If your ride is your most prized possession and you drive anything lower than an SUV, we know why you're here. You're tired of looking at every driveway with apprehension, trying to guess the grade. You purchased your road-hugging luxury ride because you wanted to roll smoothly from scene to scene. Not so you could jump out and measure the curb before pulling into any parking lot. Even if you're careful to avoid known broken pavement or steep hilly regions, the real heartbreak is when you're driving carefully through the perfectly paved suburbs only to hear a scrape as you pull into a deceptively steep driveway. After all your hard work, despite your best efforts and most attentive driving, there is sometimes nothing you can do about the fact that your only parking option is also wreaking hell on your bumpers or beautiful new splitters.
Steep Driveways and Curbs are a Fact of Life
No matter what city you live in, from the Olympian climbs of San Francisco to the smooth flat avenues of Dallas, there's no safety from the steep curb. Some homes are just built upon a little hill and their driveways inconsiderately arch up as if cars didn't have undercarriages. Some businesses on a raised block of earth decide that they don't have to create a smooth driveway. Customers can just levitate their cars up the two feet into their parking spot. At least, it seems that way when you're driving a road-hugging beauty with bumpers mere inches off the pavement. Sure, there are careful ways you can drive to protect your bumpers and pristine paint job when you're out on well-maintained roads. But you're not King of the Asphalt and you can't actually banish all pavement cracks, uneven curbs, and steep driveways that put your low-bodied ride at risk. Home builders and businesses are going to pave their driveways as steep as they please. And the problem is that you might have to park somewhere that is not so great for your undercarriage, bumpers, or splitters. Your friends might have a steep driveway, your work might have a rolling driveway curb you bump every day on the commute. Your favorite restaurant might have a very poorly paved parking garage. And that's just life.
Uneven Pavement Can Jump Up and Bite You
Even worse, is that you can't count on the danger only to lurk in deceptively steep driveways and poorly designed curbs. Even pavement that is meant to be smooth and continuous can become a problem when you're driving your favorite road-hugging sports car. In some cities and poorly maintained neighborhoods, the pavement is so problematic that even pickup trucks experience the occasional scrape. You may live somewhere with shifting soil or very determined tree branches where corners of concrete pavement have begun to peek up tall enough to scrape the bejeezus out of your bumper. Or perhaps you're unfortunate enough to live in a neighborhood with notorious dips or bumps at every intersection. Unless you're ready to man the asphalt truck, the best thing you can do is drive slowly and thing of a way to adapt to life's little challenges.
The Cost of Bumper and Splitter Damage
The worst thing about curb scrapes is that you never know how much that sound is going to cost in repairs. Maybe it was just a little paint scrape that can buff out or be touched up. Or maybe it was your beautiful new splitter cracking on an unexpectedly steep curb or driveway. Some driveway scrapes cost nothing more than elbow grease to repair. And sometimes a driveway can cause thousands in damage considering structural damage, replacement parts, and custom paint. Not knowing is almost worse than the final repair bill to get it fixed. It is also nearly impossible to avoid scrapes when your house features the dreaded steep driveway. Many people don't even realize that their driveways are scrape-traps until they bring their new low-rider home for the first time. If your home’s driveway is even slightly too-steep, you're going to need a long term solution.
The Things We Do to Prevent Bumper Scrapes
We've known guys who travel with a tape measure in your pocket. Any time a grade looks too steep or a curb looks too high, jump out and measure. We have to admit, that's pretty innovative for the occasional super-careful ride, but can you really take the time to measure every single grade and curb? What about when you're in motion and there are other cars ahead and behind? Others have suggested lifting so that the bottom of your car is further from the road, but who wants to ruin the sleek body and sweet mileage of their luxury vehicle by pulling up away from the tires? Chances are, you're not enthusiastic about either option. But there is something better you can try.
How to Keep Your Chin Up & Your Paint Pristine
Driveways and curbs are a scourge on your unscratched low-riding bumper. No matter what kind of road-hugging vehicle you like best, someone's steep driveway is going to give it a chin-scrape that might do even more than paint damage. And there's just no way to be 'careful enough' to avoid this eventuality. It's a fact: The more you enjoy your car, the more likely you are to run into a too-steep situation. Since you can't always measure or decide where not to park (ex: the airport), it's best to have a backup plan. That's why we invented the SlipLo chinstrap for any model of car. Whether you're dealing with a hill-rippled region, uneven city streets, or just unbelievably steep driveways, what your car really needs is something to help it slip right off the asphalt without taking damage. By attaching an aerodynamic strip of snowplow-quality Polyurethane, you can give your car the heavy duty slip-strip it needs to slide right off those steep driveways and glide on as if nothing happened. The best part is that your paint and body integrity will be completely unmarred. 3M adhesive ensures that no drilling is needed and the strip itself prevents scraping damage from ever marring your beautiful paint job again.