Clattered Again

[Ultraviolet]

for the third time in 8 months, my wife has managed to clatter the front apron of our 535d m-sport touring. generally this results in the loss of the cover panels and the air intakes within the spoiler, which pop out of place as the apron is pressed against a high kerb. the trouble is, anything apart from the lowest of low kerbs is a major danger to the bodywork. forwarding onto a kerb is not too bad - just a pretty dull scraping noise... reversing back off is where the damage is done as the rear edge of the apron catches on the kerb and buckles.

apart from driving more carefully (the choice is generally between leaving two feet of car poking out into the road or getting too near the kerb), any ideas how I can prevent this happening? or, if not, is there anything I can do to protect the bodykit from kerb damage?

any ideas welcome....

UV

[m3desmo]

Don't let the wife drive the car.

Easily the cheapest option.

[meldrewlives]

It's obviously height dependent, but I find that for my eye height/seat position when the obstruction e.g. kerb is just visible below the bottom of the driver's door mirror the apron of the spoiler is just short of the kerb.

You could calibrate that for your wife's height and seat position so that she can easily determine how close she is.

[BRoCceRs]

m3desmo said:

Don't let the wife drive the car.

Easily the cheapest option.

The solution I had when my M Coupes front was dmaged in the same way was to buy her her own car. No problems since.

[m3desmo]

My missus has damaged two of my cars - both just before they were to be part-exed at the dealer (they were in mint condition prior to the damage). The first one, she clipped the front N/S wheel arch on a column in a multi-storey carpark, and the second, she badly curbed both N/S alloys (the alloys were previously pristine and unmarked after three years of driving!!)

Needless to say she doesn't get to drive my M3! Women may be able to multi-task but their spatial awareness is CRP!!