Plastic Belly Trays

[ChattanUBARU]

The plastic belly trays (under the engine, in front of the front wheels) on my '08 2.5 rattle when going over small obstacles. They look to be installed correctly. Any harm in removing them? They don't look like they'll provide protection from much of anything, anyways.

[b0x3r]

Eh, no real harm. I think a lot of people lose them while driving around and not even know it.

The aerodynamics would be worse. Without that plastic pan beneath the car, drag will increase and mpg will decrease. By how much? I don't know.

So how about duct tape? Or a good glue? (I personally endorse Gorilla Glue)

[Blacky]

They stop a lot of road debris, water, mud, salt etc. from spraying up into the engine bay. To me they are worth it for that alone.

[ChattanUBARU]

Thanks. Thought as much. Is there supposed to be a large belly pan in between the two outer pans? Ummmm, because I don't have one.......

[06baja spt]

I had it happen on the BMW & I had lights shorting out from getting splashed.On the Baja I yanked it right away & got the the Rallitek skidplate.

[b0x3r]

Alright. I retract my statement of 'no real harm.'

[b0x3r]

But then again...I think Brucey has been running around without one for a while...

[matty]

My 06 didnt even come with one. almost 80,000 miles, lots of snow, slush, and rain later, i have had no ill effects. Is this even something that was available on the 06?

[CNY_Dave]

On the H6 3.0L there's a coolant hose (to the oil cooler) that hangs pretty low- I'm guessing the H4 doesn't have this hose which is just sitting there, begging for a piece of road debris to come along and smack it?

Dave

[ChattanUBARU]

Yeah, it looks pretty tidy under the H4. I'm not going offroad (on purpose, anyways!), so I may just yank 'em. We don't get much in the way of extreme weather (unless you count humidity as weather) here in 'Nooga, either.

My other idea was to simply wind small rubber bands under the collars on the reuseable 'connectors' that hold the pans onto the bumper/wheelwell liner. My thought was that if I could take up the 'slack' between these components, the rattle would go away.