...I scratched my poor baby

I drove my "new" 09 Fit Sport last night to a friends (gotta show off my new wheels), and on the way out of their driveway, I SCRAPED the front spoiler! AHHHH!! There is no lip to where the driveway meets the road, just a little dip. Man, these things sit low. How do you guys manage when you lower them?

I pumped the tires up to 35 psi (they were sitting at 29). Ok, I know that won't help much, but every little bit...

I'm parking on the STREET from now on!

(Actually, I took a look underneath and it's not bad, but it sure caught me off guard!)

 

if you ever plan to lower your car, get used to it. the bottom of my bumper isn't even there anymore from all the scraping. the fit bumpers hang out far and low

 

The 2nd generation cars sit higher than the GD3s... I am sooner or later going to buy a set of coil overs so I can raise my car up high enough that I don't pull the front bumper loose from the fenders.. I have Swift springs that lowers my car less than any other spring kit, has as much travel as stock, improves the ride and handling, doesn't ruin your shocks but isn't low enough for a great deal of people... I had pulled the bumper loose before I bought and installed the springs and had run over the tread that was chunked off of a 18 wheeler and did $2000 in damage to the car shortly after getting it.

 

When my stock 185/55/16 tires wear out, I'm planning on buying 195/55/16 Falken Ziex ZE-912 tires to increase ground clearance slightly, as it is slightly wider and taller than stock tire. I was also looking at the (Bridgestone) Turanza 195/55/16 tires.

 

Sorry to be this guy but...a)did you test drive it before you bought it?
B) is you're other car a suv??
C) have you considered changing your driving style?
...enter and exit drives at an angle as well as speed bumps. Ps texas you've got to be an advertisement for swift springs. I almost want a set lol!!!

 

A). Oh, yup, test drove it. I have zero complaints, it just caught me off guard and I was bummed I scratched her a bit.

B). My other car was a Sunfire, pretty low-slung, or so I thought...

C). I drive gently. I've been easing over bumps and lips. I was gently easing out of the driveway in 1st gear, so speed/style was not the issue. I just didn't expect this gentle little slope to be a problem.

I lived, I learned, I LOVE THIS CAR!!!!

 

No. Style WAS the issue. You need to learn how to angle.

 

Yes even as stock, the Fit lip is very scrape prone.

 

Ooook, help me understand this, then. Forgive my ignorance. What do you mean by "learn to angle"?

 

Agreed. I scraped a few times with stock setup and now Im dropped 1.5" on Eibach Pro Kit. With a little more attention to dips and hitting at slight angles I hardly scrape any more than when it was stock. You get used to it pretty quickly.

Usually its the flimsy little air dam that gets scraped and not the actual painted bumper at least this is my experience. But yah, the first few times its pretty unnerving!

 

I think Mike's referring to "angle of approach" to an incline or dip. Diagonal approach vice perpendicular gives you a better chance of not scraping the car's lip.

 

True story^

Dont try and drive straight up a drive-way. get one wheel up on the bump/incline/whatever first, then turn into the driveway.

 

Got it, thanks guys! I never had to take this into consideration with my other cars. I appreciate the tip. And my Fit thanks you, too.

 

One wheel at a time going very slow. Easy day.

 

Was that a napkin you drew on? Good one!

 

Lol, yes it was an internet napkin

 

^What they said...I learned that very quickly when I lowered my old cars.

 

scraping sucks but it's part of what we drive. we would think that the fit is bad, when i bought my ap2 brand new in 2007, i didnt realize how low the car was stock already and scraped the hell out of the front bumper... then i wasnt used to the long front end and ended up eating a parking block!! then someone backed up into my fender and ended up braking one of the bumper tabs!! but all that within the first two weeks ended up getting replaced from the insurance!! our cars are much different from the oldy integras and civics! EEEK!

i've always thought that maybe some kind of under body diffuser would help in these kinds of situations. much like what the rally guys, or even many of the other tuner cars, have or trucks. it could help to limit debris and dust in the engine bay as well as save the bottom of our bumpers!!

 

good idea phogroian. As I am not familiar with tire ratings, how many inches taller and wider would the Falken Xiex and Turanza be compared to stock?

 

Yea, bottom of my bumper is completely gone.