Just reporting my experience with the new Vantage’s side vents. I get that the purpose of the vents is to relieve built up air pressure while underway.
The vent opening however allows small pebbles and sand coming off the front tires to accumulate.
The base of the vents capture this stuff and you can’t get it out because it’s dumped in a cavern formed by the 2 body pieces.
There must have been a way to make a finer screen to prevent this from happening because it’s looks really messy from the outside.

 

I’m sorry you are experiencing this on your beautiful new vantage. It was one of my main concerns when contemplating a DB11 and having a long sandy driveway. Now it appears the new Vantage has the same issue.

Are you actually driving over sandy areas or is the sand and debris accumulating from just normal roads?

If you could post a few pictures it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Here you go. Total of 127 miles on new car. Only driven on established well maintained Florida paved roads..

 

Would a can of compressed air or a gas powered leaf blower work to get it out? Kind of hard to tell exactly what you mean from the photos as I don’t have a new vantage but just a thought.

 

Tanks for the suggestion. Tried a hose and compressed air as well as my MetroVac car dryer.The material gets wedged in and you can’t dislodge it without scratching the paint.

 

That does not look good.

If you drove on my driveway you wouldn’t have just a few pebbles; you’d have a sandbox.

I think there is a need for an aftermarket kit for the new Vantage and DB11 to block these vents. They are only truly effective at top speeds and would not effect normal driving.

Have you decided on having PPF installed? Mines currently in the shop having paint correction, full XPEL and window tint.

 

I wonder if you could 3D print something, with a hinge that allows it to open at faster speeds. Either that, or a clear filler to fill in the gaps where the sand gets in. Maybe ceramic coating the inside of the vent to allow lower friction?
I will look at my DB9 and see if same issue

 

I do have Expel PPF on the front bumper and 1/3 of the hood. The car was ceramic coated. As I said the problem
is the tight wedge created by the bottom form of the vent. Debris gets caught and is probably pressed down
by the wind flowing over it. I can’t imagine what it looks like inside the metal or carbon fiber side vent covers
offered as a factory option.

 

As a test, you might try applying painters tape on the vent grill on one side of the car, preferably inside of the wheel well. This will give you an indication of what percentage of debris is coming through the wheel well vents versus normal airborne dust and sand.

 

Dug out the debris (2 hours) with tweezers...yikes. I am inserting thin rubber screening spline into the vent’s base to fill in the groove. This should allow foreign material to be blown out of the rear of the vent as you drive.
Stay tuned....

 

Bit of Yankee engineering should be fine.

 

Yes...quite like Lend Lease....

 

Well I think I came up with an easy solution. I tried weeding into the gap various sized screens splines which neither looked good or would have worked. I cut a strip of Expel PPF strips 2x6”. They work perfectly by covering
the channel created by the joining of the 2 body panels eliminating stones from gathering inside the joint.
Of course the added feature is that you can’t see the fix.

 

So now it doesn't function as a vent at all? Pretty much a design flaw as well as the front end. I apologize, not a fan of the new Vantage.

 

No the vent is not covered at all,just the visible seam. I like your car...I had 2. The new one is in a different
category with a different function in mind.