Anyone else having this problem? If so, what have you done about this? OK, everytime I back out of my driveway (slowly) the front of my car, the low plastic piece in the front under the car, keeps scraping the ground. I have had many cars and this has never happened in this driveway. This plastic piece just seems really low. If I go extreamly slow and let my car just idle and creep out of the bottom of the driveway, it usually does not scrape. Is this plastic piece necessary? Why is it so damn low to the ground? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

 

i dont even have a new tl but im guessing its there to proctect the bottom form scratching..my dads M3 has on so it dont scratch the paint on the bottom bumper even though you cant see it

 

That low plastic piece is the air dam. Our TL is a bottom breather and the air dam is neccessary to push the air up.
A few of us scraped our air dam also.

 

Happens to me as well, i just live with it and reassure myself it's not the bumper or other painted surface. of course the first time I had to get out and look.

 

whatever you do, don't take that piece off

 

It is there to deflect some of the air and keep it from going underneath the car. Air flowing under the car creates drag. Drag reduces gas mileage. And also, air going underneath at high speed can reduce aerodynamic downforce. In other words, it can create lift. A car is shaped kinda like a wing. Flat on the bottom and rounded on the top. And if you know how a wing works, well you don't really want that.
I would just leave it alone. Mine drags too if I back straight out of my driveway. I try to turn the wheels as sharply as I can and back out at more of an angle. Also slow way down at dips and speed bumps.

 

As you back down a hill or over the bump or whatever, if you try to angle the car so as to drop the tires off one at a time, it will lower your chances of scraping by decreasing the approach/departure angle.

I do it all the time when driving over objects in my truck. I hope it help you out.

 

This is absolutely correct. Without this piece you will not get adequate engine cooling. No matter what others may think is the purpose of this piece, and they may also be correct, its primary purpose is to cool the engine.

So try not to break it, make sure it is in place, and if you do break it, get it replaced as soon as possible.

It's #29 in the picture below, and is under $10 at your dealer.

Click here for the Parts List

 

Actually it is a modified cow catcher from the old style locomotive engines. Its purpose is to keep our highways clean of roadkill.

 

and yet our aspec lips pay the price.

 

Whoa....Resurrected!

 

Ok i understand what everyone is saying about the plastic piece deflecting air for cooling purposes but our cars are not fast enough to create lift for takeoff. In order for the TL to fly you would have to reach 250+mph. I have been running with out that plastic piece for over a year now and have had no issues with cooling or the car taking flight and to be honest i have not seen a loss in fuel mileage either. It is really nice not to have that thing draging anymore. if you are worried about cooling then route a brake duct pipe to the engine bay. almost every car that i have ever oned has had that little plastic piece and i have removed it on all of them. I also think its and eye sore if you dont have the A-Spec front lip.

 

It's not there to reduce drag or any other aerodynamic purpose, this isn't an F1 car...it is only to deflect air up into the rad to increase cooling as the grille opening is very small. I wouldn't remove it...I've scraped it on my driveway, not a big deal as long it isn't my painted bumper....leave it here.

 

It lets you know when you're close to scraping the bumper. It's supposed to scrape and just fold away. Very durable for this purpose and nothing wrong with it scraping. Even though my car is lowered I don't scrape that often because I've driven a lowered car most of my life.

It's not going to take flight but you are getting more lift and less air through the radiator for sure. The factory temp guage is buffered so it would take a significant temperature swing to get it to move out of the normal range so don't use this as proof that it does not run warmer.

You want very little air going under the car and at a high velocity to create low pressure while you have high pressure air over the top to help with downforce. They work together to keep the car stable at high speed. Again, you might not notice it but the car will lose some high speed stability and the front especially will become lighter at high speeds. It's not all or nothing, take flight or be 100% stable. IMO this is choosing looks over function.

 

I scrape that damn thing every time I back out or pull into my driveway. I just get used to it.

 

I wonder if there is an easy way to really test this theory. I would like to see what difference it really makes. The car feels no different with or with out that plastic piece from a highway driving point and i dont feel the engine getting heat soaked. So if someone can come up with a way to test this i woul dbe willing to test it.

 

It doesn't really matter if it scrapes on stuff that much as its flexible and bends. Never seen one snap off before. I'm sure that piece of plastic is like $30 anyway.

 

I scrape that thing stock height all the time.. cant wait till i lower it -__-" LOL

 

You'll never notice it from around town driving and you would have to be extremely perceptive to notice it going down the freeway. It's very minor at normal speeds but becomes more important at high speeds. It's nothing to worry about of course unless the TL could do 180mph+.

Every car is different but I remember some of my friends with F-bodies actually ended up nearly overheating the car on the freeway with it removed. Tl probably isn't as drastic since it does have a grill and doesn't totally rely on the bottom feed.

I ended up running a longer one on my GN because it would start getting a little light at the track near 135mph and I was on the brakes HARD to make the turnout, but it has the aerodynamics of a brick. It did however make a very small difference in stability on the big end. Again, different cars so who knows how much of a difference it makes on the TL.

 

if it scrapes a lot and starts falling apart you can get a new one off of acuraoemparts for less than 20 bux, and installing it should be ez to do yourself

 

i love scraping this thing especially when people are in the car they look at me like im fin something up and i just laugh and say o well low truly is a lifestyle

 

As said it is there for aerodynamics and cooling. My car is lowered and driving in the NY area I scrape it every single day. It is durable for sure, I have slammed pavement into it before and it's still attached. NY sux! I've seen it hang off and rip off other cars. Ours is made with abuse in mind. When I crawl over a sidewalk into a driveway you NEED this. It will tell you how close you are to scraping your bumper, lol. I know if I need to backup and try a different approach. Without it you would destroy that bumper with no warning.