Underbelly Side Skid Plates

[Tronn]

I am curious if you guys are taking the underbelly side plastic skid plates off for any reason. Previous owner was a brute and I notice that one of mine has a pretty nasty tear in it that drags over speed bumps. Do you guys think there is anything extremely crucial underneath that would justify buying a new one? Or do people mostly take them off and leave them off? I live in Southern California so there's no snow or harsh weather to worry about. Any input is appreciated and thanks in advance!

[Smac770]

They're not there to "protect" the car from water. They are for aerodynamics. If it's not properly secured to the vehicle, it shouldn't be on the vehicle. Just grab another one off a wrecker.

https://audi.7zap.com/en/usa/audi+a4...ol-6-3-245-333

Looks like the run down the side is cover 1, then cover 4, then cover 6.

https://parts.audiusa.com/a/Audi_201...S/1399657.html

parts.audiusa.com's super crappy useless images, but we see "1 is 1" and "4 is 4" and the p/ns. Where's 6? Apparently that's 18 over on this completely different page: https://parts.audiusa.com/a/Audi_201...S/1399870.html

Obviously, no one in their right mind would buy a new OE one except insurance. But you need the p/n to start a reasonable search for a used or knock off replacement.

[bakedziti]

I don’t have the part numbers nor can I recall what I paid exactly for these used off the forum in 2018, but I think it was around $250-$300 for all 6 when I did this with my old B8 A4. The liners also cover fuel lines to my recollection which was my biggest motivator living in snow ridden WNY.

Replaced all of my underbody liners today. I only had one of the six, but surprisingly all of the plastic nuts that hold them on we’re still attached to the underside of the car. That will be a nice $25-30 back for the unneeded hardware.



I also changed my oil and swapped to some genuine aluminum MT pedals, but didn’t take a picture. I’m glad that the dead pedal turned out to be far easier than the posts I’ve read made it out to be.

[Nillious]

Not sure if your state uses “anti skid” or basically very small limestone rocks. I live in pa and my covers were so full of it after several winters they were sagging down and bending. I had considered some sort of coarse foam they would still drain water but keep the rocks out. I had to clean it up with a shovel and filled a five gallon bucket with it after taking them down to clean it out. This was on a 13 so many years of driving in winter. Something to watch for.

[STXA7]

As stated above, the skid plates function as aerodynamics for your vehicle as designed by Audi in wind tunnel testing. They include this in their marketing materials for each model. There are other body undertray panels on both sides of the driveshaft that also have aerodynamic purpose, but have secondary function of protecting some lines that run attached to underbody of the car. They have a third function of sound deadening as well. You can find 3rd party cheap version of every single one. There are some metal replacement option for engine undertray and transmission area called “street shield” from ECS.


Good luck on your search,
Your brother in Audi 3.0t


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine Forum

[Tronn]

Thank you everyone for the answers. I’m now in the hunt for the rear driver side panel! Having a hard time finding one local so I’ll have to order third party online. Thanks again for the help!


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine Forum