Z4 damaged by speedbump

[erdnase]

I drove over a viscious looking speedbump very slowly yesterday, and heard a grinding noise from underneath my car. When I stopped to check, there's a small piece of what appears to be aluminium sheet bent and pointing down - around the middle of my cars body.

Can anyone help as to what this could be? It's flexible (I was able to bend it back up so it's not as low), and other than that there doesn't appear to be any more damage. I'm going to take it into the garage as soon as I can, but I'd just like to be able to read/research on what the damage and cost could be.

I'm considering putting in a letter to the shop that owns the speedbumps. There's no way they should damage a Z4, or any low-ish car for that matter! Aaaarg

[toasty]

My Z4 gets a regular scraping from the hump in my driveway. There's nothing that can be done about the hump so I just take it as slowly as possible. Not had any problems in the 18 months I've had it, from the scraping at least.

[Great Pretender]

erdnase said:

I drove over a viscious looking speedbump very slowly yesterday, and heard a grinding noise from underneath my car. When I stopped to check, there's a small piece of what appears to be aluminium sheet bent and pointing down - around the middle of my cars body.

Can anyone help as to what this could be? It's flexible (I was able to bend it back up so it's not as low), and other than that there doesn't appear to be any more damage. I'm going to take it into the garage as soon as I can, but I'd just like to be able to read/research on what the damage and cost could be.

I'm considering putting in a letter to the shop that owns the speedbumps. There's no way they should damage a Z4, or any low-ish car for that matter! Aaaarg

Sounds like either the sump guard or an exhaust shield.

A call to the council/speed-bump 'owner' is in order I reckon.

[Luvmyzed]

It won't be the last time you'll scrape something on a Z4.I so really gingerly over speed bumps,usually only one side on the bump, I NEVER straddle them,you are asking for trouble if you do.

[erdnase]

From a little research, I think it's a heat shield. The metal is thin, like the heat shield in the engine bay. I've read that this can safely be removed with little consequences - what do you think?

I'm relictant to do this, because I'm noticing a deep rattle from down there now everytime I go over a little bump in the road. I think I'm just going to take it into the garage, but I'd like to have a rough idea of what I can expect the problem to be, before I'm at the mercy of the mechanics

I can't seem to find any pictures of a Z4 underside on google.. if I could see a photo of it, I'd likely be able to better identify the part. Any pointers?