Groundhog Day

The first time I started thinking about upgrading the side skirts on my Giulia was in December 2021, back in Ukraine when I had my 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia. That car was purchased in November, and less than a month later a random curb during a right turn destroyed the right side skirt. It was my first time driving a RWD car, you know...

However, when you're a car guy, every piece of damage is just a push toward another upgrade. And my dream at that time was to turn my Giulia Super into a "Super QV". Just like I did previously with my 2015 Volkswagen CC and 2016 Ford Focus. I don't care how fast slow those cars are. I'm a calm driver, sjxc can confirm. I care more about how they look. It was an amazing feeling when you walk up to your car, look at it and think: "Damn, that looks cool!"

So, I thought it could be the same with the Alfa Romeo Giulia. I started looking for QV side skirts back in 2021, and that was the first time I was shocked by the exaggerated prices of QV parts. How the hell could those two plastic side skirts cost $2,000? Carbon fiber inserts? C'mon I have a friend who makes parts from carbon-kevlar material for surfing, boats, etc. And when he looked at those prices he just laughed. Back then, in 2021, I decided to stick to replacing the standard side skirt, just because of the prices and insurance coverage.

And here we are in the "Groundhog Day" season of 2026 (yes it was a couple of months ago). The Alfa Romeo Giulia is about to stop being produced. So the prices should be lower, right? I thought... Well, kind of. The prices on QV parts are still high (even for used ones). But the Chinese guys have made good progress, and started making pretty good-quality parts for this car, so now we have options.

Since my car doesn't have any carbon fiber parts, and I'm not interested in any of them (remember I installed a glossy black trunk spoiler instead of a carbon fiber one), and I just want to give it a "Quadrifoglio-like" look, I found QV-style side skirts with glossy black inserts on Alibaba for... $537 per pair. That was a bargain, as you can imagine. Even if they have some imperfections, the ~$270 price per paint-ready side skirt with a glossy black insert is awesome. So I pulled the trigger and ordered them.

After a month and a half of waiting I finally had them in my hands. The next question was finding a body shop. I asked a couple of local body shops for quotes, and the prices varied from $500 to $2,000. I chose the one that quoted $500, gave them the side skirts and the fuel filler door (for color matching). A couple of days later the side skirts were ready to be installed. The paint quality was excellent.

Since the Alfa Romeo Giulia is not a car that everybody knows well, I helped during the installation process with my "very helpful insides" from Giulia Forums. Thanks, Driven, one more time. Despite my fears that the notorious white clips would break during the removal of the old side skirts, that didn't happen in my case. And I successfully transferred all of them to the new side skirts.

Of course, when I say the quality of the Alibaba side skirts is "really nice", there is always a small caveat when we talk about non-OEM parts. I'd say the quality is about 90-95% of OEM quality. Once installed, from the outside there are no issues at all. However, there is a gap on the inside between the body and the side skirt when you open the rear passenger doors. In close-up photos this may look not good, but in reality it's barely noticeable.

But taking into account the price, it's not an issue at all. After all, I'm totally satisfied with the final result. It's not comparable to the cheap-looking plastic covers available on Amazon/eBay/AliExpress for standard side skirts. Especially considering their $600 price. Additionally, QV side skirts have a completely different shape and are much wider than the standard ones.

So now, the first step toward the Quadrifoglio look is done. More to come! That's all I wanted to share. Thanks to everyone for reading. Stay safe and love your cars!

Total:

• Side skirts: $538
• Painting: $500

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