When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
If you often remove 3 under carriage protection plate and plastic sheet
..... you may need these 2 components. They are for the plastic cover Near Bumper and below Tranny. These are the part numbers.
The male sheet metal screw little did I know they are the looser and not the female Clip Nut... I bought only 4 pcs sheet metal screws and 10 of the Clip Nut, ended up replacing all 4 screws.
If these screws falls on the road, it will puncture other car's tires or your own if you are really un-lucky.
They also can be source of plastic rattling sound.
Photo above is when these screws can no more lock or full-stop tighten.
I have removed 3 of the under carriage covers like perhaps 50 times over the ownership of the car
So wear & tear is expected.
That's more likely to happen when you tighten the screws with a battery powered tool or over-torque. Those low-grade screws and speed nuts are only good for a few in-lbs.
I had ONE of them rust terribly while the rest were just fine. The entire thing, screw, washer, clip. Coating failure? Probably.
For a while, every time my car went to the dealer for service, I would find screw heads on the garage floor. I would then go right back to dealer and watch while they replaced broken screws. Finally, they just replaced them all and hand-tightened them. They put a note on my car's service record to hand-torque, and I've not had any break since.
When I had my W201 and was doing all oil changes myself, I never had a single screw break in the 160K miles I drove that car.
Oh yeah, very common for them to rust out here or maybe they just fall out on their own. I bought some replacements on eBay a long time ago, cheaper than the dealer and I don't think OEM matters, they'll probably rust out at the same rate.
I noticed my worn out screws are usually at these two areas, too much road dirt from the tires I think and when I unscrew/screw in, more friction causing thread wear from those dirt.
I doubt any of you have removed this batman shaped tranny plastic cover as often as I did for a 2014 car
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
