So, there's a black plastic plate that sits just in front of the front axle, and it's attached with the standard 10mm bolts. One day on a 300 mile freeway trip, I hear a gnarly scraping sound. I pull off the fwy, and see that there's a black plastic piece hanging down underneath my g in front of the front axle. I didn't have tools w/ me (and no ability to get the whole front jacked-up) to remove the bolts to remove the whole piece (and of course, it was 11pm--no garage action), and it just looked like a non-essential piece, so I hopped back in and kept on truckin'. By the time I arrived at my destination the whole f-er had torn off. It sounded like $h1t the whole drive, and whenever I passed someone they'd just stare at the sound--how embarassing.

Anyone else experience anything like this? I got my car lowered shortly AFTER this incident, so I can just imagine what Infiniti is going to say about replacing it (doh!). The guy who installed my springs didn't notice any damage besides the plate itself, but did notice a lot of asphalt stuck to the underbody, which was scraped up by the hanging plastic. Does anyone know what this piece is called--I may just order and install it myself.

 

i have seen a lot of passing g's with that piece hanging. come to think of it...i see a lot of other manufacturers cars with the same problem. probably people hitting dips and bumps too hard? i have no idea.

 

yah, i'm pretty sure it was wifey on the 10 speedbumps she hits on the way to work (always blame it on wifey, right? especially when she'll never read this). she was bottoming out the car even before i lowered it. since she sees how much pain i feel when she scrapes, and the car is even lower now, she doesn't drive it anymore--what a sweetheart. hopefully someone knows what it's called. i'm going to hit the service manual to see if i can hunt it down.

 

Had problem with the same plate/cover. Mine only had a small piece hanging off but it was enough to barely hear it. I tore the small piece off. Don't remember hitting anything or especially not hitting any speed bumps. The piece was toward the rear of the car.

 

You really don't need that piece other than for aerodynamic reasons.
If it's too bothersome just remove it. easy access to your oil filter and
swaybars anyway. (but don't just yank on it, unscrew it off).

 

i was reading online that there's a piece near the front bumper that channels air along the bottom of the car for aerodynamic reasons. i don't think it makes a huge dif (.01 drag coeff), but still, it sucks knowing i'm missing something on my g that has a real purpose. thanks for the input.

 

Also helps keeping water from splashing up into the engine as well.

 

happend to me 2 months ago.......it was a disaster.........infiniti refused to touch mine........had to go to a body shop and it cost me a lot of money to fix. It made the loudest noise EVER