Probably not, you might have to replace o just put back in place the plastic sheet/cover that is underneath our cars.

Wait till the morning

 

Can you describe the location of the piece and what it looks like?

Does the car now make any abnormal noises while it is moving, noises it did not make before you hit the object?


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Its a piece of plastic that looks like it fit the curve of the wheel well but is now malformed. I was having a hard time getting under the car to see better. It sounds like its rubbing against the tire when I turn the steering wheel all the way to get into the garage. It never made the sound before.

 

There are some plastic air ducts that sit below the body line. They direct air to your disk brakes. They sit an inch or two out in the open. Chances are you broke one or both of them. Nothing to worry about as long as you get them back into position. Assess the damage. You may need to cut some of the broken marterial off and insert a metal screw or two to hold them in place. You'll need to get your car up on jack stands to inspect and do the surgery.

 

The dealer opens in a few minutes... going to let them look. I went back to the scene and sitting in the middle of the road was a part of someone's muffler. So much for it being something benign like a tree branch.

Dealer fixed it... just had to pop it back in place and tighten the screws.... phew.

 

The (thankfully) few times I've encountered road debris with no obvious serious damage (hitting a tire carcass late one night on 50 highway west of Strong City KS busted the driver's side radiator and it was obvious from the cloud of water vapor the damage was serious) I like to have the Porsche techs inspect the car for any less obvious signs of damage. A plastic panel loose or cracked is one thing, but in the case of a muffler that bangs its way down the length of the car I'd like to make sure no tire was cut, that no lines were smashed and there was no collateral damage to anything under the car.

Once I hit something -- I was in my Turbo -- not too far from home but it was on a Saturday and I knew the Porsche dealer was closed but I also knew of a close by BMW dealer and on a hunch drove there and its service department was open.

I spoke to the BMW SM about what happened and asked if he would put the car on a lift and inspect the car along with me. 'course I offered to pay for this.

The SM said sure and in a few minutes the car was in the air and the SM and a senior BMW tech and I were under the car. We traced the path the debris took under the car and spotted no damage of any consequence. Back on the ground I asked the SM to put together a invoice and he said "no charge" and that was that.