Hello

I was cleaning the car today and noticed that some areas of my lower rail on each side are bent. It's the rail that houses the 2 jack points on each side. I noticed a bend in the most front part of the rail on the passenger side and a couple minor bends here and there along the driver's side. My question is whether this strip of metal is an integral part of the car's frame? As in, if it gets damaged, does it affect the car's handling charateristics or anything detrimental like that? Or is it more of a underbody cosmetic issue that I shouldn;t worry about or at least can be repaired easily by a body shop?

Anyone have a clue how this could have happened? I've run over things on the fwy before (ie. re-tread, misc. metal thingamabobs) but my car really isn;t that low (Espelir springs) Is it possible road debris could have bent it? Anyone else have minor bends on the jack point metal rail?

Thanks for any advice as I'm feeling pretty bad after spotting it and am worried that my car's frame is damaged somehow.

I'll try to get some pics up.

 

Improper jacking?

We need pix to help you. Sorry.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. That section of metal is the bottom seam of a box section that makes the sill. Some small dents aren't going to hurt anything. If the sill gets really hammered then yes, it'll make the chassis less stiff but, I believe you'd have to punch it in pretty far.

You know, on one of my car's I filled the sills with 2 part polyurathane foam. They're solid from top to bottom. Made a noticable increase in the torsional rigidity of the chassis.

Lots of new cars have foam like that to increase stiffness and reduce noise.

 

I have a good sized dent right past my passenger side jack point under the door on that metal sill. Probably from road debris or some knucklehead at the dealer trying to jack up the car from the wrong point. No biggie. Unless that whole area is trashed up, it shouldn't affect anything.

 

Has your car ever been up on a lift? Mechanics will sometimes use the jack points as lift points. Shouldn't hurt anything.

 

I have that from running over tall speed bumps. -.-"

 

[QUOTE=Sfkn2,Oct 2 2006, 06:45 PM]I have that from running over tall speed bumps.

 

There are more than a few with these "dings".
If there's no other signs of damage to the undercarrage I wouldn't worry about the frame. So long as the car's tracking straight you're golden.