Who makes the best Skid Plate?


Dave

 

Depends on what you want... Personally, I think all the skidplates add too much weight to the car - I went with a simple power steering fan cover, just to protect it from road debris, chunks of rubber on the track (otherwise known as marbles), and sucking in pieces of plastic...

 

The factory made the best skidplate - light, doesn't RUST onto the vehicle and thus making oil-changes virtually impossible, and of course the factory panel works just fine.

 

Very little responce here. Does this mean that nobody uses a skid plate or there are no good ones? I understand that for racing they are heavy, but I would like it for street use. There is just so much trash and junk out there. After changing the springs, I am just looking for a little peice of mind. The plastic OEM part does not cover much. Does anyone make a Carbon Fiber Skid Plate?

Dave

 

Actually I had just ordered one from Mini Madness, but he seems to have discontinued them. They were very light aircraft aluminum, also vented very well.

Oh well, looks like the plastic factory will go back on.

 

You could get the one from moss mini...they have a 9 lb version. Its not a ton of weight, but like rye said, it may rust onto the car. Getting the fan cover is probably the best bet. Unless you got some springs i dont know about, you car cant be that low. So, just avoid large debris and you will be fine

 

Thanks for the input.

After the most memorable incident some time back of a shovel falling off a truck in front of me, in traffic, and no place to go. It landed with the blade up, taking out a $500.00 oil pan. I will gladly sacrifice 9 pounds for an aluminum plate. However I am looking into having a Carbon fiber one made. As for the rusting bolts, I don’t think I will have this problem using stainless bolts.

Dave

 

Ouch!, sounds like a $1000+ skid plate to me. Would be real nice though to have a CF underbody.

 

you can slap a 92mm computer fan grille on the PS fan. I did - cost me a whopping $1.99.


Marty

 

That's a darn good idea!:smile:

Dave

 

Get the heavy (22 lb.) one from Moss. I took on a re-tread from a semi and faired quite well with my skidplate. As for oil changes, get a quick release valve from Fumoto (106N is the one to get, it has a nipple to connect a 3/8" tube for oil evacuation). As to the weight issue, the integrity of this steel unit when you hit something solid outweighs (pun intended) the additional weight penalty; it can really take a pounding (pun intended) with no adverse effects.

 

Just my two cents, but I don't think it is a necessary part. That's after taking a couple of serious off-road excursions with my car - lowered significantly - at the track. I have been able to bust both ball joints, but yet the underside of the car has been fine with just the factory skid plate. If you have a later '03, you have a power steering fan cover from the factory as well. If not, Mania makes a nifty little cover for just the fan unit.


Hope that helps!
Randy

 

Oddly enough, my August 03 build didn't have the PS fan cover so I just tossed the 92mm comp fan grille on there, and voila. Seems to work well so far.


M

 

I went with the a Moss stainless steel unit. Stainless because it is less likely to rust over time. They did not offer the aluminum at the time or the fan covers. Though I am not sure I would gone with either. I got it because I had a Power Steering fan problem. Later while at the dealership I saw a MCS trans with a good size hole in the case. The car car ran over a frozen phone book that was hidden in the snow. If you live in the warm clims you may need only something to protect the fan. If you drive your car where it snows, you might want to put a plate on. You can always take it off for the autocross/track season.

 

I too have had my share of off road excursions at the track. Like you I have found no use for a skid plate on the track.

My primary concern and use is for the street. In this environment it is almost impossible to dodge all of the road debris, small children, and animals that clutter our highways. If you should run over any of these, not only can the large pieces do damage but residue is very hard to clean off and can smell if you don’t get it all.



Dave

 

LMAO

I have a nice skid plate. it's SS and has SS fasteners. It wieghs a little but its well worth the protection as I have only had it for 6 months now and I have two very large gouges with chunks of metal missing in it.

If ur interested still I may be able to find the receipt.

 

I have installed two Moss Mini stainless steel skid plates. It's a solid unit and here in the NJ and PA area where snow-plows tend to be a bit behind the snow fall, I'd say it'll protect well.

I am not a fan of the quik-remote oil drain valves. During oil changes, you are also supposed to give the underside of the car a good once-over and wipe-down, checking for leaks, CV boot damage, and genera condition. This requires removing the skid-plate. I don't find this a big deal... takes an extra minute or so...

IF i do have one complaint about the Moss unit is the hardware. The rear bolts are 10mm rounded hex-head cap screws. 6mm is a woefully inadequate size for this size bolt. In really salty condition, the stainless will bond with the steel sub-frame and getting those bolts loose is like pulling teeth. Even with the 1/2 can of anit-seize I slathered all over the threads. After fighting with them, I replaced the s/s bolts with standard bolts with a proper nut on top. They spin loose nicely now (still need a breaker-bar).

 

After bottoming out over (or through) a pothill on a grade the first week I had my Mini, I ordered the Moss skidplate. It is not the best from a mounting standpoint, but it is far better than nothing. I have rallyed and had to rely on a skidplate enough that I wouldn't be without something down there. I would replace the fastners that come with it, remove it for the track if you really need too, it's only a few bolts.

 

Mini madness has one, I think they are still selling. it is much lighter than the Moss version I think. Check with George at www.mini-madness.com

 

They arent selling it anymore(design flaw?)...and it actually weighed more then the moss one as well

 

Back in the day I remember reading through a number of posts here and perceiving a strong correlation between skid plates and power steering pump failures. Seemed like nearly everyone who reported a pump failure had an aftermarket skid plate installed. Could have been completely random, but it kind of scared me off the idea...

 

It was do to a lack in air flowing over the fan because the skidplate blocked it a bit...thus overheating. Dont know if they fixed it or not

 

[font=Verdana]The moss skid plate sits far away from the PS cooling fan. And there are large vents in it. I think that my PS motor and rack was done in when the cooling fan sucked up a plastic bag. I have a early 03 MC. When the PS fan went bad the event was rather amazing. Smoke came out of all the hood and fender vents. There was a strong smell of burnt electrical wiring, and the car overheated as well. All this happened while I was traveling in the fast - well left lane, as traffic was stop and go at the time - of I 495 in Montgomery Co, MD. The temperature gauge pegged hot with almost no warning at all - yes I do keep an eye on the gauges. [/font]
[font=Verdana][/font]
[font=Verdana]With reguards to the failure of my PS rack and Pump. I think the PS fluid got hotter than it should. The heat changed the properties of the fluid enough that the fluid no longer worked as designed. Can I prove any of this? No. It is just a gut feeling. As a precaution once my car hits 75K miles I will flush the PS system with fresh fluid. That will be about 50 K miles on the new PS system.[/font]

 

dacrema is closer to the truth on this than the rest. The reason most people who have had their car overheat also have skid plates is a good one. Pretty much everyone of these people, like myself, put on the skid plate to try to prevent an overheat from happening AGAIN. There is also an aftermarket PS fan cover, which I also have. However, be warned that even with skid plate and PS cover installed, my car still overheated a little once when I hit a very shallow puddle going under 10mph. The new cars, which I have seen at MINI training events shows a PS fan cover to help prevent the problem; thus MINI knows very well what the problem is. The PS fan gets anything in it and it trips a fuse. It just so happens that this fuse also is in charge of the main cooling fan for the engine. Thus you loose the PS and you loose engine cooling and then the whole freaking thing overheats. This has happened to many people. I am honestly surprised none of you have read or heard about this. It is in fact the most serious design flaw EVER on a any of the new MINIs. I work the shows for MINI and was told by the VP of MINI USA, in a face to face conversation about it, that this problem was fixed on the mid- 2003 production cars. He also said that MINI has no, nor did it sound like there will ever, fix from MINI for this problem. Thus myself and many others were screwed. I have been trying to find a MINI tuner that will set up a separate fuse for this problem, which in theory is a simple thing to do. I have a local guy who is at a racing event in Mexico that returns on the 31st. Once he is back I am going to get him to look into a fix. If anyone of you is interested in fixing the problem on your pre-mid 2003 MINIs email me at robertbrite@sbcglobal.net and I will be sure to let you know if/how I get the problem fixed.

 

I live in Boston, and drove my '03 MCS for all of last winter with NO power steering fan protector or skidplate, granted my car is not lowered, but we had a fairly bad winter last year, lots of ice chunks on the road, etc, and though I have since had the ps fan replaced under warranty due to it finally getting cooked, I now have the '04 fan with the factory shield. So I do not see the skidplate as neccessary, its just more weight under the front of the car, right where you don't need it!