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Bumper Question

There is a rubber strip (about an inch wide) that was attached to the bottom of the front bumper (full width) on my 2007 Odyssey. It was rubbed off by a tall parking lot cement curb. What is it called? What is its purpose? It doesn't seem to me that only one tiny inch would make all that much difference for air flow or rock deflection if that is its purpose, but I'm sure that Honda wouldn't waste money putting it there for no reason. I've been running without it for awhile now with no apparent problem but still I wonder what the consequence might be if I leave it unrepaired. Since I can't figure out what it's called Google's not much help... ;)

Reply to
AJL
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It's an air dam. If you get that mini van over 150 mph, you will be sorry you left it unrepaired.

Reply to
Steve Austin

AJL wrote in news:1q2lb5p1ea3te93o2i8619slaugikhsh82@

4ax.com:

It's a trim strip that pretties-up the bottom of the front bumper. They catch on things and break all the time. We lose a lot of them to snowbanks up here in the (soon to be) frozen North.

Officially it's called a "spoiler", and costs about $20. The part number is 71110-SHJ-A00. Chances are you'll need a few of the plastic fasteners for it as well. These often rip out and get lost when the trim comes off. The fasteners are about three bucks each. Your "spoiler" takes six of them, I think.

Reply to
Tegger

Interesting. I think it looks just fine without it. I doubt the average (non-mechanic) person would even notice there was anything missing.

Wow, thanks for your extra effort in the answer. But if there is no mechanical danger I think I will just leave it off. It would just be a matter of time before another parking lot cement curb divider takes it off again... ;)

Reply to
AJL

Yes I'm sure it was a silly question to a mechanic, but I thought that rubber strip must have some legitimate purpose or Honda would not have wasted the money to put it there. It was such an ugly rubber strip that it never occurred to me that it might be just for looks...

Reply to
AJL

Update: I went ahead and Googled "Odyssey spoiler" (after learning the term here) and found the installation instructions for my Odyssey's Front Under Spoiler. Toward the bottom of the page I found my rubber strip labeled as a "Center Rubber Splash Protector". So apparently it does have a purpose (other than looks) as a splash protector. In that case I will go ahead and repair it.

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Reply to
AJL

I think the purpose for these spoiler/valence panels is to reduce the air turbulence under the vehicle. They direct air around the underbody away from suspension, steering and other low "stuff". To run without it might cost you .0005 miles per gallon. Hey, every penny counts

Chris

Reply to
tenne

And you really don't want to leave those splashes unprotected.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

Some of the Pierce Arrow cars had spring action bumpers.There were coil springs on the bumpers.

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I think it was Pierce Arrow, might have been Peerless.I have a lot of hard back books about antique cars.One of my books has a photo of those bumpers. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

Having a name does NOT mean it serves a purpose.

Reply to
hls

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