I always wash my model 3 on my back yard and noticed that every time I back out after washing there’s a long trail of water about 50’ long right on middle of driveway. This is even after the car sitting there for hours. I looked under car and saw it dripping from rear undercarriage. I started searching online and found photos of other model 3’s with rear bumpers falling off and composite material breaking apart. I then opened my trunk and poured water around weatherstripping seal and water runs off to the sides and down but most of the water runs behind rear tail lights and and ends up inside on the rear bumper. The rear bumper has edges which act as a wall holding a lot of water. Once it fills or during driving water shoots forward drenching the composite material. This will be a big problem for many during winter when all that water on bumper freezes adding weight and stress to rear bumper.
I then drilled a small 5/16” drain hole (hole #1) on center of bumper and poured more water but a single hole was not enough and water still drained off to the composite material. I added two more holes (holes 2&3) close to the first one but no water drained from there so I ended up drilling 2 more (holes 4&5) closer to where bumper meets composite material. One of these last holes (hole #5) ended up being where it drains the best. I did kind of crappy job drilling as drill motor didn’t fit under car so I drilled at an angle. I don’t know it having those holes will hurt the aerodynamic functionality of car but at least I won’t have a bumper full of water.
I then drilled a small 5/16” drain hole (hole #1) on center of bumper and poured more water but a single hole was not enough and water still drained off to the composite material. I added two more holes (holes 2&3) close to the first one but no water drained from there so I ended up drilling 2 more (holes 4&5) closer to where bumper meets composite material. One of these last holes (hole #5) ended up being where it drains the best. I did kind of crappy job drilling as drill motor didn’t fit under car so I drilled at an angle. I don’t know it having those holes will hurt the aerodynamic functionality of car but at least I won’t have a bumper full of water.