Bumper armour for Evokes.

[Stroppy]

Hi all,
Well, a few weeks back I did something very silly. I was doing a three point turn into a servo driveway. I took it very slowly but the angle of the road and the steepness of the driveway meant that as soon as the car made it into the driveway I heard "Grauuuunnnnchhh!" from the front of the car. Got out...had a look, and sure enough the bottom of the bumper had "kissed" the concrete driveway leaving some nice scratch marks to boot! I was so pissed off with myself but it was what it was and my baby had her first bit of damage!

I have booked an excellent mobile PDR/Body repair bloke to fix the damage and he will do so once Daniel Andrews allows us to get out and about. What I would like to know from any of you here is have you ever seen a Body Amour lip for the series one Evoke? When I go online to check out what is available the listings only indicate the armour packs are suitable for SS, SV6, etc. I have contacted a couple of accessory companies who tell me that they don't know of any kit for the Evoke, being that the lip of the bumper is different to the upper models. Have any of you seen an Evoke with a kit attached?

I know there are after-market generic kits available that will fit the Evoke but I worry that they will look awful...overkill for what is otherwise a standard vehicle. Has anyone seen an Evoke with generic kit?

Anyway...I suppose this whole debacle has taught me one thing... the Commodore is a lot lower at the front than I thought it was!!!

 

[panhead]

Does your repair bloke also realign the bar?

As the owner of many lowered cars I find in most cases those type of impacts to one side of the bar will cause it to flex and there will be minor or even noticeable changes to the gap widths from one side to the other.

To fix it properly I have the bar removed, the scratch repair done, the clips checked and then refit it.







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[Skylarking]

@Stroppy, can’t answer your specific question about bumper armour but I’ll add another perspective to your problem

Cars are designed according to ADR’s and must be no lower than minimum ground clearance specified within the vehicle design rules… One should also note the evoke is not a sports car and would thus sit higher than the minimum clearance defined within ADR, and with a much less aggressive bumper.

There are also design rules that define the profile of footpaths and driveways where the flatness of the profile is related to speed limit on the road where the driveway connects. If it’s a servo on a main road, the rules would result in a rather flat profile so it can be traversed at reasonable speed with the aim of getting cars off the road without delay… Driveways on low volume side roads can have a steeper profile though not so steep as to damage vehicles at legal ride height when driving slowly across them.

All this should relate to the evoke being even less likley to be damaged in such driveway scraping mishaps.

So I’d say the driveway height profile must have been rather aggressive for your vehicle to have scrapped at the slow speeds you imply. As such, I’d speculate the driveway is probably sub standard and doesn’t meet the planning rules. If that is the case, I’d be confirming the applicable driveway profile rules with council/VicRoads. If they are in your favour, then I’d be discussing cost recovery for the vehicle repair with the petrol station owners

Really, thats the only way non compliant driveway can be fixed so it’s customers vehicles aren’t damaged when they enter to buy petrol, I.e. hit them in the pocket. The counter point is that if the driveway is decades old, it may have been built to comply with lower standards at the time so you may be SOL… but still, if it’s a crap profile and they are aware vehcile damage can occur, they should put warning signs else they may be liable for the avoidable damage that their substandard driveway causes.

If it’s just a light scrap, probably not worth the effort but I’ve seen lowered commodores drive into petrol stations and scrap hard as the suspension compresses when hitting a shallow driveway dip at 25 kph. In such cases I’ve seen the headlights move These cars may look ok afterwards but on close inspection it’s NQR and a proper fix can be much more than a plastic buff as pan head states in the above post.

PS: very quick Google found these, may or may not help…

https://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/glo...cy---update-organisation-structure-update.pdf

https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/-/m...rt-4-intersection-and-crossings--general.ashx

 

[Forg]

So I’d say the driveway height profile must have been rather aggressive for your vehicle to have scrapped at the slow speeds you imply. As such, I’d speculate the driveway is probably sub standard and doesn’t meet the planning rules.

Slight segue ... but our driveway's scrapeyness comes from the camber of the road-surface itself, the driveway itself has pretty smooth transitions.
Ours is definitely not the most extreme I've seen ... looking at it, I don't think the middle of the road is quite as high as the tops of the gutters, but there are definitely a few backstreets 'round here where the road-centre IS higher than the tops of the gutters.

I wouldn't mind betting that weather conditions in most of Straya means our roads are a little more heavily cambered than in other places, to keep the water flowing when it rains heavily. It's not like a tropical downpour in Hong Kong, but rain in (most of?) England is more like a gentle pitter-patter by comparison.

 

[panhead]

When encountering poorly designed vehicle crossings or driving low cars the rule to live by is to slow right down or even stop and negotiate at an angle.

If you slow down the traffic behind you so be it.

This may not stop you from scraping but it will significantly reduce the impact and damage to the vehicle.

High speed humps when your car is lowered with a 3 inch exhaust and tuned length headers are my main concern and I don't care how many cars are behind me, I will always slow to almost a stop and angle the car over them and if I scrap it will be the exhaust.

To have the car bounce when you hit them at the speed limit is inviting problems as will braking suddenly when you are right on them.




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[Skylarking]

Slight segue ... but our driveway's scrapeyness comes from the camber of the road-surface itself, the driveway itself has pretty smooth transitions.

Yeah, road design rules sadly don’t consider lowered cars, only traffic flow which is why there are different rules for driveways on main roads as to side streets. Rules have also improved so old roads may not be up to modern standards…

Road design rules do consider rainfall.. and one of the docs I looked at but didn’t link has an appendix dedicated to rainfall data

I don't care how many cars are behind me, I will always slow to almost a stop and angle the car over them and if I scrap it will be the exhaust.

Yeah, that’s a practical thing to do but other people are often asleep at the wheel and /or on their phone texting. So slowing right down can be a nervous thing as one always has to rely on keeping an eye out front and also in your rear vision mirror so you can have an emergency exit strategy to cater for the idiots on our road better a scratched exhaust than a squashed rear quarter

It’s easier to crab speed humps and driveways on low traffic volume side streets but on main roads there are some non compliant servo driveways that are so bad I wouldn’t use their pumps during heavy traffic volumes if they were 1/2 the price of other servos and my cars aren’t lowered

 

[panhead]

Yeah, that’s a practical thing to do but other people are often asleep at the wheel and /or on their phone texting. So slowing right down can be a nervous thing as one always has to rely on keeping an eye out front and also in your rear vision mirror so you can have an emergency exit strategy to cater for the idiots on our road better a scratched exhaust than a squashed rear quarter

It’s easier to crab speed humps and driveways on low traffic volume side streets but on main roads there are some non compliant servo driveways that are so bad I wouldn’t use their pumps during heavy traffic volumes if they were 1/2 the price of other servos and my cars aren’t lowered

I designed road for 10 years and did a lot of vehicle crossing in my time as well, laybacks are a standard, road profiles as in Forg's case are not so usual compared to poor grades from the kerb line to the footpath section and internal property levels in relationship to the footpath.

Breaking the back of the VC apron is usually the answer, in other words having multiple changes in grade and the same for the internal driveway.

We would also take measurements of the property owner's vehicle to help with getting the design right.

A friend of mine who is still in the game told me it is now a dying art since the uptake of SVV and 4WD vehicles.

While stopped in traffic I have watched in my revision mirror 2 driver's on the phone who didn't look up before rear ending me.

I automatically check my mirrors as I brake.

If there is a car behind me I have learnt the habit of flashing my brakes as a forewarning before I stop, sometimes 2 or 3 times.

There are still a lot of phone users on the roads but nowhere need as many as there used to be.





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[Stroppy]

Sorry for the tardy response and thanks to all who replied. The road in question was humped up in the centre and sharp fall away to the sides to allow for drainage. I think it was more the road than the servo driveway. Anyway, I had a guy come in and fix it at my home (Melbourne suburbs). Brilliant bloke. He's on Facebook if you want to look at his work, just search " Paul the Painter Scratch & Dent Mobile" and his page should pop up. By the way, I get no financial kick back...just relating the information. He was at my house from 10.20 in the morning until 3.30 in the afternoon. Did a terrific job...masked the area so carefully and put the whole car in a plastic bag to prevent overspray! All that for $320 ! Not bad!
Back to my original question... is the pattern at the bottom of the VF Evoke bar the same as that on the higher models. To me the lower lip on the Evoke and the SV6 look the same. Maybe I need glasses!

 

[Stroppy]

@Stroppy, can’t answer your specific question about bumper armour but I’ll add another perspective to your problem

Cars are designed according to ADR’s and must be no lower than minimum ground clearance specified within the vehicle design rules… One should also note the evoke is not a sports car and would thus sit higher than the minimum clearance defined within ADR, and with a much less aggressive bumper.

There are also design rules that define the profile of footpaths and driveways where the flatness of the profile is related to speed limit on the road where the driveway connects. If it’s a servo on a main road, the rules would result in a rather flat profile so it can be traversed at reasonable speed with the aim of getting cars off the road without delay… Driveways on low volume side roads can have a steeper profile though not so steep as to damage vehicles at legal ride height when driving slowly across them.

All this should relate to the evoke being even less likley to be damaged in such driveway scraping mishaps.

So I’d say the driveway height profile must have been rather aggressive for your vehicle to have scrapped at the slow speeds you imply. As such, I’d speculate the driveway is probably sub standard and doesn’t meet the planning rules. If that is the case, I’d be confirming the applicable driveway profile rules with council/VicRoads. If they are in your favour, then I’d be discussing cost recovery for the vehicle repair with the petrol station owners

Really, thats the only way non compliant driveway can be fixed so it’s customers vehicles aren’t damaged when they enter to buy petrol, I.e. hit them in the pocket. The counter point is that if the driveway is decades old, it may have been built to comply with lower standards at the time so you may be SOL… but still, if it’s a crap profile and they are aware vehcile damage can occur, they should put warning signs else they may be liable for the avoidable damage that their substandard driveway causes.

If it’s just a light scrap, probably not worth the effort but I’ve seen lowered commodores drive into petrol stations and scrap hard as the suspension compresses when hitting a shallow driveway dip at 25 kph. In such cases I’ve seen the headlights move These cars may look ok afterwards but on close inspection it’s NQR and a proper fix can be much more than a plastic buff as pan head states in the above post.

PS: very quick Google found these, may or may not help…

https://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/glo...cy---update-organisation-structure-update.pdf

https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/-/m...rt-4-intersection-and-crossings--general.ashx

Hi Skylarking...I tried that route with the council. Took photos and everything as, imho, it was the angle of the road and not the driveway. Got no joy at all. I didn't tackle the station owner...probably would have had the same response. From now on if I enter ANY driveway that looks a little iffy I will use slow speeds and extreme caution. Thanks for your super informative post. I've had the car repaired (looks great!) and so, from now on I will be very, very careful!

 

[Forg]

Back to my original question... is the pattern at the bottom of the VF Evoke bar the same as that on the higher models. To me the lower lip on the Evoke and the SV6 look the same. Maybe I need glasses!

I "know" they are different, and that the SV6 is a little more pokey-outey and "aggressive".
But given that this "knowledge" has no support that I can recall (I must have read it somewhere but since I can't say where I have little trust in the original source), it may be totally wrong!
It's a shame I'm in Sydney, I've got a set of Sports Armour I haven't fitted yet (yes saving it for a rainy day, dunno why, I'm almost as bad as my uncle who had aftermarket floot-mats over the OEM Holden ones when we bought his minty 10yo VS Berlina off him ) and we could've done a quick test-fit to check.