I had my driveway replaced this spring. Prior to that, there was a somewhat steep incline between the street and the driveway--causing our 2007 Fit to occasionally 'bottom out' when exiting the driveway.

(My other vehicle, a VW Jetta, never bottomed out. Visitors' vehicles never seemed to bottom out, either. It became obvious that the Fit sat much lower to the ground. Strangely enough, the Fit never seemed to bottom out when *entering* the driveway. I learned to drive very slowing when exiting the driveway!)

This spring I replaced the driveway and had the incline from the street made much more gradual. No more bottoming out! But I wondered if the occasional bottoming out did any damage to the undercarriage.

While driving through a heavy rain storm a few weeks ago, I abruptly came across a dip in the road where a lot of water had accumulated. I was unable to avoid driving through it. Afterwards, I heard a loud scraping noise. Pulling off to the side of the road and inspecting the underside of the vehicle, I noticed a plastic cover hanging from the sides, but open in the middle. Gravel had accumulated inside the cover; this was causing the cover to sag and to touch the ground--resulting in the scraping noise.

Did the many times bottoming out somehow weaken this cover? Did it contribute to an opening being made in the cover into which the gravel got scooped up?

I shook the gravel out of the cover. Although it was no longer touching the ground, once the vehicle got about about 20mph, aerodynamics caused the cover to drop down and to scrape the road again. Since this was on a Sunday, I had no choice but to slowly drive home and then slowly drive to the dealer the next day.

The dealer's service technician inspected the undercarriage, said there was no other apparent damage to the vehicle and somehow managed to re-attach the cover (at no charge)--saying that there was no immediate need to replace the cover. He also commented that Fits sit low to the ground and that this is a frequent service issue. Since that time, I haven't experienced any other problems with the vehicle.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of problem with their Fit?

(Besides potentially weakening this cover, the most obvious side effect of two years of bottoming out was that the bottom of the Fit's mask (the official one, from Honda) got scuffed up. I'm considering replacing it but I'm not sure the problem won't re-occur when driving elsewhere.)

 

Just try lowering that mutha! I'm on Skunk2 springs and I scoop up road-kill like a friggin snowplow! LOL Yes it does sit low, and no I really don't worry too much it isn't like a MK4 VW where you can knock a hole in your oilpan.

 

[quote I scoop up road-kill like a friggin snowplow!

Nice! You can pick up dinner on the way home then!

 

I can hardly wait until winter. Anything more than 4 inches of snow on the road, and I'll be driving a SNOWPLOW!

 

I had my Fit in for state inspection on Friday. I had them examine the cover; they called it a "shroud". They said it still looked decent but, just to be safe, attached a few more clips to keep it in place.

 

Where exactly is this "cover" or "shroud" located? Is it under the engine? Is it under the driver's seat? Somewhere else?

 

It's under the engine. I've not had a good look at it from underneath so I can't say how far it extends back.

 

It extends from the bottom of the radiator back to about midway beneath the engine. You can change the oil with it in place if that gives you any idea...

 

That is a plastic undertray that costs 40 bucks at Bernardi. No big deal. If I was scraping the underside of the car a lot, I'd be a lot more worried about damage to the oil sump.

 

Thanks. The very front of the car was scraping prior to fixing our driveway. Where is the oil sump?

(BTW, when the vehicle was up on a lift for the installation of a hitch earlier this week, I examined this undertray. It seemed fine.)

 

Sounds like something we all may need to keep an eye on. I've had my Fit since 2007 and never had a problem with it. I live in WV which is nothing but hills and mountains.

Cat :x

 

the first thing that tore off on mine (had to park at a farm and their grass parking lot had lots of dips and crap) was the little verticle airdam thingie. i looked under the car and the only other that had grass marks was the front lip. otherwise not too much scraping.

for me i had extra clips so it was an easy fix.

 

The oil pan is above and behind the rearward most point on the plastic tray that everyone is speaking of. You would have to be insanely low and/or hit something sticking up at just the right/wrong angle in order to harm your oil pan. I still have my hangy-downy thing and it is what i hear scraping all the time.

 

Definitely keep an eye on it or replace that part. I hit a tire tread (it's not THREAD!) on the Interstate and tore that front piece loose. A couple of weeks later, the second plastic piece behind that -and- the inner fender liner tore loose. $30 for the small piece in the front $130 for all three pieces...

 

I just tore my two bumper wells and that entire undercarriage plastic to shreds. We got 4 inches of snow and I drove 2 work 2 days (20 miles each way) scraping the snow in the center of the lane. The larger piece came loose completely on one side and twisted. When I backed out of my parking space today, it pulled completely forward and came out the passenger side of the car behind the front wheel.

I always have problems bottoming out of driveways. Grocery stores, parking structures, etc. I was warned of this problem by the salesman when I bought my Fit.

 

Thank goodness for Texas... we've just had a buttload of rain.

 

Sigh....Did all of you drive Baja race trucks before the fit? Lolz jk... I drove a truck before my accord.


Anyway... Cars especially with long over hangs like the fit do not handle dips well. You need to adjust driving habits to match. The problem is the distance in between the front wheel and the front bumper.


"But my old cars did not do that, Honda sucks!!"


Your previous cars probably did not have the combination of long over hang and ride height that the fit does. When going through steep dips approach and leave at angles, not straight on. When approaching a steep driveway go up or down at an angle. The shroud on my accord was broken in half when I got it, I took it off and I have bottomed out one or two times since then ( over a year ), which could have been avoided, If I did not drive like I was racing most of the time.


Adjust your habits and watch angles of approach and departure and this should cease to be a problem. Unless you live in snow country.....Then you are just screwed.... =D

 

I think the Fit ground clearance is no different then any other car in it segment. Mine is lowered on Skunks c/o and I only scrapes the front chin spoiler and my Aspec midpipe sometime. Just be as careful as you can with your Fit.

 

I have not been able to drive my fit this winter. The snow has gotten so packed on some areas on the road, then then there are huge dips where there is pavement. It would destroy my front end if it hit it.

 

I've never had any problems with my lowered cars,or my lowered fit.. my 2000 prelude was ridiculously low and I never encountered these problems. . And we regularly have snow.