Revolver

Ok, this is probably right up there with the dumbest questions I've asked in here but what do you guys think about this:

I've got to park the car atm where the access has a humped driveway. No matter which speed/angle/etc I take it, the car bottoms out (i.e. between the wheels - not either end) and there is a God awful dragging/scraping noise which makes me shudder each time. I make it over ok but am getting concerned about whether I'm doing serious damage.

Will the car survive this kind of treatment? - it's only for a week or so and I'm trying to limit movements in and out to no more than two a day. What am I scraping exactly - something sacrificial or something very expensive?? Is it chassis rails or something else? I've tried looking underneath but it just looks exactly the same as usual - i.e. black and dirty, lol...

BTW, this joint has a car stacker in it - very cool space saving idea - just don't stand up too quick when you get out of the car!!! Ouch!!!!

Kane

iTrader: (1)

That sucks; I feel your pain; especially lowered.

The lowest items on the car are (from highest to lowest); subframe, oil pan, cat heat shield, front air dam/lip (whatever you wanna call it).

If you can back up into the space it will help (back in and drive frontwards but REALLY slow out). If not; look at your cat heat shield - that may be bearing the brunt. I can't think of why that would be bad - unless you managed to scrape it off .

Does it sound like metal scraping or plastic - if plastic it is likely your front lip - which if the damage is on the bottom of the lip; won't be visible and shouldn't cause any harm. If you have side skirts; check those too.

Revolver

Thanks. Yep, it's lowered but not ridiculously so (20mm or so) - it's just a bitch of a driveway.

I'll give backing a try and see if that helps. I could probably back out too because there's some turning room at the bottom of the driveway before you enter the stacker.

It's definitely not the plastic front lip - I've scraped that plenty of times and know the sound well, lol. The front of the car clears this fine - it's bottoming out between the front and rear wheels and sounds like metal to me. No side skirts either.

If it's only the cat heat shield, I'm okay with that being scraped and scratched a bit provided, as you say, I don't rip the thing off!

Kane

iTrader: (1)

Be careful backing out - just because if you do catch your front lip; pulling on it is way worse than pushing on it.

If you don't have side skirts I would vote cat shield. It is on there REAL well; so a bit of scrapeing won't hurt it.

Revolver

Cheers Kane. Appreciate the advice.

Kane

iTrader: (1)

Thx; next time I am in Aussieland - you buy the first round?

Maybe 2009 they will invite us back.... I think the statute of limitations will be expired by then.

Revolver

It's on me mate.

We even have that watered down yank beer these days, so you'll feel right at home.

Kane

iTrader: (1)

Ahhh - American Beer; It's like making love in a canoe....









































F*cking Close to Water

Revolver

And you go back and forth a lot without really getting a good result!

(trust me on that one - I used to own a canoe and nature took its course one day...)

Kane

iTrader: (1)

HAHA

And they always say; "DON'T rock the boat." Must be a reason.

Revolver

Correct!

Anyway, that's not the kind of bottoming out I was thinking of in this thread, lol. Anyone else have a different view to my mate Kane's on my current dilemma??

takahashi

Not sure how to kill it but it is the bottom chassis rail that should hit first.

Go with an angle, and make sure the cross member bars cannot hit it. If you bend one of those, they are about $50-$60 each from Mazda .

thisllub

It won't necessarily be the lowest point that scrapes, most likely somewhere around the midpoint between the wheels. I don't suppose you can approach at a diagonal?

(re read - I guess not).

lucifuge

I'm sort of thinking you could jack the car up in a safe way to look underneath; from the sound of the scraping noises, you'd defintely see what it is ...ie scratch marks. However, I'm just cringing about you being under the car tho.

Everytime I've had this on previous cars, its been some part of the exhaust, mufflers etc.

erx8s

Increase your tyre psi , problem solved

Cheers
Michael

Revolver

Agreed that it's not necessarily the lowest point - my exhaust hangs lowest and it's not hitting that.

I've tried an angle but it's a tightish entry not permitting much of a diagonal approach and whether I come in one way or another just alters the side of the car that scrapes first, so I'm pretty much screwed no matter how I do it.

Revolver

I thought about jacking it up to have a better look but I don't know if it's worth the hassle (and danger) of crawling under it just to check where it's scraping.

I'll just keep crossing the fingers I think.

Thanks guys.

Oh, and Michael, I already run 38psi, so I don't think that's going to work...

takahashi

The back wheel saves any problem with the muffler.

my old home used to have problem getting in and out. I have a log to lift up the front wheel so I can get in. That is even before I put the suspension on.

matt13b

Also try running the petrol down low for the week and keep it low. Keep the weight down as always Dave.

auzoom

Two things that always scrape for me are the cross member near the gearbox and the cat'.

Cheers

Andrew

Revolver

That's what it might be for me too Andrew.

Oh well, it's still running...at present...

Hey, water pumps on way yet?? I've got some other goodies to install and just waiting on that now...

auzoom

Yeah been trying to keep the thread on .com.au up to date.

Latest from MazMart:

Revolver

Thanks Andrew - haven't had time to log into .com.au for the past couple of weeks.

takahashi

My face is so blue now

Revolver

Have you been sniffing embalming fluid again?

WTF are you on about?