[sblument]

I ran over a rock or a piece of metal on the road today. Didn't see it; it made a loud noise under the car. I checked, and part of the rock shield was torn open and hanging down behind and toward the center of the underbody from the left front wheel. The material that's hanging down looks and feels kind of like really thick, rigid cardboard. Dealer is looking at the damage. Hopefully a cheap part to repair or replace (not covered under warranty, obviously.)

[myfirstbimmer]

Damn, i feel ya. THe debris we have on the road and freeways these days are unreal. Last week, i was driving at 120km/h and when changing lanes, i didnt even realize, and only heard and saw some sort of card board and shot it from the rear right tires to the cars behind me. Luckily, there was no damage to my car and others, but other cars that followed me for a while stayed well distance away from me LOLOL.

Tom

[rpiopio]

[siriusinvestor]

Originally Posted by rpiopio

[knight]

Originally Posted by sblument

I ran over a rock or a piece of metal on the road today. Didn't see it; it made a loud noise under the car. I checked, and part of the rock shield was torn open and hanging down behind and toward the center of the underbody from the left front wheel. The material that's hanging down looks and feels kind of like really thick, rigid cardboard. Dealer is looking at the damage. Hopefully a cheap part to repair or replace (not covered under warranty, obviously.)

feel the pain...just last week i ran over someone else's flat tire on the highway while going to work...it looked alright at first, but then the next day, i notice a gap between my foglight and my bumper...got knocked out of place

[Bimmer325]

so the wise choice is to stay away from tailgating the car in front and drive slowly...

[BmwOwnsMe]

Get hydraulics on your car and everytime you see debris on the road just hit the switch and bounce like you're from Compton.

[sblument]

Dealer said damage is not severe enough to warrent replacing the shield yet. Cost would have been $300 part + $60 labor. They didn't charge me anything in the end for just inspecting it and telling me to wait on it.

Kind of difficult to photograph but I will see if I can get a snap.

[sblument]

photos...

from looking at it more closely, it looks like it should be fixed, at least before winter. Looks like slush or dirt could get up there and cause corrosion.

Not sure why the tech recommended it not be fixed.

Any opinions? $360 worth it?

[Asiann]

Damn! I would probably get that replaced before winter comes. I would be worried about it too with it exposed and all. Too bad you couldn't just seal it with sealant or something. Good luck!

[ZuerstBMW]

Yes, it sucks, but sometimes there is just not enough time to avoid it or its dark and you cant see a damn thing.

[ward]

I wouldn't bother with replacing that, it's plastic, non structural, and you can't see it. you have a 8 or 10 year 100K mile corrosion warranty.


worst case scenario is you're getting .0004 less miles per gallon as the airflow under the car isn't as smooth as it's supposed to be

[beauderek]

Wouldn't car insurance cover that?

[knight]

just duck tape that

duck tape fixes everything

[foofighter]

aerodynamic drag on the underbody!

i dont think it's that expensive to replace...me personally i would as knowing that it's messed up would bother me

[toughluck]

Just duct tape it. (like Knight says). Airlines and Astronauts both use duct tape to repair minor issues. When you hit another rock and it gets worse, I would justify getting it repaired.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...79/detail.html

[sblument]

I got the rock shield repaired for $320 at the dealer. Unfortunately, another, smaller shield was also damaged (I think it due to me bottoming out on a speed bump entering a city parking garage in Toronto.) As my SA said, this is a low profile car with the sport pkg, and you have to be careful to protect the underside. They did say that these pieces did not need to be repaired -- I'm doing it mostly out of a desire to have a really good condition car -- to give it the best quality maintenance rather than just the minimum. I'll have the 2nd shield repaired later when I put the winters on. It will be cheaper since it's a smaller shield. By the way, I did poke through the hole to take another look, and it looks like the metal parts inside have a corrosion protection coating on them.

[sblument]

going to get the part in my photos above replaced -- it's the underbody paneling that you can see torn above. It's p/n 16 in the diagram below:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...60&hg=51&fg=80

Before I get this done, take a look at a photo I took yesterday of part of what I assume is the floorpan or some kind of underbody metal structure, that got punctured. Before I replace the paneling, any suggestions on how to repair this gash, or at least patch it up and/or apply corrosion protection? The rest of the metal there is treated but the gash removes the protection in that area.

I went to an auto parts store and told them about this. they recommended some chemicals in a tube I could buy that simulate re-welding the part back together (closing the gash), then applying some rubberized underbody coating. The instructions for this chemical product say you should sand the place you will repair, plus remove paint, etc. Sounds like a difficult job underneath the car, and I'm not sure I'd want to be removing even more corrosion protection. Also, the corrosion protection that's there is nothing like rubberized underbody coating.

I plan to ask the dealer about this this week. Any suggestions? Should I just replace the cover and forget about it, or is there something I can reasonably do myself, or ask the dealer to do?

[ward]

I looked, the car has a 12 year corrosion warranty

unless you plan on keeping it for a really long time I wouldn't worry about it

[inTgr8r]

It looks clean....
Before it starts to rust, just primer it & paint it.
You could add a little body goop after the paint cures.

The under body panel could be repaired by pop riveting a patch piece on the inside.

[sblument]

thanks for the suggestions. Off to the auto parts store...