[DrStalker]

This part used to be attached to the underside of my 1994 NG900:

It was angled down at a 45° angle, on the left side of the car, a few inches in from the back edge of the front passengers door*. It didn't protect anything obvious, and with the car fully loaded with passengers it scraped on speedbumps. There are two bolts built into the car to hold it, so it was probably meant to be there.

Yesterday I had a choice between driving into a cliff, driving into oncoming traffic, or driving over a small branch on the road... so I drove over the branch. This hit the plastic plate, tearing off one of mounting points and leaving it to drag along the road.

I removed the plate by taking off the remaining bolt, put it in the boot, and happily drove around for the rest of the day.

Now I'd like to know.. what is this thing for, and should I try to find another one to replace it? As I mentioned I can't see anything it provides proection for; a pair of cables run above it but they run the entire length of the car and nothing makes them look more vulnerabble at this particular point.





* For internaional readers: in Australia the driver is on the right side of the car

 

[mike saunders]

That's one of the flight control devices....

aka...a rally flap

It's there to keep the front wheels from throwing gravel and road debris up into the body work or into the rear brakes. They're mounted to both sides of the car so if you only saw one, that's a good sign the other was knocked off at some point in the past.

 

[redrum]

The 9-3s no longer have these flaps, and many people remove them on personal preference. Mine each had a tab torn so I removed mine, but will probably replace them at some point in the future. I think they look good, and are unique.

 

[Jeremy R.]

I took off and threw out my originals, then bought a new set years later because I missed how they looked. After a week of hearing them scrape on everything, I remembered why I took them off in the first place. This time they're in the garage so I won't be tempted to buy another pair.

 

[DrStalker]

Ah, so these get positioned to try and catch any stones thrown in at just the right angle to get up into the rear brakes? That's a nicer looking way to do it than using oversized mudflaps in the front wheel well.

I guess I'll put these down as "might replace if I plan to go onto unsealed roads, but don't really need"

Thanks!