Since Houston roads are well know to be in horrible condition, my factory plastic skid plate came lose after hitting a transition on the road. I did end up zip tying it, but came lose again on the highway. I wanted to go lower on my GTI but I didn’t want to go through several oil pans, so I went with Dieselgeek Panzer Skid Plate.

Buying this skid plate is one of the best investments I bought for my car. This skid plate is very heavy duty, and I do have a peace of mind knowing the my oil pan and transmission are protected. The guys at Dieselgeek were quick to ship my skid plate, and its a complete bolt on. The skid plate bolts on to the frame of the car and it is very sturdy.

The kit comes with all the nuts and bolts for the install. The nuts and bolts are also heavy duty and can take the abuse of the road. It didn’t come with an instruction manual but you can get it at the Dieselgeek website. The install was fairly simple and took me about  2.5 hours. The hard part was mounting the passenger side bracket because you have to remove the intercooler pipe.

My old factory skid plate was pretty beat up and could no longer take the abuse. I dont drive fast on rough roads but when you are very low you cant help it, you just scrape. Its the price to pay for being static low and no im not going to raise my car.

After the install, the skid plate didn’t reduce my ground clearance at all.  The plate is actually the same height as the factory skid plate. For the piece of mind, the skid plate covers all the vital organs of the engine.

If you do need to get underneath the engine, all need to do it is remove the 4 bolts from the skid plate and its off. I did test the skid plate on the Houston roads and I can tell you it really takes the abuse. The skid plate will pay for itself, because just think about many oil pans will you go through if you dont have protection. Yeah you can avoid certain roads (i still do) but what happens if that road you always take is under construction or debris on the road? Life is unpredictable but at least you can be prepared for the worst.

Yes, Im that low and its cool the see the sparks at night whenever I hit a bump on the road. Its better then pulling over the side of the highway and see a puddle of oil next to your car. Let them haters hate. Protect your investment, buy a skid plate.