2004 Toyota matrix XR
I wish this thing was just a little higher off the ground. I had to park at a festival where I was working today off of the paved road. When it was over I tried to gently angle my vehicle back up onto the pavement. The bottom got a good scraping, probably just the cross frame where the middle jack point is. I’ll inspect it up on ramps when I get some daylight today.
when I bought the vehicle it had one of those lower front valance/spoilers missing, purportedly from parking too close to the curb. I went ahead and pulled off the other side as well as the middle attachment. If it weren’t for the little holes across the bottom of the main bumper cover, it would look fine that way.
practically speaking, will this hurt anything? The only two concerns I can think of is it may affect aerodynamics and gas mileage ever so slightly or remove protection from small objects on the road bouncing up into my undercarriage and hitting the engine or transmission
but I hate anything that drags the ground. I am not a Lowrider kind of guy
Looks like the scrape got the very edge of my transmission pan. Doesn’t seem to be leaking.🙏
the plastic junk usually serves two purposes
- aerodynamics. You would be surprised what a difference it can make to fuel economy. Consider that sideview mirrors increase fuel consumption by 1.5-2 miles per US gallon. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_drag_coefficient). Air going beneath the vehicle contributes a lot.
- Cooling. Various skirting and ducting is used to direct airflow through the radiator, and also into brake rotors.
If you don't have a good reason to remove it, leave it there.
Speaking of cooling, I have not had this thing long, but I noticed previous owner must have always ran the fog lights. There is a band of bug carcasses in the radiator fins perfectly parallel with the fog lights. I need to spray those out.
Toyota should have build a snow plow at the bottom instead of those plastic bumper scoops. If I put them back on, I have a feeling something will tear them off the first time I have to park off of the asphalt for a festival
I would either find more suitable parking, or drive a different vehicle. Do the festival organizers expect everybody to rip off their bodywork?
And this was considered VIP parking!
The plastic crap on the bottom of my car fell off in the road years ago and it has made no noticeable difference.
People cut or remove lower body plastic all the time for off roading. Not generally a big deal.
However, be aware that at high speeds you can get enough air under the car to affect handling. Understeer at 85mph might be a little unsettling.
I usually top out at 75. me, not the vehicle. Speaking of unsettling, I drove a 95 previa the last three years. Could have used some attention to the struts , Bushings, etc. It was fun on the interstate during a good brisk crosswind
Ahh. Then nothing to worry about 😉
Practically, it won’t hurt your gas mileage.
