Well, after overcoming my frustrations with my Novel Full Aero Kit, details found here, and having some free time on my hands, I decided to re-tackle the install. As I stated in my original post, the rear diffuser wouldn’t fit unless I cut out internal webbing/bracketry. I thought this was odd since Novel is known for its engineering and quality. But I finally accepted my diagnosis, rolled up my sleeves, and got to cutting with the Dremel. After making the required cuts, the diffuser fit perfectly. When I went to look at the instructions again before proceeding with final installation, I noticed in the top right corner a picture of the internal webbing/bracketry with an area highlighted in gray. Below that area was a couple Japanese words so I went to my phone and fired up Google translate using my phone camera and the two words translated to “excision area”, so it turns out I was correct in cutting the brackets all along. Since the Novel diffuser is full carbon fiber with resin, it’s sturdy as can be, so the webbing/brackets aren’t so important to the integrity of the bumper/diffuser, but I’m not so sure how sturdy the rear bumper would be if I installed the OEM diffuser as its pretty flimsy by itself. Although I’ve been wrenching on my cars for 40+ years, this was my first aero kit, so I learned a lot and would like to pass on some tips and lessons learned.

GENERAL:
1. This is definitely a two-person job, especially when it comes to lining things up and measuring. I did the install by myself and should have called a buddy to give me a hand, but it was a beautiful weekend weather and I had nothing but time on my hands.

2. During my first attempt of the install 18 months ago, I made a couple minor scratches on the rear quarter panel when trying to remove the diffuser. I also unknowingly made a couple scratches on the rear bumper even though I used painters tape on the body parts. This time around I used some Trakk Tape I had laying around. It’s much thicker and has low adhesive so it was perfect for this job, no new scratches this time around!

3. Dry fit everything first and annotate using a crayon or something where the double-sided tape and seal should go. The diffuser was my first piece I installed and I followed the pictures in the instructions when placing the tape/seal on the diffuser, but the seal could have been better placed if I marked it myself and not following the instruction pictures.

4. Use car ramps if you have them. Jack stands worked OK on the rear diffuser and front lip, but not so much on the side rails. You have drill on the underside of body and trying to get enough clearance to fit the drill with drill bit was challenging. I had to use the jack on the rear pinch welds to get the height I needed and then had to use the jack on the front pinch welds, so there was a lot of up and down.

5. Recommend purchasing additional double-sided tape. The kit comes with double-sided tape, but I’d say it’s only 3/8” wide, so I purchased 1” 3M tape and it worked out well.

DIFFUSER:
1. Be sure to place liberal amounts of tape on both the Novel diffuser and rear bumper, the painted portion that surrounds the diffuser. There are tabs on the Novel diffuser that have sharp edges and can easily scratch the painted bumper when trying to line up the tabs during installation. Also, the rear bumper is super flimsy when there isn’t a diffuser installed, so this is where having two people is a must, because it’s very difficult trying to line up the diffuser to the bumper when everything is moving around. Even with laying the diffuser or bumper on foam padding didn’t help much, you need two sets of eyes and hands.

2. Don’t install the fins until the diffuser is installed to the bumper. They just add weight and get in the way. The fins are individually custom fitted and drilled to the diffuser, so they just won’t go in any location. They are stamped R1, R2, L1, and L2 with the fin that isn’t stamped as the middle fin. Fin R1 and L1 go next to the middle fin with R2 and L2 as the outside fins.

3. Pay attention to the inset picture I mentioned in the diffuser instructions, you need to cut away part of the internal bumper and you know the old saying, “measure twice, cut once.”

4. I had to shave the OEM reflectors to fit in the Novel reflector housing. Didn’t have to shave too much, most of the shaving was done with a razor blade.

SIDE RAILS:
1. A 90-degree drill will help with the body to ground clearance. As I mentioned above, I barely had enough clearance to drill the underside of the body.

2. Use your own stencil when measuring the bracket holes. The instructions give you five individual measurements from the rear fender well. For example, the first hole is 60mm from the rear fender well, the next hole is 340mm, the next 520mm, etc. The bracket mounting holes are only 1/4” in diameter, so along the ~6ft length and five bracket holes to drill, your margin of error is super slim. I followed the instructions on the driver’s side and though I was spot on in my measurements, but I was about 1/4" in a couple spots, which required to elongation on the top and under side of the carbon side rail. The next day when doing the passenger side rail, I thought about creating a stencil, so I taped together 8 pieces or printer paper and crated my own stencil using the carbon fiber side rail as a template. It worked out perfectly and took half the time it did on the driver’s side. For the amount of $ Novel charges for these kits, you’d think they would include a drill stencil.

3. Measure twice, drill once. As I mentioned, there’s little room for error and once you drill the first hole you committed, because there is no room to adjust for another hole, unless you modify the side rail mounting locations.

4. The kit comes with hardware anchors that get pushed in the holes you drill on the underside of the body. They work like a molly anchor, but be careful because once you start the screw into the anchor, it flips the female threaded side 90 degrees and you won’t be able to take the anchor back out. Also, the kit doesn’t come with any spare anchors, go figure, so be careful when installing, they’re fragile.

5. Once the side rails are installed, the pinch welds are not really accessible, so jacking your car from the side will be difficult. I’ll have to confirm this, I’m pretty sure this is what I saw when finishing the installation, but didn’t confirm using my magnetic jack pad adapter.

FRONT LIP:
1. This was by far the easiest of the install, as it uses existing body screws to mount the brackets. However, only 4 brackets and one screw at each end of the front fender well hold the front lip on. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why there’s been instances of the front lip coming off at high speeds.

2. Living in Germany is awesome, especially being able to drive on unrestricted areas of the autobahn, so I took extra precautions with mounting the front lip. I took 150 grit sand paper and scuffed up the underside of the front spoiler and the Novel front lip for better adhesion for the double-sided tape. Using the 1” wide 3M tape I bought, I added a second row giving double the strength. I also drilled a couple holes on the underside of the front lip and attached screws into the bottom belly pan for extra security.

Overall, I’m very happy with the install. I could have done better and so could have Novel, but in the end I would do it all over again, taking my own advice and lessons learned, of course.

 

Excellent write up! I'm curious if you can take any pictures of the mounting you had to do under the car.

 

Sorry, I didn't take any pics during the install, I'm bad about that. I can't easily take off the side rails or front lip to take pictures either since there's generous amount of two side tape.

There are Z brackets that mount both the side rails and front lip. The front lip doesn't require any drilling, you just remove 6 screws and install the 4 Z brackets and there's a hole on each end of the front lip that is used to attached the ends, again using the OEM screw and mounting location. The side rails also use Z brackets, 5 on each side. The brackets are held in place by installing the molly anchors in the holes you drill in the under body. With the brackets installed, you slide the side rail over the brackets using elongated slots and is attached to the brackets using screws through the pre-drilled holes on the bottom of the side rail. That's why the measurements are so critical, or the pre-drilled screw holes on the bottom of the side rail won't line up with the brackets