I have had a set of Tanabe DF210s on my wife's xB for about 8 months or so now and just love the look, but the scraping has been an issue. It wouldn't be so bad if my wife's parking lot at work wasn't in such a crap position. The only entrance/exit to the lot is on a short/steep inclide to the street. It's also narrow so it doesn't matter how slow you go over it, or at what angle you take it, it scrapes just about everytime she pulls in or out. I've also driven it just to see for myself if there was anything to do...

I have a Corvette, that is pretty low as well, but it has a scratch guard under the front end. Basically it's just a heavy plastic-whatever-material that drops down below anything else, and that tends to get scratched up, while protecting the actual nose/bumper of the car itself. The scratch guard is all marked up, but that's what its for so who cares.

Anyways, I haven't ever seen anything like this for the xB, but I know a lot of people here use pretty low suspensions like the Tanabes and so forth. Any solution to this, or it is just a necessary evil tradeoff for the lower look?

 

I saw pics of one kenstyle kitted xB that had aluminum plates across the bottom of it mounted flat to the bottom of the lip with just the edge exposed just forward of the lower forward edge of the lip. Looked good and has to work good.
Another option tho a pricy one is go air ride

 

Can't find a user named kenstyle...is that his exact name? Would like to send him a PM...

Tried searching for a thread on them or whatever, but no luck.

thanks.

 

Well kenstyle is the name of a kit... this is pretty fierce.
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=107527
Second pic down...

 

Jesus! That's a little much I think...was hoping for something a tad more subtle rather than making the front end look like a semi truck haha...

Figured someone might make something that goes under the front edge or something...

 

My other thought would be an aluminum splitter... they're generally designed for the front lip, but with some work, you could probably mount one on the rear. You'd likely want to mount it so the majority of the splitter was under the lip, as opposed to exposed. Let me try to find an example for you.

 

Here: https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...light=splitter
ElChupacabra made a front splitter... something like that would protect the bottom edge of the lip from scraping.
I'd go with mounting some aluminum to the under side of the lip in a similar fashion.

 

Just realized you were talking about the front lip... get a splitter. That should do it. Sorry for the triple post. I'm tired.

 

Sorry for sounding like a total newb...but what's a splitter...is it the same as what I would call a spoiler? can i get one for the factory front end or are you talking about replacing the front bumper/lip with something new?

Is the splitter just that little black thing under that lip on those pics? No idea how I'd "make" one...would buy one if they were available for the lip on factory lip.

 

Heck no not that big aluminum thing. Look closely at this pic. I was wrong it wasn't on a kenstyle it was on this Extreme dimensions kit. https://www.scionlife.com/parts/imag...f1complete.jpg

 

Ok so it looks like the front splitter is pretty much like what I'd refer to as a front spoiler. Any links to ones for the 3.0 release that would work? I can't seem to find anything except splitters for the tc.

 

Basically, a splitter is an add on to the existing lip. A metal one could potentially prevent further scraping. Nish Designs makes one and two piece splitters, but they're made out of CF, so I can't really speculate as to their durability.
http://www.nishdesigns.com/products.html
Otherwise, I'd try to PM ElChupacabra and see where he got his.
There are a lot of really talented fabricators around this site, so I'd start there.

 

Ok cool...thanks...ya the carbon fiber one looks perfect, but I'll try to find something made more of a material that could take a beating...

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/03-04...ayphotohosting



Saw these on eBay. They are Carbon Fiber, so I'm not sure how well they would hold up but the description reads:

"Brand new ACS front lip replacement splitter/ flipper. Made with 100% carbon fiber with carbon fiber reinforcement backing. Bolt this piece onto your bodykit or bumper to prevent from scratching/ cracking. This item is perfect for lowered cars as it will definitely protect your beloved bodykit/ bumper."

 

Yea, something like that would protect the bottom edge of the lip. Looks pretty cool too.

 

But how durable is CF? it seems to me that would just get scratched up and torn up just as easy as the car bumper, and the fact it would stick out even lower would make it even more prone to getting marked up.


you know...something I saw today interested me. I happened to stop at a Lotus dealer and just took a look at the Elise. I noticed one of them actually had some kind of tread style reinforcement on the front lip, right where the scraping would occur. It looked as thought it was applied like you would apply vinyl or something and it had a rough tread-like surface that looked like it could take more of a beating. This would effectively protect without adding a piece that would be more prone to scraping, but I wasn't able to get any info about it from the dealer. I asked and they were like "our technician is on vacation so we could ask him later."

It kinda looked like this stuff you often see on stairs or ground surfaces to prevent slipping...




Anyone ever see that kinida stuff used on a car bumper?

 

i ran into the same problem and after doing a whole bondo patch and repaint i didnt want to have it happen again so i milled with my CNC aluminum splitters and painted them to match , ive scrapped a few times since but only the bottom of the splitters so you cant even see it plus its a easy fix to un bolt and repaint.

 

Yea, again, the durability of CF in that sort of application would probably not be the best. Aluminum would work, but I'd probably install it so the majority of the splitter lived under the bumper.

 

yeah its pretty easy to do , i reccomend you remove your front bumper and get it ready for a full patch and repaint, while doing it use a pecnil on paper to copy the shape of the bumper, if you dont have a cnc you can cut aluminum with a band saw and sand it smooth then prep and paint, i used 2 addtional nutts and bolts with nylon non silp washers and one of the oem mounting bolts for each side, mine stick out about 3.5" and go all they way back to the laterial sides of the bump , you have to design/cut the wheel well out too. had it one for a year now and works great , painted it to match the body color with automotive paints so it looks almost OEM