I say you wait up all night with a flashlight and a BB gun.

 

i live on the lake here in GA and during the winter months... the rats come out at night and chew up my bird feeders and eat all the seeds that fall onto the ground and my awning (sp?)... i picked up a CO2 powered Airsoft pistol (450 FPS) and a bottle of those heavy gram BB's ( if you miss, less damage to the house and will not break a window). 50 bucks

Just to let you know... if you hit them broad side... the BB will go in and bounce around. They crawl and strugger for life for about 30 seconds and then give up and die.

OPTION 2:

My dog (pitbull/shepard mix) has caught and killed more than i have... so far, Jarrod 3... Mercy 8

We sometimes hunt together... i shoot them off the deck and she shakes em around a bit.

Either way, you need to kill them all b/c they will begin to destroy more than just you vehicle!

 

Damn tree rats.

 

The little rat, looks like he perched up on your tire with the rear paws and bumper with the front paws and decided it was a good time to sharpen his teeth

 

Thought # 1: I've gottten my front bumper hung up on rope cables at low-budget parking lots (swim-club, soccer fields, and target range). A lot of these parking lots have steel rope cables around the perimeter, and I've got a similiar gauge in my bumper from one.
Note: the grooves in mine go the other direction so I agree with rodents below for yours.
Thought #2:I've seen squirrels eat through lots of electrical cables.

 

Ha these posts are great... I'm totally laughing as I write this. However, my initial thoughts were that I hit something that grabbed my tire. But I've heard nothing. And I never drive at night. I mean, the only things I hear are wind noise from the windshield, or my pumping the stereo... which could have drown it out. Damn.

I love all of the mods that I'm not around to witness.

 

I work as a cable tech, and replace alot of eaten cable in the colder months. due to the voltage that goes through em, they seem like a warm source to them and want to take it with them, least till they get zapped. though dont know why they'd go out and make lunch of a bumper. Its almost as if a bunch got together and peer pressured another to do it as a joke

 

it was wayolife. i saw him do it.

 

To make absolutely sure its rats, the next thing you will have to do is to check their droppings for parts of your bumper.....

Maybe its some strange "rat diet plan".....Like Slimfast or something...

Jeep Bumpers...Less Filling...tastes great....to a rat....

 

Looks like the work of a Liger, which if you haven't heard is the cross between a Lion and a Tiger. Its pretty much my favorite animal.