Actually it was a depression off to the side of<br>the road in an alley. It was dark and as I pulled<br>into the alley at a relatively slow (7 mph)I<br>hit the depression and heard a loud bang. I got<br>out immediately and looked for any damage. There<br>did not seem to be any at first glance. The depression was not too deep but there was an asphalt ridge right beside it where the bottom of<br>my A4 actually hit. Upon further inspection<br>back at my garage, I noticed a small dime sized<br>hole on the black plastic undercover behind the<br>bottom of the front bumper. The hole was located about a foot behind the front bumper underneath on the drivers side and can not be seen unless you were to stick your head fully under the car. <p>There did not seem to be any other cosmetic damage to the car. Also, I have the sport Pkg. <p>My question is will an impact strong enough to put<br>a small hole in the undercover enough to generate<br>the loud bang??? or did it hit a part of the<br>engine?? judging by the size of the hole it did<br>not penetrate that deep into the engine bay.<p>There does not seem to be any<br>structural damage as the car runs as straight as<br>ever, there are no leaking fluids and no rattles<br>or shakes of any kind. I have hit potholes<br>before in my other car (integra) that produced<br>the same loud bang but with no exterior or structural damages.<p><br>hoping someone can console me in my time of pain!!!<p><p>Doug L<br>A41.8T/Tip/Sport/Sil/Onyx

Find a stubby slotted screwdriver and remove the cover under the engine. 4+ fasteners underneath (depending on how many are ground off), 2 in the front of each wheel well. With this component removed you'll be able to inspect for damage. <p>One of my motor mounts got scraped in a similar incident... Ouch! <p>AJL<br>98 Passat, not lowered

If you hear a new groan that seems to go away when you turn or curve to the left or right, you may have damaged a wheel bearing...but you're probably ok.<p>Rich<br>'982.8Q sport

They may have a program like Seattle, where if you document the pothole, road damage, which caused damage to your car, you can file a claim which the city will pay to fix your car. Usually, you have to fix the car first, then file the claim with receipts. I would document everything, including pictures of damage and alleyway.<p>Kirk<br>