google.com.au/search?biw=32 ... DY6Kba-GDg

And this:
https://www.google.com.au/search?biw=32 ... 6CvbTh-VT0

Personally I think removing the panels involved may be the easier approach for various mainly ergonomic reasons.

+1 for Ben's comments .. Also Youtube is your friend with most things you are not sure about...See...https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... stallation .. Once installed... be very careful with driveways and some of those concrete parking aids at the shops.. Our Rexs misses most of those and only the tow hooks scrape...no biggy > but..my liberty front lip only clears by a mil or 2 so I have to be very careful and if I have a passenger in the car I have to find somewhere else to park or leave the back of the Lib sitting out. In a car park of mainly mum's taxi 4WDs I have got into the habit of parking in the street and walking into the shops.

Thanks guys. Your comments really help! Initially the thought of me DIY'ing horrified me. But with all the information here and reading up (thanks for the links), it seems very do-able now.

Front-lip
Installation looks rather simple. After reading up, I'm very sure the clip and screw holes will not line up with the bumper holes. So I may have to drill holes.
Also due to it being a non-OEM item and warping I will have to use a heat gun to get it to fit. And use a bunch of black cable ties in between just to be sure. Hoping for a hot day (in the middle of winter).

Side skirts
Looks more difficult than the front-lip. I am going to need patience and go slow.
Also is there a specific black urethane product I can buy?


(Sorry for the delay in responding, doing renovations at home)

Like I said gravity, time and some heat should work wonders to straighten the pieces.
Polyurethane from the hardware shop, in black. Sika is a popular brand.
Look up some RWB Porsche widebody kit installs on YouTube for the sika technique

You want to be sure you have the right lip for your bumper too.
It should offer right up, holes n all.

Thank you Ben!

Here are pics of one of the side skirts showing the bulge in the centre. Both side skirts are like this.
It is a rather big bulge. But I'll try to straighten it out.

https://imgur.com/a/MVjO1CZ
https://imgur.com/a/weJX0B9
https://imgur.com/a/3Nckzzk
https://imgur.com/a/KaMPlbE


Regarding the front lip, I've verified the lip is the correct model of my Liberty.
Simply holding up the lip, it appears the holes line up. But I'm sure I'll have to use a heat gun to make it fit exactly.

Thanks again. Hope to do all this soon and post pics of my Liberty.

Depends how flexible the pieces are, the memory qualities of the material and if the distortion is caused by overall bends in the piece or is localised.

I’d set them up on a jig eg a board or sheet of plywood, get them dimensionally correct using fixtures eg nails or screws, then use the heat gun to stretch or shrink where necessary to minimise the faults.


I’d still remove the bumper & skirts for installation, then fit the lot to the car.

Of course if the big warps are where you can’t see them it’s less of an issue.

What’s the material used?

bigBADbenny wrote:Depends how flexible the pieces are, the memory qualities of the material and if the distortion is caused by overall bends in the piece or is localised.
I’d set them up on a jig eg a board or sheet of plywood, get them dimensionally correct using fixtures eg nails or screws, then use the heat gun to stretch or shrink where necessary to minimise the faults.

Yes, good idea. I'll get the skirts on some form of 'jig', and straighten it out 1) with the help of fixtures and gravity over time, and 2) with direct effort using a heat gun.

bigBADbenny wrote:I’d still remove the bumper & skirts for installation, then fit the lot to the car.

Now, this may be a dumb question, does the Ultrex skirt fit directly over the OEM skirt? Or is the OEM skirt removed and discarded, and the Ultrex skirt fit directly onto the car?

Also I'll read the FSM on how to remove the bumper. Removing the OEM skirts appear to be easy going by what I've seen on YouTube.

bigBADbenny wrote:What’s the material used?

If I remember correctly, the side skirts are made of polyurethane plastic. The product was removed from the Ultrex site in the last week or so. Glad I bought it when I did.
Also just a FYI, the sports grill and rear diffusers I bought are made from carbon fibre.

Great, the poly should be easy to manipulate with some heat.
I’m not sure about actually fitting the skirts though.

bigBADbenny wrote:Great, the poly should be easy to manipulate with some heat.

Good to know, awesome!

bigBADbenny wrote:I’m not sure about actually fitting the skirts though.

Just going by sight and gut feel (i.e. purely anecdotal), I suspect the OEM skirt is removed and discarded then the Ultrex skirt should fit directly onto the car. I'll find out for sure when I actually do it.


The next step is to plan it all out on paper, do a runsheet - step by step and in detail.
Further research specific things, e.g. how to properly apply adhesive...
Straighten and prepare skirts and lip.
Buy inventory, e.g. genuine body poppit plugs, isopropyl alcohol, professional 3M double sided tape, black Sika polyurethane, and so on...
And importantly I need to go slowly and carefully as this is my first big mod!

Thanks Ben and everyone for your help!

Body poppit tool as well...

The wide end of this metal one works well:
https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/tol ... 61700.html

Soak em in soapy water spray or even wd40, you might need to go nuts on them depending how jammed up with grit.

Thanks, I didn't know this tool existed. And I'll soak 'em as per your instructions.