Vampyr

Anyone scraped the underside of their front spoiler on a curb yet?

I'm not sure "curb" is the right word I'm basically referring to those concrete monstrosities that are at the front end of parking spaces in the typical parking lot.

I have NOT done this yet but I am convinced that it will eventually happen....I've eyeballed it and it looks like it may or may NOT have enough clearance. And since I sit fairly low I really haven't gotten a perfect grasp of the front hood distance when parking front-end yet.

My temporary solution is to park backwards.

Anyway just curious if anyone has done this yet, and if so, how horrifying of an experience it may have been and whether anything cracked or broke...

mikeb

clearance should be fine

I have lowered mine with eibach springs and still clear most curbs

but dont test it , I always park and stop WAY before I hit or almost hit a curb

FirstSpin

Hell mine's at factory height, with no appearance package (no front spoiler) and I've still grazed a curb or two. Nothing bad but I can't imagine trying to clear a curb if it were any lower.....

brothervoodoo

I have the appearance pkg and it will hit curbs parking head on. I used to run my old cars up the curb, I make sure to keep a safe distance now. Even at 6-8" from the curb the car does not come close to hanging out in the back.

RAM

Yep done it more than once. Some parking space "bumpers" are higher than others. Need to remember to keep my distance.

fan

I haven't done it yet, but I have checked, and it WILL hit. (atleast on some curbs)

By the time I got rid of my 98 Eclipse, the paint on the whole front bottom was scraped off, so I'm sure it'll happen eventually. Actually I usually don't hit curbs, its usually more of hitting the incline when pulling into a gas station or something like that. And considering the 8 is RWD (and therefore the front wheels are further forward) I hopefully won't have that problem as much.

beachdog

Here in Central FL all of the parking lot stops are higher than the standard front end of the 8. I am extremely careful pulling in forwards. The lower horizontal is supported by two very thin plastic verticals which look like they will be wasted if the lower ever makes contact with a curb.

NoVa

I parked in a space that had a slight decline and my car rolled a little bit when iw as putting on the brake and it hit the "curb". Now i have a scratch all the way at the bottom of the front air dam. Anyone know how to get this out..i'll take a picture of it tomorrow

G8rboy

No problems so far with the appearance package at factory height- I've been to plenty of shopping centers before christmas, as well as the parking bumpers at my work... I had been checking height for the first few days and there was still 1-2" of clearance left.

I have 'bumped' into some snow piles though... I noticed my rotary accent was packed with snow when I got home tonight
I guess I still haven't got the Miata parking habits out of my head.

-Sean

Vampyr

I think I'm going to stick with my parking in reverse strategy! all of these damn curbs are diff't sizes and I don't want to risk it.

Thanks all.

sritter

Yes, once I scraped mine on a higher then normal concrete monstrosity and it did no damage. The noise was worse then anything. It scared me at first, but all was okay. I am way more careful with parking now.

rotarymagic

nice Pictures, Brother

gingersrus

Well I have no excuse at all , but I just did it today. The appearance package front spoiler sits 6 1/2 inches off level ground and most curbs are 8 inches. I parked at a restaurant today and momentarilly forgot and rolled into it pretty hard. Nothing broken but scraped the fibreglass pretty bad across the front edge. This one the saleman even warned me about. I have not yet figured out my punishment. Maybe my confession here will absolve me.

Astor

Yes, I always park backwards as force of habit, it's easy to see in the mirror how close your car is to the curb, it's an old habit I picked up from traveling around with my band in a van, that way if you were on the road and somehow needed a jump start, someone could just pull up and attach the cables.

Vampyr

Uh-oh. Maybe I jinxed you.


Is the scrape visible from head-on or only if you crouch down a little and are looking for it?

brothervoodoo

Thanks, but please feel free to call me voodoo..

gingersrus

Visible, but not too noticable. Touch up paint will make it okay. The good news is that there were no breaks or cracks even though I hit it pretty hard and straight on - not just underneath.

Vampyr

Sorry to hear it man i hope it gets fixed to your liking.

khoney

Ditto.

noahprtlnd

My last car was a 325 coupe - I was parked in a movie theatre parking lot one night, and when I was leaving there was nobody in the spot in front of me so instead of backing out I just pull forward. The car goes up, crashes down, and there's one of the loudest sounds I've ever heard. I get to look, and the spot I was in was the only one in the entire parking lot with a ******* cement curb in front of it. Now my car is basically resting on top of the curb (it's behind the front tires, but the tires are off the ground a little bit). So to get it off, I have to go forward more. Tore up the whole underside of the car, over $2000 in damages. (radiator, various hoses, suspension etc)

Wankeler

Ditto!

I pulled into some greasy spoon off the PA Turnpike and I ran into a humungos piece of concrete and I was really pissed at myself. Got out and grabbed some Zaino detail spray and a towel outta the trunk. After wiping off the road dust I couldn't spot the "obvious" scape I knew I put into that damn air dam. Very minor scratches for the noise that it made. Nothing a lil touchup paint couldn't fix... oh well, it couldn't stay new forever.

Ditto on the parking too! :p