Beatrush Aluminum Underpanel opinions
 

I recently had a mishap with my jack slipping and damaging the oem skid plate. I'm looking at replacement options and came across the Beatrush part. It's similar money to an oem replacement, so I was thinking about giving it a try.

Anyone here have any experience with this part or opinions on it? I like the idea of helping cool the engine bay with the issues this car has with engine bay temps. My concern is it will disrupt the airflow under the car and cause the front end to be more unstable at speed.

https://kamispeedblog.files.wordpres...30507746_n.jpg

The front skid plate won't cause the front end to get unstable but it does help the coefficient of drag, and keep your engine bay from getting super dirty

Which one do you think has the better coefficient, OEM or aftermarket with vents?

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Run it. I doubt you would ever notice a difference, but it may help oil temps with the ducting. Sounds like a great excuse to buy a neat part.

Is the OEM part steel or aluminum (potential weight reduction and rust mitigation)? It'd be great if these guys would see a complete underbody kit. Nice looking skid plate!

The sad part is after wrapping up swapping fluids in the diff and trans, probably unnecessarily at that, this happened lowering the car back down and after seeing the damage my first thought was at least it's an excuse to buy a new part that I actually need.

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The COD is so minimal it doesn't matter, the aftermarket one will probably vent the engine bay much better if you have uels.

I have this part for my S2000 - it's a nice piece of kit from Laile, the hardware included is nice, too. My instructions were in Japanese but pretty self-explanatory with the blown-out graphics and some common sense. Unless your car is a mm off the ground and doing 140 mph into turn 13 at Indy there will be no discernible difference in drag ;)

I can't say with 100% certainty but it feels like the S2000 warms up quicker and runs a little hotter with the plate over the plastic. Maybe a thermal conductivity expert can chime in on the difference between a thin aluminum and thin plastic polymer sheets. No overheating issues, could also be my imagination.

It is a little bit of a pain to get on/off due to its size and very tight mounting tolerance. When I put mine on initially I was happy to have a buddy hold half up to line everything up because there is virtually no slop/play. Something to consider if you need to access your underside regularly, although I'm sure you can concoct some sort of quick fastener locks on a couple of the mounting holes to help you out.

Lastly, consider the sheer ability of plastic over aluminum - just like in a crash, you want things to give way/crumple/break before hurting the vital parts. This is akin to a motorcycle debate on (poor) frame sliders/skid plates doing more damage than good if the mounting is ill-thought. What if you run over a big rock on the road? This ain't no Tesla titanium plate.

Edit: pic for proof

http://i.imgur.com/DmixdHU.jpg

If you were able to screw up the OEM plate, just keep in mind that the Beatrush plate is aluminum.

My car is not slammed but I've already scraped the OEM plate several times over the last 3 years. Aluminum will get destroyed easier if you've ever scratched your stock plate.

YMMV.

-alex

OEM skid plate is aluminum (really thick gauge)

This is what I did
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/t...psemj15zuv.jpg

http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/t...pspxh0y1x0.jpg

I currently have this on my car. It is a very nice piece, but seems just a little more flimsy when compared to the OEM panel. I installed it by myself without any issues. Would've been a bit easier to line things up with an extra set of hands though.

As far as cooling, I monitored my oil temps for awhile before and after the install. Living in the desert and having an aftermarket header, I was concerned about my oil temps. What I have noticed is that it has not lowered the oil temps in anyway (according to my gauge anyway) during normal driving. What I have noticed is the temperature lowers a bit more quickly back to normal after spirited driving. Not a dramatic difference, but definitely noticeable.

Yes but all else being equal, the same panel with more holes is more likely to get damaged versus one with minimal holes.

-alex

Did you notice any temperature differences?

I didn't do any measurements
I did it to vent my uel header