have I damaged the chassis?
 

Hello all, well took the wife and kid down to the beach today, wife was convinced about an empty parking space being ideal as it was in the shade too, neither myself or her saw the 30cm plus sloping ditch as I slowly approached the space...then I heard a loud thud and I backed up slowly straight away....will get actual photos soon, but i stole twinspoppas pic hope he dont mind? so as to describe the damage. Basically the bolt with a yellow circle around it, got part of its head shaved off along with the plastic underneath it (ditch had all sorts of crap in it), the bolt is one of three identical bolts ..I managed to unscrew it and the other 2 to compare, the 2 good bolts go through the plastic and straight it what looks like a nut attached to metal tubing (that runs along length of bumper), but i noticed in the damaged area that the distance between the plastic and the nut was about 7mm-1cm, so did the thud and shearing off the head of the bolt bend this metal tubing inwards and away from the plastic undersheald? and what is this part for? and implications? I made my own larger heaver duty washer to cover most of the damaged plastic and to provide more support, but wondering what if any other damage was done.....
?

Tube is there to secure that underbody plastic shield. The tube is not a structural member. Don't worry about it.

it is just a nuisanse, that something that was good before, now is scratched or bent... use longer bolts or washers, like you already did and fuggetaboutit... lol... no big deal

thanks to upallnight and terminatorX5 , that is good news, I didnt use a longer bolt, found one exactly the same length and made my own custom washer slightly thicker and wider and curved at one end (see pic), to cover the hole caused in the plastic as the original washer and bolt pushed through after the bump incident in the ditch, this ' little' incident was a cause of a major argument between the wife and I :dunno: better not tell her it was nothing or else we will have another row....thanks again

+1

You actually remove this tube when you install the under ride protection. It runs underneath the transmission cooler and serves to prevent it from damage. With the mammoth under ride protection installed, there is no need for this tube. :rofl:

thanks for the reply and great pics....