Oh, the disappointment! Oh, the regret! Oh, how can it be!
Oh well.
I dropped the MINI's right frame rail (or whatever's just behind the front wheel) onto a concrete driveway apron when I drove out of a fast food joint. Sure, I knew the asphalt had been milled out, and sure, I knew the resulting road mess was uneven, and oh yes, I know the MINI doesn't have huge clearance, but did I carefully check the road ahead? Did I stop, get out, measure the drop from concrete to asphalt? Oh, Noooooooo, I did not do that.
So I pulled out onto the road and BAM!

I drove home and looked under the car. The plastic cladding that's on the side of the car seems to wrap past the frame rail, and the plastic's kind of squooshed, but I don't know how there could be any real damage.
BUT now when I get out and touch the door handle to shut the door I get a spark. Static electricity's building up and it never did before. There can't be any connection there, can there?

 

I don't have an answer for your question, but I just want to say "OUCH!"


Clover

 

^^^
Ditto what Clover said!!!

 

I always get a spark if the air is dry. So I don’t think this is evidence for (or against) damage.

 

sorry to hear bout the incident.


perhaps a valid excuse to buy the aero side skirts?

 

Shucks, it's trivial. I know it. It's the kind of little thing that's bound to happen, like the occasional door ding (knock-wood).
Plus it's 90+ degrees F, and it's drier than usual, and the little thump can't possibly have done it. But one thing always leads to another, if not in the real world, at least in my imagination.
Like for instance, I also experienced yo-yo for the first time yesterday! With my Cooper. It's probably because the engine was cold and I had the A/C on when I started out.
So I'm sure it's just the new-car-is-4-months-old goofies.
I can't wait to see what happens this winter.
(Actually I can. Summer is better.)