The dreaded under the bumper scrape...
 

I think it's safe to say many of us at one point or another has scraped the underside of the bumper when parking the car. I know I did... on the test drive :bonk:. So do you guys leave it all scraped up or go and get it repainted? I know there is no way in hell touch up paint is going to correct such a massive area like that. Maybe Dr.ColorChip?

Lower the car and nobody will be able to see under it.

or put on a lip. I always leave room in front when parking, it is a good habit to get used to

Like I said, I done goofed the very first time I set foot in the car. Now I leave at least 1 foot gap between the car and the curb.

Lower it, add a lip or splitter, and wear the scrape like a badge of honor.

Left a nasty gash under the bumper while doing a road rally a couple of weeks back. Since it's plastic, don't have to worry about rust.

Unless I tell you about it, you won't know it's there. :D

One of the ideas I had when I get my lip, is to spray the underside with rhino liner. Not sure how it would turn out but I'll try it one I get my hands on it

I'm pretty anal about my paint, but even I know better than to worry about the underside of the bumper! Just take it easy parking and on steep driveways :)

ProTEKt makes a nice three piece bolt on bumper protector kit. I installed them after getting a few unwanted scrapes. They work great. I hit a piece of tire in the road driving at night and I believe the ProTEKt pieces saved my bumper. There was a small scratch on the ProTEKt piece, no other damage. I have also installed a front camera and can now park knowing exactly where my front end is.

FYI, getting a lip will make you scrape more since it's protruding further out and is lower. But it's sure as hell better than scraping your own bumper.

Or you know, you could just back in to spots. Line the nose of the car up with the front of the spot, and then it's easier to leave the parking spot as well.

Meh. Badge of honour of a high miles DD.

i scrape almost everyday :/

My bumper is already pretty banged up from the previous owner. A front lip will cover up the lower scrapes, and the rock chips will inevitably get worse from track days and road trips.

Yeah I'm so paranoid I leave a good foot to foot and a half in front

Tcoat, looks like you car has a cold. I can see its nose running.

I never pull all the way up in a the parking space. I stop the car when the driver's side mirror is about a foot behind the side mirror of the car next to me. Our cars only fill up 3/4s of a parking spot anyways. When I pull over on a side parking space, I always leave a foot from the sidewalk/curb.

Buuuuuuut this is how I feel when I do scrape the bottom of my bumper if I make an occasional boo boo.

A lip just means you'll be scraping all the time, as opposed to some of the time. Plus I worry that it'll actually cause the bumper to be forced up more than without the lip as the bumpers closer to the ground. Dont know why Toyota didnt incorporate some sort of expendable underside attachment/cover that can be replaced when it's scratched enough.

At first I cared, but my driveway sucks so I've given up on caring. There's always a driveway or section of road that can cause a scrape, so outside of not driving, I've learnt to accept it.

Even when I move out and find a nice place with a perfect driveway, the instant I get the underside repaired it's gonna scrape again.

Sides, could be worse:
http://i.imgur.com/j7BI3mt.png

my car is stock height, so I'm not sure how it is with lowered 86's. however, I don't scrape at all. my previous MR2 was lower than the BRZ and I rarely scraped that as well; you just have to be aware of the road and just slow down for dips. going over dips slightly slanted instead of straight on helps too. what gets me most of the time is pulling into and out of gas stations since most of them are raised up, lol. that caught me off guard when I first drove my BRZ to fill up as I didn't think a stock height BRZ would scrape. I was wrong, never again thinking that.

might be a dumb question but will srcapes like that rust? like the image Tcoat posted where the scratch goes down to the black coat (is that metal..?)

i have a couple of those

Depends where you scrape. The front bumper's plastic. And you get the rest. But if you do scrape metal, you're pretty much bound to rust.

IIRC wasn't it ice that did that? Crazy! Badge of honor indeed - ****** that glacier up with merely a flesh wound to take away from it :thumbup:

Getting back on topic - I've never done this to my own car, but when the dealership did it I fought for them to repaint it. If you're a perfectionist it's probably going to bother you, but really no one is going to see it.

If you ever plan on installing a lip or lowering the car, I wouldn't worry about it. If it really does bother you, but you don't want to pay to have it re-painted, I believe there are a few options for different liners (made out of garage-liner material) that you can add as a sort of "scrap prevention" that also doubles as hiding any previous scrapes. I feel like a few members have done something similar to that, there might even be a DIY for it.

Oh ok. i wasnt sure if the whole bumper was plastic. The bottom of my bumper looks about the same as that. scraped to the black.

unfortunate incident where someone almost runs into me and i hit the curb avoiding them :mad0260:

Also, why does it matter if you want to install a lip? Wont the lip just cover it up?

Problem.....solved.


http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76391&highlight=protect