Today I was coming out of a steep driveway and I scraped my front end a bit... When I got out to check the damage, I was glad to see that I only hit the rubber airdam underneath the actual car body.

But, when I checked this air dam more closely, I saw that it had a strip of double-sided foam mounting tape that ran the full length of the air dam. And it's still got the protective strip on the outside, meaning what, that there's supposed to be something stuck there that was never mounted?

Anyone have any ideas what this is for?
Thanx!
Lisa

Honda Fit Sport 09 non-nav

 

not sure i will be sure to climb under mine in the morning though!!

 

Yours has double-sided foam mounting tape? All mine has (had) was a clear protectant film that was left tattered after a couple of months of scraping while entering my steep driveway. I pulled off what was left and was sure that the only reason it was there to begin with was for a little bit of added protection. Can you take a picture of the foam you're talking about? Maybe that was peeled off of mine, leaving just the clear backing. Weird.

 

Hey, I noticed this as well. I told the dealer to not remove anything from the car as it sat on the lot, there was plastic still on the hood and roof, and all the interior plastic that comes on these cars when they're shipped, I also told them to leave the window sticker on it. They told me they had to wash the car to release it to me, and thus they had to pull the body plastic wrap off because Honda would ask me if the car was clean when I got it etc.

After the first wash I noticed this stuff you're talking about on the front black lip like thing, under the front bumper. It looks like double sided tape stuck to the front of it, but it didn't appear to actually be double sided, my guess is it is just another part of the protective coverings they ship the car with. I pulled it off, and it came off clean.

# 5 in this pic, is the black plastic piece you see with this tape stuff on it right?

 

Looks like it was a protective covering! I peeled it off this morning out of curiosity... It's thick, hence my thinking it was foam mounting tape.

Now, for "protective" covering, how lame! It did not cover the whole air dam, it was just an inch wide.

But I guess it did protect my car yesterday from getting scrapes on it!

Thanks all... Lisa

 

I purchased a used 09 last week, and in checking the vehicle I found the same thing. I just pulled it off and threw it away. I assumed it was part of the protective film during transport. Don't worry about it.

 

It was on mine too. I asked the dealership about it, and the (extremely knowledgeable) mechanic told me that it was to help keep it clean and make it easier to wipe the bugs off.

 

I don't think its meant to be on there for any length of time. First off you can't even see this piece while standing unless you're 30 ft away, at which case bugs won't ruin the look, or unless you're on your hands and knees in front of the car.

A few thousand miles of rain driving, or one winter will probably take care of it on its own. It wasn't very adhesive at all, peeled off rather easily, and it didn't even fully cover that piece, its short on both ends. The fact that it was a strip of foamy material leads me to believe that it was there for shipping and transportation protection purposes only.

 

interesting. i'll take a look one of these days when im doing the oil change.

 

my 2010 sport has it also... was wondering....

 

tape is just there, alot of cars have that piece but idk bout the tape. i scrape it alot =[

 

The protective tape is covered in the service bulletin on "pre-delivery inspection" (08-065). Step 23 reads "Sport models: remove the protective tape from the front spoiler".

There you have it. The protective tape is to prevent damage to the front spoiler during shipping, and is supposed to be removed before delivery. Sometimes the dealer forgets this step.