ares

iTrader: (2)

I try so hard... stick my head out the window and be sure Im not too close to the curb. and then it happened... I was pulling out. 8AM I was sleepy, and went to back out, and reverted back to my 5mt days where reverse was approximatly where 1st is... SCRAPE!

that hurt ALOT... I felt so bad...

then tonight, I was pulling out of the parking lot, didnt notice anything extreme in the angle, but none the less SCRAPE!

I havent even looked at it yet since its dark but OUCH! and during the first one, not only did it scrape and put gashes in it. but it also made a crease in the bar that is noticable in the reflection pattern from above where you wouldnt notice the scrapes....

so anyone else done this? just when i was set to get the top secret carbon fiber diffuser... Im thinking, can I really avoid this? I dont want to spend 650$ on it just to crack it in half in a month.

JamieH

I think the Z actually has MORE front clearance than my last car. I scraped that puppy about 50 times. It's something I've learned to live with--low cars are gonna get the bottom of the front bumper scraped. Most of the time you can't see the damage without getting down and looking under the car anyway.

I wouldn't put a lot of money into anything on the front bumper unless you are exclusively racing the thing and never need to park it anywhere. Low curbs abound around here in Seattle.

nwind21

Yeah there is another short & recent thread regarding this. You're not alone.

Funny you mentioned about the top secret diffuser. I was thinking about it too and was considering worse case scenario is I misjudge the angle of an incline/ramp/driveway and leave my $650 diffuser behind.

Electro Z

Yeah... I did the same thing.. got a little tiny dimply in the front bottom.. and scrapes under the bar... frustrating.... I have been doing a mantra now when I get in the Z... calm calm.... slowly.. look around.. check blind spots... check for curbs and bumps...

THEN RIP OUT OF THERE.....


Waiting to see if I do it again before I have it repaired...

Love this car.. after break in its a lot smoother and more exciting...

EZ

CoachZ

Took me just over a week to join this club. Kinko's parking lot, no sloped curbs. Then a week later, Quizno's, same type of curbs. Come to think of it, it happened at a possessive noun business in each case...damn, now I have to avoid all " 's " businesses for the health and wellbeing of my car.

Josh

westpak

iTrader: (19)

Same here, I think it is the parking spot stops, because the front spoiler is scraped to hell it is horrible. The rest is OK, just have to watch out for road debry, around here a lot of semi truck tire pieces all over the place and the Z doesn't clear those too well.

abz123

I joined the club first day. Chunk of asphalt to front spoiler. A little scratch but you can't really see it.

ares

iTrader: (2)

well good to see Im not alone, but it makes the arguement to get a front end from anyone very hard to justify.

roberto350z

DONT REMIND ME DAMMIT....j/k

I scraped mine 3 weeks ago, and since I dont see it, I never think about it anymore (whereas that whole week was ruined when I did it!)

infinite z

I've already scraped the crap out of my underside front on several occaissions. It usually is totally unexpected when it happens too. Luckily you wouldn't know unless you were looking for the scrapes, you can't see it if you're standing up. But still, it sucks, and that noise! Oh god the painful scraping noise!

The stuff that really pisses me off is the scrapes I've put on 2 of my wheels. Very nice gashes from the curb. That rimguard doesn't do ****!

ares

iTrader: (2)

ah, yes Ive scraped rims before, but not my Z, I am VERY careful for that. scraped rims are unacceptable.

my Z's life actually flashed before my eyes yesterday, as a truck plowed into a car not 10 feet from where I was parked. all I could think of was will any of these cars bounce into me. luckily the truck was traveling in the same direction as me, passed me and struck a car that was pulling across the road in front of me. phew. I was on my way to defensive driving school too.

I proceeded to scrape my bumper while leaving. now Im gonne exit the same way tonight to see if it was my own fault for going to fast or if it was unavoidable. Im trying to prove to myself that I can buy the diffuser and not destroy it...

nwind21

Agreed. I can deal with little scratches on the front low bumper (which can be touched up or mostly ignored)... but I've noticed rim damage is always much more noticeable. It just sounds horrible when you hear your rim scraping on a curb. Errgh.

MatthewZ

I have much experience with low front lips/splitters. Cross my fingers haven't scraped anything in years. Of course I'm usually so far away from the parking block my *** end is out in traffic, but hey.

buzzdsm

Since I've had sports cars since I was 16 I've been pretty good about parking far away from the curb. The problem is that I do it with all cars now. People sometimes look at me funny because I park my CRV 2-3 ft away from the curb. It usually doesn't hurt since there are so many long SUV's these days that make everything else look like a mini cooper. I did scrape my first sports car numerous times.
Not that I know much about cars but I can't think it's healthy when you see these people that insist on hitting their front tires on the curb when parking.

gammbino350z

i back into parking spaces whenever i can because on every car i've owned the rear end will usually clear curbs no problem. with the Z though I always park 2-3 ft away from the curb even when I back in because i really don't want to scrape up those pretty exhaust tips.

nub

Hmm maybe u guys should look into puting some of that clear bra stuff on the bottom of your bumber, it will stop the scratches but prob not the bends.

CLS

iTrader: (1)

I have been lucky and not scratched it yet. I had a prelude that was lower than this and I scratched it several times. You just have to be careful pulling up to curbs.

Edretti

It's so funny to read this thread because it makes me feel good to see that I'm not the only weirdo parking 2-3 ft away from the curb either parallel parking or pulling up to a parking slab to avoid scraping spoilers or wheels. This is no joke, after driving suv's for the past 5 years what do I do the first time I pull up to a store 20 minutes after I picked up my Z? You got it, scraped that puppy all up not even 30 minutes from picking my baby up. My girlfriend and I were on our way to Outback for dinner to celebrate picking up the Z. She just looked at me and didn't say one word! She didn't even speak to me for almost an hour because she knew how f****** HOT I was! LUCKILY it was the bottom side of the spoiler which I touched up with paint and I took off the black air deflector and spray painted it black because it just drove me nuts to see white scrape marks all over it. As for you poor guys that have scraped wheels look for a local wheel shop in your area that repairs them. I have a friend that scraped his track wheel a week after he had it (ouch)and he got this company called wheel works to repair it here in Maryland. So who cares if someone looks at you crazy, park 2-3 feet away from the curb!!!

Eddie