2017 Air Dam trim or removal?

[2017YuknDenali]

I'm seeing references to cutting or trimming the air dams off a 2017 era Yukon Denali (is valence the correct term here? are they interchangeable?), but i'm not finding anything on removing or replacing them. Is there a way to do that relatively easily? From what i've seen, and from what I can tell just looking, it looks challenging and possibly problematic. Am I better off just trimming it down? I'm looking to gain a little more clearance. The air dam will even scrape tall curbs or steeper driveways and such, so it's pretty limiting for things like even basic offroading.

 

[Jetskier77]

Not sure I understand the intent. What is it you are trying to accomplish?

 

[Doubeleive]

I'm seeing references to cutting or trimming the air dams (is valence the correct term here? are they interchangeable?), but i'm not finding anything on removing or replacing them. Is there a way to do that relatively easily? From what i've seen, and from what I can tell just looking, it looks challenging and possibly problematic. Am I better off just trimming it down?

Tape it off and cut it as desired

 

[B-train]

I second @Jetskier77. What is the purpose of the question?

The lower valance, or air dam, is to deflect air around the vehicle for better MPG. Removing it should be easy - they are all push pins and quick nuts. Cutting will require some skill, but again....why?

Is there a group that judges vehicles based off their ground clearance to air dam ratio I'm not aware of?

 

[tom3]

Well, it is a nuisance sometimes with the lack of clearance. Probably push snow in some areas too.

 

[Doubeleive]

It doesn't really matter why, the mileage difference from trimming the valance is slim to none. It does not affect heating/cooling as some are led to believe either.
some people take it off completely which doesn't really look very visually appealing, but trimming it looks nice or more acceptable anyway.
getting a stock "shorter" one requires a specific bumper/grill trim as there is only one trim that offers a stock shorter valance.
which I believe is a special edition z71

 

[Doubeleive]

I took the lower one off of my silverado in my signature pic on the silverado but that one is a 2 piece valance so the bottom one came off easily by removing the clips.

 

[2017YuknDenali]

Not sure I understand the intent. What is it you are trying to accomplish?

more clearance, in part for off roading. Not looking to do anything too extreme, but that air dam will even scrape taller parking curbs.

 

[2017YuknDenali]

I second @Jetskier77. What is the purpose of the question?

The lower valance, or air dam, is to deflect air around the vehicle for better MPG. Removing it should be easy - they are all push pins and quick nuts. Cutting will require some skill, but again....why?

Is there a group that judges vehicles based off their ground clearance to air dam ratio I'm not aware of?

I answered above as well. I want more clearance for at least basic offroading. The air dam is only about 8 inches off the ground and will even scrape taller curbs and such when parking.

 

[GMCChevy]

Mine was cut off and it probably looked better that way then those stupid ears hanging down on either end of it.
I don't pull up over curbs in parking lots so that's a non issue but it can drag in deep snow and other conditions.

 

[2017YuknDenali]

I second @Jetskier77. What is the purpose of the question?

The lower valance, or air dam, is to deflect air around the vehicle for better MPG. Removing it should be easy - they are all push pins and quick nuts. Cutting will require some skill, but again....why?

Is there a group that judges vehicles based off their ground clearance to air dam ratio I'm not aware of?

I think that might be true on the Tahoe or some other models, but on the Yukon it's clips and pinscrews that are not easily accessible from the top.

 

[2017YuknDenali]

I second @Jetskier77. What is the purpose of the question?

The lower valance, or air dam, is to deflect air around the vehicle for better MPG. Removing it should be easy - they are all push pins and quick nuts. Cutting will require some skill, but again....why?

Is there a group that judges vehicles based off their ground clearance to air dam ratio I'm not aware of?

It may be easy to remove on the Tahoe or other models, and on the Yukon the the tops of most of the screws are not easily accessible. I think that's at least part of why most people are cutting them instead of removing them. I found videos and instructions on removing them on other models, including trucks, but not much for the Yukon. The one I found involved some complexities with removing the bumper and other parts.

 

[Doubeleive]

It may be easy to remove on the Tahoe or other models, and on the Yukon the the tops of most of the screws are not easily accessible. I think that's at least part of why most people are cutting them instead of removing them. I found videos and instructions on removing them on other models, including trucks, but not much for the Yukon. The one I found involved some complexities with removing the bumper and other parts.

I would just measure and use some blue painters tape, tape a nice straight line then cut it with a small jigsaw or dremel type tool, my preference would be a jig because you can follow the line easier with the guide. it's just plastic it cuts like butter.
you could give it a easy 2" spacer lift (leveling kit) also for cheap $35-40, the spacers just mount under the lower shock mount, doing that is easy way to get some slightly bigger tires on it as well without spending $2500+ on a lift

 

[GMCChevy]

I think that might be true on the Tahoe or some other models, but on the Yukon it's clips and pinscrews that are not easily accessible from the top.

Yukon amd tahoe have different part but mounted the same way.

 

[2001 TX Tahoe]

Trimming makes a big difference and isn’t too hard. Use painters tape to create your line.

 

[CMoore711]

Like others have mentioned I ended up using painters tape, a dremel, and a sanding block to clean up the plastic cut edges. This was on my '15 Yukon XL Denali. I only trimmed off the outside lower portions in front of the wheels so that my air dam ended up just a level height instead of being lower on the outside.

There are a ton of different angle pics here you can check out:

'15 Denali XL Exterior Done... Silver Black Chrome, Full Chrome Delete, Lowered, Wilwoods, 24's

2015 Yukon Denali XL Exterior is finally done so I figured I'd create a thread and post some pics of how it sits currently and a bit on the process to complete the mods. All chrome has been deleted with either OEM parts painted to match, replaced with OEM Gloss Black trim pieces, or OEM parts...

www.tahoeyukonforum.com

Check out post #868: https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/thr...-tahoes-and-yukons.86065/page-87#post-1756657

Here's another good thread for reference: https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/thr...lance-that-comes-on-police-model.90043/page-4

Just measure twice and cut once. It's easy to do in your driveway.

 

[gtrslngrchris]

For those that don't get it go put a vehicle with the valence right next to the one without and you visually get a 1-2" front end lift out of it and the reverse is true for every sports car that runs a body kit that makes it look slammed to the ground. I can also state that our 2014 Sierra lost a repeatable 1-2mpg by taking it off. We put it back on for a month and we got the mileage back.

 

[steve45]

I really don't see why people are making this so difficult. I did it on our 2016 Tahoe, marked it with tape then cut it with a pneumatic cut-off saw.

Recently bought a 2019 Yukon and that's the first thing I did to it. This time, I didn't even bother with the tape. There is a line in the plastic which I followed with the cut-off saw and I was done in about 3 minutes.

My wife and I both got tired of hitting parking stops with the damn dam.