Skid plates on your front lip or bumper

axmea?

I plan to make a pair of skid plates for my front lip to keep it from getting chewed by the asphalt on dips, speed bumps, and driveways. I have the Sunline rep from AeroJacket. Will be using a 16 g or 18 g steel plate and cut it out for the two sides on it's lowest point. The plan is to bolt them in place along with double sided tape.

Anyone tried this? I'm thinking this will help keep the bottom from thinning out due to scraping. Feedback and thoughts.

__________________

NitrousZ34

Seems to be a good plan. In for results. PM me for the price you got your lip for if you want. Thats the exact lip I want to get.

Waiz

This is a great idea Rafael, the Porsche 911 guys have been doing this for years.

What I would do is fab up something similar to this that uses the existing bolts for the undertray

OMGWTFBBQ

There's a member on here, keng714, that made something similar for his car.

Some pictures can be found here, second page:
Work Vs-xx

axmea?

Thanks OMGWTFBBQ! This is exactly what I had in mind. I think keng had 16 or 18 guage plates and that is exactly what intend to use. Plan on building two of them, one on each side where it is the lowest. I had an idea of making it stick out a bit (about 1/2 an inch) but I will flush it instead. I cannot counter sink so it will be bolt heads sticking out a little bit.



Thanks Waizzz. This helps. I noticed these things were chromed. My plan is to paint it black and that's it. My lip has a small crack right at the bottom on it's lowest point and will need to be repaired before I can install these. Simple fiberglass work from the inside of the lip.

This said, if I do this, it protects the lip and makes it resistant to breakage/failure at it's lowest point but transfers the energy elsewhere. I will then have to figure out where that energy will be causing a stress point.

__________________

Wiggins3377

Great idea. I've been thinking about something like this for awhile. Being lowered on H&Rs my front lip scrapes every now and then.

__________________
AccuAir/ AirRex/ Amuse/ Bride Japan/ Carbon Fiber Element/ Carbon Signal/ Evo-R/ NRG/ Project Kics/ Samco/ Shine Auto/ SPC/ SPL/ Stance/ Stillen/ Takata/ Top Secret/ Work

Kev T

That is a great idea, simple as well.

KaienZ34

Calvin had done something similar for his amuse.

__________________

Jasonle

I want that for my amuse front!

__________________
2009 Nissan 370z/2003 Honda Soccer Van
Shineauto Amuse Body Kit/UAM Fenders/Bc Br Coilovers/Topspeed Exhaust/Racing Hart Wheels and More My Sexy Beast

KaienZ34

He said it was frp and would get worn out in a year or so and need replacing. He said it was cheap compared to a painted new bumper, that matte blue amuse has one like it also.

__________________

axmea?

Made a 16 ga skid plate. Pain in the *** to mount it back because of the modded fender. Stock would definitely straight forward. Also cleaned my CAI filter. Now I feel good. The sound of scraping metal is better than FG.

__________________

scottIN

Something to think about...

If you catch that on something, it could fold under and rip your whole bumper off. It may seem stiff, but when you've got the weight of the car above it, it creates a lot of force. You want it so the leading edge could never hit anything.

On karts we run an aluminum floor pan. They're supposed to be mounted above the tabs on the frame. People get lazy and mount them under the tabs. First curb they catch, it grabs the front edge of the floor pan and rips it off.

axmea?

It is a good point but it's just the same without it if you catch something. I just hate scraping it to the point where there's nothing left. FG/FRP simply thins quicker than poly-u.

__________________

Waiz

I have a few questions

1) Where did you get the metal?

2) What did you use to cut it to the shape you needed?

3) How are the attached to the car?

axmea?

Got the 8 x 24 16 g sheet from Lowe's -- There's aluminum too but I figured it would not last. It was too pliable. If you can find 18g elsewhere go for it. I think 18g is just right. I just could not find one. I'm sure there's some scrap available out there.

I used a jig saw with Bosch metal blades 21 tpi. I got 30 tpi as well but the 21's was clean enough. It cut quick and smooth. This is the minimum I would use on metal. Anything less will just hard to cut and rough.

I used 3m tape, six 3/4" #10 screws, #10 speed nuts, and one bolt. Overkill I think but I did not want those flying on the freeway. I stuck one side of the tape on the finished metal, peeled off the tape and let it sit under the sun for about 20 min before mounting the plates.

If I had to do it again, I would make one as soon as I got the new lip. If my current one goes away, I will make it a point to get make one before it is installed.

__________________