Some things I found out about plastic skid plates.
1- the gas tank plate is metal because of 2 reasons.
a. STATIC CHARGE! (BOOOOM!!!! COMES INTO MIND)
b. more durable and safer overall
2- most people who buy "off-road" 4x4's never go off road. So manufactures can make some easy money. On using plastic instead of metal.
3- weight, for multiple reasons like better 0-60 times, gas mileage, towing overall weight etc.... All the stuff you look at when buying and comparing vehicles.
4- New age plastics are very strong and durable (per a Ph.D. at my work) not as "hard as steel but no rust, almost as impact safe without hammering it out when finished. So it is just as good as metal for normal "off-road" experiences -- like a camping trip or going to the job site. And it reduces weight for better gas mileage, better 0-60 times etc...
Now it was said that if you are doing heavy off-roading you should definitely go steel. Like say, the Baja, where your truck may go 3' off the ground. But if your a regular "Joe" I'd go with the plastic.
All this advice came to me from multiple reliable sources.
Feel free to e-mail me with any more questions or concerns.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 06 2004 - 11:48:06 EST