Dodge installs temporary yellow air dam shipping covers onto Challengers and Chargers to protect lower fascias from damage during delivery. Instead of removing these, some owners have been keeping the covers on for aesthetic purposes, and it’s driving some people so nuts that there’s now a Facebook group for folks who just need to vocalize their disdain for the splitter guards. It’s baffling.
Last summer, I wrote about the controversial Charger/Challenger splitter guard phenomenon, but even then I didn’t quite realize how much contempt there was out out there on the vast interwebs towards these yellow plastic bumper protectors.
One reader recently enlightened me by sending the link to a Facebook group titled “Hey Pal, You Forgot To Take Your Splitter Guards Off.” It’s a ~1,250-member strong page filled with posts in which people lament this hot mod among Chrysler L-Car owners.
The posts on the page, like a screengrab of the instagram image above, are bizarre considering that, if we’re honest, keeping a piece of plastic on a lower bumper isn’t hurting anyone. This isn’t a coal-rolling mod or a ridiculously loud muffler, it’s just a yellow guard. And yet, somehow hundreds of people find a way to be insulted.
My favorite posts are the videos showing folks discarding splitter guards in disgust. Here are three examples:
One guy even posted my article from last summer, and the comments on it are glorious.
“Must find David Tracy and punch” reads one. “Buying splittler (sic) guards and putting them on should be a federal offense” says another.
There’s also the post below by someone named Bruce about a 2018 Dodge Challenger Demon for sale by a shop called Shine Tek Auto Spa. “Shipping guard must have been an expensive option on these sons of bitches!” reads the caption. The post’s comments are, of course, also anti-Air Dam Shipping Cover, with one reading “All ruined because of that fucking yellow stripe,” and another saying “With those fucking guards on there should be a 75% discount for fuck sakes.”
Check out the page to see lots of photos and videos that folks around the U.S. have taken of splitter guard-equipped Chargers and Challengers. Those photos and videos are, of course, appended to comments about just how terrible it is that people won’t remove small yellow plastic strips from the bottoms of their vehicles’ bumpers. Truly tragic.
This whole thing is bizarre, but also kind of hilarious.