We live on a dirt road and the bottom of my '06 MINI S convertible scrapes the road when it's uneven. The culprit appears to be a plastic "apron" that is part of the front bumper assembly. Can I simply remove this? Will it cause any issues other than aesthetic ones?

 

Is it hurting the plastic? I think your talking about the little vertical air deflector. That is not for aesthetics, it is to help speed up the air under the car to cause less lift at high speeds. I would leave it on.

 

I know your pain. I went to visit my parents a few weeks back. The driveway was in serious disrepair, and I ended up scraping multiple times. It looks like I was lucky, no additional scrapes (have some from a curb from when I first got my MINI. I'm going to leave mine on for now.

 

You might try changing your driving process - drive with the wheels of one side of the car on the crown of the road. That should give you sufficient ground clearance. I wold echo the other posts about not removing parts of the car. They are there for a reason.

 

I think what is hitting is the little plastic air deflector . It wont really hurt anything to rub it a bit and if you need to replace it is is cheap, under $20.

Mark

 

I got under there with a dremel and cut about 2 inches off the thing. Now I almost never scrape...

Don't believe the hoo-hah about the aerodynamics of the micro spoiler. After cutting mine almost completely off I've noticed no less high speed stability than before, even on the track at triple digit speeds or through cross-winds on the highway.

At worst, if you hate it, you can get a new one for $20 like someone else said.