Front Underpinning of Car is half off...Help!?

GraysonK · **on:** May 14, 2011, 02:31:46 PM

Ok, so last night while driving to work in one smurf of a downpour, I was coming off a hill and saw a HUGE lake/puddle, covering the whole road in front of me. I gently applied the brakes but hydroplaned. I was fine, thought the car was fine (but I did hydroplane all the way through the intersection). Anyway, this morning when I backed out of the space in the hospital parking lot, I heard this really nasty scraping sound. So I stopped, got out, and on the front underside of my car there was this huge piece of plastic bent backward and hanging down on the pavement. I pulled it and discovered it was the underpinning. The side closest to the drivers side is still bolted in, but the entire passenger side is off and hanging down. So, how much is this gonna cost me and how bad is this? I didn't hear a thing last night. Could the hydroplaning cause that? The plastic is relatively intact, but is cracked along one side. Any ideas guys?
Thanks,
Kel

ducktapehero · **Reply #1 on:** May 14, 2011, 04:09:47 PM

You could use some bailing wire(or ducktape of course

) to hold it in place and keep it from dragging until you get it to a mechanic...or just leave it as is. As for price to fix it, I have no clue.

thebullfrog · **Reply #2 on:** May 17, 2011, 05:00:52 PM

Duct tape it from underneath, thats how my bumper has been held together for a year now lol. If the plastic is hollow and is two layers, you can use a small strip of metal as a "bandage" screwed in over the break. Again thats how a part of my bumper is held together. (it got torn off/apart backing off a trailer).

Your insurance may cover fixing it, if not then it'll cost more than its worth depending on the age/model of car.

Mr. Whippy · **Reply #3 on:** May 17, 2011, 05:14:45 PM

If it's the plastic trim piece from under the bumper (usually they sorta look like "ground effect" bodywork on stock cars--think NASCAR), they are held in place by a line of plastic push connectors.

Likely, when you hydroplaned, the water hit the trim piece and pulled the plastic clips out. (It's also possible that the plastic holes where the clips attach ripped through). It's an easy fix.

1. If the clips are gone but the holes are ok, go to an autoparts store and buy the push in clips/connectors. The come in little packs of 2, 5, 10 etc.

2. If the holes are ripped out, repair the holes with JBWeld (The KwikWeld version will be fine) and once it's hardened, reattach with new clips.

3. Just pull it off and go for the "In your face!" barebones look.

People pull that trim off all the time on curbs, parking stones and snowbanks.

Zack · **Reply #4 on:** May 17, 2011, 08:46:15 PM

When that happened on my grand am I just pulled it off and did without.

GraysonK · **Reply #5 on:** May 17, 2011, 09:48:32 PM

Quote from: Mr. Whippy on May 17, 2011, 05:14:45 PM

If it's the plastic trim piece from under the bumper (usually they sorta look like "ground effect" bodywork on stock cars--think NASCAR), they are held in place by a line of plastic push connectors.

Likely, when you hydroplaned, the water hit the trim piece and pulled the plastic clips out. (It's also possible that the plastic holes where the clips attach ripped through). It's an easy fix.

1. If the clips are gone but the holes are ok, go to an autoparts store and buy the push in clips/connectors. The come in little packs of 2, 5, 10 etc.

2. If the holes are ripped out, repair the holes with JBWeld (The KwikWeld version will be fine) and once it's hardened, reattach with new clips.

3. Just pull it off and go for the "In your face!" barebones look.

People pull that trim off all the time on curbs, parking stones and snowbanks.

I don't have one of those...this is the very large piece of plastic that covers my oil pan etc under the engine. I never saw it until it came off.

jzmtl · **Reply #6 on:** May 17, 2011, 09:53:14 PM

It's probably still held on with the same method, so you can either get new plastic pins (if the old ones are missing/broken), or just some stainless wires to get it back in place.

665ae · **Reply #7 on:** May 17, 2011, 10:58:16 PM

What kind of car is it? Some splash shields are held on with push pins, some are held on with bolts. It shouldn't cost too much to get a new one, and it's a job that you can do yourself, assuming you can get under the car

thebullfrog · **Reply #8 on:** May 17, 2011, 11:57:39 PM

OH its just the splashguard. No biggie. Just yank it off lol. Otherwise JZMTL is on the right track.

665ae · **Reply #9 on:** May 18, 2011, 04:29:25 AM

I don't know that I'd run without it. True, you can get away with it... but replacing an oil pan is a lot more expensive than replacing the guard

More than likely the fastener holes in the shield are busted so you'll have to get a new one. Or, if the fasteners just pulled through and didn't break the holes, you can add some larger washers to the fasteners.

thebullfrog · **Reply #10 on:** May 18, 2011, 06:36:40 AM

I'm pretty sure that anything that will be stopped by the flimsy piece of plastic wont hurt the oil pan, besides that's not what it's there for. Its partly for aerodynamics and adds like 0.05% fuel milage at highway speeds, and helps keep water, mud, what have you from getting the engine wet. It's really not a big deal, theres still a lot of cars that dont even come with them, and older cars never did. You can safely ditch it, or just ghetto rig it back into place if you want to keep it, its not worth spending any real money to fix it.

665ae · **Reply #11 on:** May 18, 2011, 08:15:53 AM

Quote from: thebullfrog on May 18, 2011, 06:36:40 AM

I'm pretty sure that anything that will be stopped by the flimsy piece of plastic wont hurt the oil pan, besides that's not what it's there for. Its partly for aerodynamics and adds like 0.05% fuel milage at highway speeds, and helps keep water, mud, what have you from getting the engine wet. It's really not a big deal, theres still a lot of cars that dont even come with them, and older cars never did. You can safely ditch it, or just ghetto rig it back into place if you want to keep it, its not worth spending any real money to fix it.

I'd have to disagree. You'd be surprised how much those can stop. Even the rocks that go thru are slowed enough so that they don't do much damage.

Like Bullfrog said, those shields are also there to protect the accessory drive belts from getting splashed and slipping off. We were running splash trough tests on the new Grand Cherokees with and without the shields a while back because they were tossing accessory belts. It was pretty interesting stuff. True, most older models didn't have them. BUT, I can remember throwing the belt on my old 78 Thunderbird a few times after hitting some of the instant Michigan Lakes that form on the roads around here when it rains

Mr. Whippy · **Reply #12 on:** May 18, 2011, 11:23:50 AM

IME, unless the connector holes are missing large pieces, usually you can fix damaged holes with 2 part epoxy (JBWeld) for next to nothing.

thebullfrog · **Reply #13 on:** May 18, 2011, 04:15:59 PM

Ive run without them on almost every car I've owned (I usually remove them because they make it harder to get to crap when Im under there modding something every other weekend). Never caused a problem and that included rallying through a forest preserve. Not arguing with you, just sayin' they aren't THAT critical and you can get away without if you dont wanna fix it.

ducktapehero · **Reply #14 on:** May 19, 2011, 03:36:21 AM

Ducktape will protect things if it's thick enough. And now you can get it in all kinds of colors.

GraysonK · **Reply #15 on:** May 29, 2011, 10:47:05 PM

While zip ties did hold the pieces together fairly well...did you catch that, I said pieces. Yep so I ended up getting it replaced. It wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be but I won't mention what it cost. But it's fixed. Thanks for the help guys.

ducktapehero · **Reply #16 on:** May 29, 2011, 11:09:10 PM

Yay zip ties!!!!! I'm glad you got it fixed.

thebullfrog · **Reply #17 on:** May 30, 2011, 03:06:27 AM

So long as you're happy with the result, that's all that really matters.

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