Skid Plate skiddiness upgrade

[Veganpotter]

Fun(kinda spendy) and not finished. But I'm skinning my skid plates with a bit of polycarbonate. I bought the 1/8" lightweight/thinner plates from Primative with hopes that this meets in the middle with protection relative to the thicker plates, with barely adding any weight. The polycarbonate is fairly thin. But it will slide much better than aluminum. I'm going to skin the diff cover too, but I'm thinking about not bothering with the transmission cover
*I know this isn't going to be as strong as the 3/16" but it should help me slide over things with a bit less vertical force over time than with thicker aluminum plates.

 

[Veganpotter]

Primitive*

 

[ABFoz]

That one's a good idea if polycarbonate is cheap there. It will turn up to be sort of dual density in terms of protection.

Another material is UHMW (Ultra High Molecular Weight) plastic. I learned it from ToyotaNation when some members installed some sheets/layers on their lowered Camry SXV10 and SXV20-type front subframes to get the material to slide when they scrape. The front subframes of those cars are annoyingly low.

I've also seen some owners of ladder-chassis vehicles who padded their chassis, water and fuel tank with it for extra protection. They usually get the white ones as they are the cheapest.

UHMW plastics are usually locally made in our areas so they are supposed to be somewhat affordable.

The downside is the thickness. The thinnest I can get here is 1/4" thick. Maybe, if the material is too thin, the shock resistance is significantly reduced, not sure. Cheers.

 

[Veganpotter]

Thanks for the other plastic recommendation. This is 1/16" and I paid $122 for a 4x8 sheet. I'm also replacing my rear quarter windows with this(abs behind it) for weight savings and better temperature management.

*I wish I could get 1.5" in strips. I think it would be fun to make recovery points with polycarbonate. But I think the stock I'd need to buy would be too expensivs