problem bottoming out?

[SoCal]

Took my first Boxster test drive yesterday and heard a scrape under the front end of the car just pulling out of the dealership's driveway.

At the dealership, there is a concrete drainage swale at the end of the driveway running parallel with the street -- nothing too dramatic or unusual -- but when the front tires dipped into that drain, something under the front end bottomed out.

I think what scraped were two small pieces placed in front of each tire. You can see the parts in these pictures:





What are these parts called, and what is their function? Are they air dams, to help keep the tires on the road? Or is their purpose to sacrifice themselves to help keep the front end from bottoming out -- like a first line of defense?

I'm just a little bit concerned, because there are a lot of uneven street surfaces all around where I live and work -- drains, streets meeting at hills, uneven elevations -- and unless I go extra slow and be careful to drive over uneven surfaces at a 45-degree angle (sort of counter-productive to the purpose of a Boxster), I might tear these things to shreds.

[Morelli]

Mine is lowered 1" and I have no issues.

[Adam]

If your car is not lowered and you are scraping you are probably need to drive at even less of a perpendicular angle. The platic guard has scraped one time on my car when I was sitting shotgun because the driver entered a parking lot straight on. It looks like it is designed for areodynamic purposes and directing air onto the front brake rotors. It doesn't hurt if they lightly scrape but try to keep it to a minimum if possible.

[tqtran]

I've ripped one almost completely off in a pot hole once.
They are like $9, three screws, and 5 mins to replace.