I love my sonic, but like with any non-SUV, the low ground clearance takes its toll in city driving. A few times now I've scraped the area under my front bumper when I had to drive down elevated curbs. I suppose it's unavoidable in any non-elevated car. The scratches are invisible of course, but I still worry about the damage, if not to the paint, then to the material underneath the paint. Anyone here do anything about this, and if yes, what?
How to protect the area underneath the front bumper?
- Thread starter pounamu
- Start date
TheFallenAngel12
New member
As the above said, i always take any sloped drive or entrance at an angle to avoid or lesson the chance of scraping the front end. My driveway is sloped at the top of it going into the road. so i have to go into it at an angle or i will scrape. and leaving i have to go very slow or i will scrape the front. This is at the stock height. Could only imagine how it would be at a lowered height.
mowcowbell
New member
I guess I am used to watching for sharp inclines in my Sonic. My previous ride was a '03 Toyota Matrix XR which had the same problem. I just learned to go very slowly at an angle when entering or exiting some driveways. And to straight up avoid some driveways as I could tell from the steep angle that I would scrape.
And never pull all the way up to a parking curb.
At least the Sonic has a very flexible lower air dam which takes minor hits without any damage. I've hit some road debris and it didn't damage the plastic air dam at all.
And never pull all the way up to a parking curb.
At least the Sonic has a very flexible lower air dam which takes minor hits without any damage. I've hit some road debris and it didn't damage the plastic air dam at all.
ahtoxa
New member
That's because most of the time the scraping happens not with the bumper but with the rubber air deflector right underneath. It's there to direct air away from the undercarriage component, thus providing better airflow for better fuel economy.
The downside, is that deflector is hanging low and will hit all parking curbs if you nose in too far.
radsonic08
New member
It's all about angles. Every driveway I go in and out at an angle. Especially since I'm down almost 3.5". That's the only way. I don't care how much the car behind of me honks. My last truck was a Chevy Colorado I was the lowest truck in cali. It takes some time on judgement and yes I do sometimes pick and choose driveways when going into business'. Especially now since I added a front lip to my sonic.
Luv2xlr8
New member
It's actually my bumper not the air damn deflector, right prior to the deflector it's all scratched from living In downtown crappy parking lot entrances. It's hard to go on some angles when the exits are narrow just to fit two cars in/out when it's always practically rush hour here. Lol oh well
Luv2xlr8
New member
Yes that's correct......in my case i still scrap a bit. Must be the extra added weight of me at 245lbs 6'3". Lol
TheFallenAngel12
New member
Thats how i enter my driveway. i make sure to enter slowly and at an angle so that my tire hits the slope before the front does thus leaving the front from hitting the lowest point of the enterance and not scraping then. When leaving i creap out, because i pull forward out, its nose first into the street thus making it highly likely to scrape, but as long as i take it very slow i dont even pulling straight out and not backing out.
Going extremely slow helps minimize or stop the scraping effect thus keeping my front end scrape free. if i see an entrance and think im going to scrape. i try my best to enter it at an angle, but as Luv2xlr8 said, its not always possible if another car is in the way of the enterance.
Going extremely slow helps minimize or stop the scraping effect thus keeping my front end scrape free. if i see an entrance and think im going to scrape. i try my best to enter it at an angle, but as Luv2xlr8 said, its not always possible if another car is in the way of the enterance.
You know, I try to creep out slowly too, but the problem is that when you hit the breaks, the front dips further, which makes the scraping worse. How do you avoid that?
radsonic08
New member
I know our cars are lower then the average vehicle but I'm down 3.5" and I don't have an issue with scraping the bumper its only the wind deflector that scrapes. I put a front lip on so I had to take out the deflector now its quite. I'm driving in the messed up streets of los Angeles. At this point I think it's driver error. Don't take it the wrong way but not everyone can drive a low or lowered vehicle with out tearing sh'it up.
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