My driveway is steep, and it immediately transitions to the level slap of my carport. If I'm the only one in the car it's fine, but if anyone else is in it it scrapes as I back out from the carport onto the driveway.

This has happened a few times (it's kind of touchy to tell a woman that she has to wait for me to back down because the extra weight is a problem). Each time a bit of black rubbery stuff gets scraped off of the bottom of my car.

I looked under the car and it's coming from a protective coating that's all over the underside. It's being scraped from the frame on both sides in the rear just before the gas tank.

Should I be concerned about this? It seems a minor thing, but do I need to worry about rust or whatever the coating is supposed to protect from?

 

Blame it on the driveway....

The framerails will rust after a while..but it would take years for it to be a problem

You could re-apply the rust protector and try the driveway at an angle....

 

What's a good product to use to re-apply rust protection? I may have to re-apply once and again as more scrapes happen, so I want something easy.

Could I just spray some Rustoleum on it, or do I need to worry about using something that can withstand a lot of heat? I know the cat gets supernova hot, but I don't know how hot the frame rails might get.

 

try the driveway at an angle might work.....

 

Won't work. There isn't much room and I have to back out an angle anyway because my driveway is crooked.

Attached are some photos so you can see what I'm up against. Needless to say, I won't be getting my 8 lowered.

 

just move!!! haha j/k.....it doesn't look like there is too much you can do!

 

you could get a concrete sander and lessen the angle that your car hits it @... kinda like what the city does when sidewalks start to buckle... just sand em down.

 

I see a few options. Its true pictures are worth 1000 words.

First is not to pull all the way up the driveway. You have more than enough driveway there put it to use.

Second is to back into the driveway. The back of the car is higher slightly and it might help.

Third is to drive up the grass. Although I don't even like this idea, My limited view of it shows that is not as jagged as the driveway.

This is the last Idea, because not only is it the hardest to do, but the hardest to describe.

Scratch that BRB.



In that pic I edited (poorly and quickly) an area which you can lay a wood plank down (inch thick or so) and in that specific location it would raise the rear of your car enough to raise the middle of your car high enough to miss that angle completely. While the front would miss completely.

To be 100% honest, im not even sure it would work. Ive been known for incredibly insane ideas that work, and this may or may not be one of them. Good luck and let me know how it works.

P.S. if the wood works, you could just lay some extra concrete in that area, for the same effect and a better look, if you care.

 

man i have a very similar problem when i stay at the gfs house! its impossible to get up her driveway and it scrapes like crazy and what makes it worse is her garage is right at the end of the steep so it hits the bump on the way in again! backing up helps and if you angle even just a slight bit it should help more

 

I had to drive into a trailer park yesterday and they had little evil speedbumps that caused the car to scrape and me to cringe

the people there looked like this was the fastest vehicle they had ever seen and were not familiar with the pieces of fabric surrounding my neck (a collar, i explained, on my golf shirt).

 

scrapes always make me cringe!...and this is the highest sitting car i think i've ever owned..so I'm used to if you hear scraping that just cost me about 200 bucks or more because something broke! but i def avoid any sharp angles that I can