Front Spoiler Abuse

[Guest Isher]

Hi all,

The XR6T is the first performance car I have evre owned and while not set too low to the ground it is lower than your average sedan.

My problem is that in the few months I have owned the car, I have managed to catch the bottom of the front spoiler on several obstacles, particularly at the points where the lips curve up at the left and right side of the front spoiler. I have even been caught on some streets that have too much of an incline and on some speed bumps. The result is that the bottom of the front spoiler now has quite a few nicks and scratches, some quite deep.

While you cant see the damage when looking at the front of the car, I know it is there and it pi$$es me off.

What have other forum readers done to :

1. Prevent damaging the front spoiler.

2. Repair scratches to the front spoiler

Should I bother attempting to repair the scratches or is it just part and partial of owning a car with lower than normal suspension?

I would hate to think how easy to damage a after market lowered car would be.

Regards,

Isher

[Turbo6man]

Isher> I've seen comments on this including sticking a few layers of cloth (racing) tape along the bottom edge and replacing it every month or as needed.

On mine I thought of fixing a 1mm or 1.5mm aluminium plate to the underside and folding it up a little at the front to act as a "sled". I reckon it could stay there until the car was sold and the spoiler would be as new.

[XRSICKT]

Mmm, I've never had a problem, you guys must be flying over these speed humps

[Superoo]

As someone who as of 30 minutes ago just placed a rather nice gash on my front spoiler on yet another uneven driveway, it's probably not a good time for me to comment. :cussing:

I've caught mine on a few things but this latest one looks the worst. I'll have a better look in the daylight but I have a feeling you may be able to see it from certain angles. To be honest, I'm getting fed up with worrying about it - just gonna touch it up as best I can and considering where it is, hopefully you won't see it.

Not a good car to own if things like this bother you. It does piss me off though considering how careful I am. I guess it makes up for it in other areas.

[Guest keithg]

Well here is my bumber history!

1) The pick up date of my car was pushed out a couple of days because when they backed it off the truck at the dealership the bottom of the bumber was scrapped on the ramps on the delivery truck. This was kindly fixed by the dealer.

2) About 2 weeks into my ownership and feeling a little cocky as to what drivways I could drive up etc, I bottomed it out on my cousins driveway. Even though the damage with slight I went to a local body repair shop to get a quote and they convinced me that I should wait until I sell the car to fix these kinds of problems up.

3) At my 15000 service, I asked the dealer to rotate my tyres. In doing so the dealership took it to a local tyre shop, where a pimply face teenager drove it back to the dealership and bottomed it out going too fast through a drainway. In turn the dealership fixed the whole bumper for me.

4) Litterally a couple of weeks after that, I again missjudged an exit from a driveway and made a small scuff on the bottom of the right corner.

I am back at stage one now. I am going to take as much care as I can to prevent further damage I.e;

- Get the miss's to get out and check the front bumber when parking nose to curves etc.

- Don't attempt any unknown driveways.

Then when it comes to selling it I am going to get the bumber and bonnet tidied up as much as possable before a professional detail!

[aniken]

Drive slower over the bumps!!!

I also find that if you are exiting a driveway, you can 'reduce' the dip somewhat by driving out at an angle rather than straight down - car doesn't bounce as much and so doesn't scrape.

[GDH]

I also find that if you are exiting a driveway, you can 'reduce' the dip somewhat by driving out at an angle rather than straight down - car doesn't bounce as much and so doesn't scrape.

Absolutely! This is the only way in or out of my driveway without scraping...nice and slow, through the gate then loads of lock.

Had to check before I bought the car, because my wife's AU (Fairmont, so shouldn't be a ride height issue) scrapes unless you do this.

GDH

[NT TURBO]

Isher> I've seen comments on this including sticking a few layers of cloth (racing) tape along the bottom edge and replacing it every month or as needed.

On mine I thought of fixing a 1mm or 1.5mm aluminium plate to the underside and folding it up a little at the front to act as a "sled". I reckon it could stay there until the car was sold and the spoiler would be as new.

I was thinking the same but 4 or 5mm nylon skid plate is what I'm going to try small slightly curved triangles on each side.

[Guest Isher]

- Get the miss's to get out and check the front bumber when parking nose to curves etc.

keithg: That’s amazing... that is precisely what I have been getting my misses to do! :D I think she is getting a bit tiered of doing it though. It is especially starting to annoy her when I ask her to get out of the car and open the garage door...

Me: Can you open the garage door for us honey?

Her: I'm getting sick of this. When will we get an automatic garage door opener?

Me: Don't need to, already have one.

Aniken: It's not a matter of speed. I have only bottomed it once on a speed bump and that was because I was not concentrating. 99% of the damage has been caused by steep driveways or open gutters on roads.

I'm sort of off the opinion that I won't bother fixing it until I sell the car as well.

Regards,

Isher

[BlueXR6Turbo]

I've scraped mine a few times on driveways. It doesn't bother me too much because you can only see the damage if you're down low near the ground. I doubt that I will ever worry about getting it fixed unless it becomes quite noticeable.