Here is a newbe question following a newbe oversight. I drove over an unmade lane that was uneven and driving too fast bottomed out. Shortly after there was a strange noise but no check engine lites or anything came on. I definitely scraped the bottom of the car. What is the likely damage to the bottom of the car? What is the lowest item on the car that will contact the ground? Any comments other than drive slower on uneven roads. How forgiving is the bottom of this car? Would appreciate any comments from any P Boxster owners re this probably common occurrence.
Cheers!

 

Get the car safely in the air and look at the bottom. Most likely the bottoming out damaged an underbody plastic panel and a corner of it is dragging.

One time I had a front wheel housing come loose and the front of the shield drooped down -- the front portion that fits under the bumper cover -- and the result was an odding dry scraping/dragging sound that at freeway speeds I could not hear but at slower speeds like driving through a parking lot I could hear. Duct tape saved the day!

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

The underbody panels are plastic rather fragile; you should be able to see if anything's dragging just by looking under the car, and then go from there. If you hit as hard as you think, it wouldn't hurt to pull the cracked panels off and inspect what's behind them to make sure nothing else was damaged. The underbody panels are around $50-100 each to replace. Ask me how I know