I joined this forum just to vent my frustration on a Fit issue. Before I get to that let me say that I LOVE Honda vehicles. Right now I own an '06 Civic Coupe (5 Sp manual), which has been a great car. I have also owned two Accords (an '83 hatchback and an '88 sedan) in the past. I also presently own an '08 Fit Sport (my wife's car).

Yesterday we were driving to Austin, TX in the Fit on I-10 W. Some tire debris was perpendicular on the highway and we ran over it at about 65 mph. We did our best to straddle the tire but traffic was heavy making any further avoidance maneuvers quite dangerous. Well... BAM, our splash shield under the engine and both right and left inner wheel shields were shredded. We had to tie them up for the remainder of our trip and I just now pulled them off to prevent dragging while we drive the car. I checked prices and the splash shield is about $40 as well as both inner wheel housings. So... parts will be about $120 and who knows how much for installation.

The Fit is a fine, economical car. However, it really is WAY TOO LOW! Most other cars would have cleared the tire debris without incident. Further, we have scraped the bumper numerous times just going in and out of our driveway such that we must be VERY careful to roll out ever so slow.

If anyone has some ideas on how to replace the splash guard plus inner wheel housings cheaper... please let me know. (Thanks or reading this rant).

 

Learn how to drive.

Problem solved.

 

^ wow what a douche

 

I highly doubt the average family car (excluding trucks/SUVs) could have cleared average Texas sized tire debris laying in the road. But regardless of that, it sucks to hear that you damaged your Fit hitting it.

All I can recommend next time is to change lanes if you can; if not, try to preload the suspension and shift the weight away from the side that the debris could hit on (risky yes, but its the only alternative to hitting it). As for your driveway, try to slowly taking it at an angle/diagonally.

I can't quite picture what the splash guards would look like. Can you post a pic or part number? The inner wheel housing (aka fenderliner on here if I have the right part in mind) can be reinstalled by taking off the wheel, undoing the push tabs/screws from the fender and wheel well, swapping the liners, and reversing the disassembly.

 

Potential first Fit with a lift kit?

I suggest looking into installing it yourself if you're bummed about paying for installation. As long as you have a jack, a couple of stands, and a socket set, you should be fine. Visit your local parts counter or make some phone calls. I've had some good experiences asking for DIY advice at my local dealer's parts counter.

I prefer backing in to parking spaces. It has become a habit ever since I started driving to only pull into a spot if I absolutely had to. With the Fit, I find backing in to have the added benefit of avoiding leaving my bumper on a parking curb. My driveway is pretty darn steep. I absolutely have to back into it. I enter and exit on an angle and scrape/rub if I do not.

As for handling road debris situations, you may want to think about your style of driving. Perhaps it didn't matter in your last vehicle if you drove over some road debris. However, clearance or not, you should avoid driving over road debris at all costs, even if you feel you have clearance. Look further down the road. Plan ahead. Give yourself room to react. You should always have an escape plan. Fix it, lesson learned.

Become the first lifted fit.

 

thats just mean...

really, even if it means causing a multi-car accident? Did you not read the OP's message?

Yes, I agree, the Fit is too low. Did a tire rotation today and had to run the front up on some 2X4's so that my "smallest" of four jacks could get under the vehicle, just behind the front tires. If the vehicle had perhaps another 1" of height it would make a huge difference. My other small car is an 07 Toyota Corrola, which my other son drives, and frankly its a much better vehicle. Easy to change the oil, five bolt tire lugs, sensible tire sizes, higher seating position, etc, etc. Yes, I like Honda and I've had many Honda motorcycles in my life, but the Fit is my first Honda car. I'm not too impressed. Granted, my other son loves it, but he also crashed it..well sort of. He made a hard swerve and spun the car...and the passenger door latch sprung open hyperextending the door. That non-impact accident (he didn't hit anything on that passenger side) and door latch failure caused over $2K of unnessary damage. Honda didn't want to even look at the door latch, but the dealership sent it to them anyway..and replaced the door latch on their dime. Thanks Honda.

Yea, I like looking at the Fit, but I enjoy driving my other vehicles more. And I would be learly of even running over a stryofoam cup.

 

Your son also needs to learn how to drive.

You people are ridiculous, be leery of a styrofoam cup? You serious? I daily drove this (picture below) in the winter in WI aka snow, lots of it:



Also, my grandparents drive a GE in WI. They've never complained about the ride height. Hmm seems like you're just doing it wrong.

 

Yea, he learned a big lesson...we keep our fingers crossed constantly.

well, it depends on the size..if its a large I pre-load the suspension and look for an escape plan ASAP.

So.......you operate the car as a snow plow....

 

I did over $2000 worth of damage to my car on I35 between Temple and Waco because of tire debris from a semi truck... I had less than 1000 miles on the car at the time when I changed lanes and there was no place to go but over it... If you live in a state where there is NAFTA traffic and drive a car as low as a Fit you can expect this to happen to you sometime.

 

What did it mess up? That's a lot of damage...

 

I love the low stance of the Fit and I really do try to avoid the interstate whenever possible. Too much junk on the road that can do damage. I would love to lower the car just a little more.

 

Damm man do u smash out on ur drive way I pull out slow no matter what car I'm in, and second the fit begin to low? Yea right! I lowered my car on Eibach springs cause I tought it was to high.. $hit happens don't blame the car blame the driver.

 

Wow, you guys are super critical. I do however like having a lowered car dispite living in a very hilly place.

There's no cheaper way to fix this than to do it yourself. It's not any harder than a few screws and some clips. So order the parts from a honda service department online:
Cart Contents Honda Parts at HondaPartsDeals.com: Honda Accessory, Honda Car Parts, Honda Auto Parts, Honda Accord Parts

You can probably fix this for under $120 and some of your time.

 

I believe the clearance on the Fit is the same as my 2001 Civic. I do wish it was an inch higher. I don't have problems hitting driveway ramps, but if it were an inch higher, then it could fit over typical parking curbs without scraping.

 

Get the HFPs or '09-'11 Fit Sport wheels. Both are 16" and will give you an inch more of clearance.

 

eh? are you talking about getting bigger overall diameter tires?

Don't need bigger wheels to do that, unless you want to keep the sidewall height the same.

Either way, you will be making the odo and speedo off.

 

eeyeah.. the idea when changing rims is to keep the overall diameter the same..

 

that actually changes your gear ratio's you realize. It also offsets your speedometer though i'm sure not nearly as drastically as i see some in the african american community who put 20" rims on a caddy who can't even turn the steering wheel more than 20 degrees

 

It seems to me that the OP is blaming the Fit for not being a truck or an SUV. The notion that a Civic or Accord could have driven over the same tire chunk with zero damage strikes me a very dubious hypothesis. To my sensibilities the issue is not with the car rather it is with the trucking companies and their regulation. I'm not a fan of seriously lowered Fits or Civics or tCs, especially when they are lowered well beyond the design parameters of the suspension system but if 5" or 6" of ground clearance isn't adequate I don't think the real issue is the car.

 

I don't really see why people would pull up all the way to the curb or parking stone in a short chassis car such as the Fit, MINI Cooper, Yaris, and others vehicles of the same chassis length or shorter. (I'm not aiming this comment at you or anyone else by the way.)

I'd just figure that since the car is so short that the driver would pull into a parking space enough to be within the lines but also have the car's rear end reasonably lined up with the other parked cars rear ends. Just so no driver rushing to find a parking spot would see an "empty" spot, go to turn in, and have to throw anchor because there is an econobox tucked far into that spot.