Aluminium Belly Pan

[tollboothwilley]

Will it be possible to order one of these in the near future? Say in 2-3 months? Don't have the cash at the moment, but really want to pick one of these up

+1 same here

same here.

It should not be a problem, however initial pricing may increase, and depending on inventory lead time may be required, but I hope to maintain a few on hand at all times

---------- Post added at 10:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 PM ----------

website: www.tollboothwilley.com

link to TBW Aluminum Splash Shields for the FX35 and FX45 is here

Individual items you can click on the links above the picture

2003-2005 FX35 Brushed Aluminum



2003-2005 FX35 Black Powder Coated



2003-2005 FX45 Brushed Aluminum



2003-2005 FX45 Black Powder Coated


2006-2008 FX35 Brushed Aluminum (pending verification of bumper fitment)
2006-2008 FX35 Black Powder Coated (pending verification of bumper fitment)

2006-2008 FX45 Brushed Aluminum

2006-2008 FX45 Black Powder Coated (pending verification of bumper fitment)


New bolts are included with the aluminum under trays - however if you have lost clips you should consider the optional hardware kit. It will probably not be needed by most of you, but is available just in case.

 

[Renhalt]

First of all please understand that I'm not trying to throw any negativity on this subject / thread but wanted to share something that happened to me a couple of weeks ago. And in a way this more of a question than simply a story!

I was driving on the freeway here in KY in pretty heavy traffic when all of the sudden a truck a few vehicles ahead of me lost a retread on one of these new wide tires the trucks are running in replace of the duel tires. There was no way to avoid hitting it and I Unfortunetly ran over it as it lay flat on the highway. Now keep in mind my car is lowered pretty good and I was running about 80 mph! If you could only imagine the sound this made and as i looked in the rearview mirror the sight of what seemed to be the entire bottom of my car was demolished as peices of only god knows what was left in the path of the traffic behind me. I was more than certain that the entire front spoiler, foglights and undercarriage including all the GT spec braces were destroyed! I immediately pulled over to survey the damage and to my amazement the only thing damaged was the plastic belly pan / splash guard we are all looking at on this tread. I took the car to a friends shop and put it on the lift to inspect further and again the only damage was the pan.

SOOOO, I can't but wonder what the outcome would have been had one of these pans had been installed as the plastic pan obviously flexed and shattered under impact in the 15 degree weather? Would the car have essentially gone airborne? Would it have come lose causing the rear wheels to run over it? Would it have bent up into the engine/oil pan? I don't know! But I was REALLY eyeing one of these custom pans for my car and after my experience I think I would rather have somthing that would flex under impact instead of a metal one that would bend and such.

Please understand, I'm not trying to be negative in any way for those of you contemplating the purchase and installation of this product as I Too was going to purchase one myself. If anyone here has had a similar experience as I with the metal pan installed, PLEASE share as I still like the thought of the metal pan with the trap door!

Thanks in advance!

---------- Post added at 05:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:48 AM ----------

Oh yeah BTW, why in the hell does our wonderful government that tells us it's SOOOO unsafe for us to drive without wearing a seatbelt allow tire manufactures to continue making retreads that eventually turn our highways into obstical courses. Only god knows how many people have been killed as a result of retread tires!

 

[tollboothwilley]

First of all please understand that I'm not trying to throw any negativity on this subject / thread but wanted to share something that happened to me a couple of weeks ago. And in a way this more of a question than simply a story!

I was driving on the freeway here in KY in pretty heavy traffic when all of the sudden a truck a few vehicles ahead of me lost a retread on one of these new wide tires the trucks are running in replace of the duel tires. There was no way to avoid hitting it and I Unfortunetly ran over it as it lay flat on the highway. Now keep in mind my car is lowered pretty good and I was running about 80 mph! If you could only imagine the sound this made and as i looked in the rearview mirror the sight of what seemed to be the entire bottom of my car was demolished as peices of only god knows what was left in the path of the traffic behind me. I was more than certain that the entire front spoiler, foglights and undercarriage including all the GT spec braces were destroyed! I immediately pulled over to survey the damage and to my amazement the only thing damaged was the plastic belly pan / splash guard we are all looking at on this tread. I took the car to a friends shop and put it on the lift to inspect further and again the only damage was the pan.

SOOOO, I can't but wonder what the outcome would have been had one of these pans had been installed as the plastic pan obviously flexed and shattered under impact in the 15 degree weather? Would the car have essentially gone airborne? Would it have come lose causing the rear wheels to run over it? Would it have bent up into the engine/oil pan? I don't know! But I was REALLY eyeing one of these custom pans for my car and after my experience I think I would rather have somthing that would flex under impact instead of a metal one that would bend and such.

Please understand, I'm not trying to be negative in any way for those of you contemplating the purchase and installation of this product as I Too was going to purchase one myself. If anyone here has had a similar experience as I with the metal pan installed, PLEASE share as I still like the thought of the metal pan with the trap door!

Thanks in advance!

Renhalt -

This is a very common occurance, and if anything, you had a string of luck that you only had damage to your oem plastic shield. For all those who are running our aluminum under trays (G35, G35X, 350Z, Subaru WRX/STI, G37, 370Z, M35, M35X, M45) what happens is the retread simply only make noise. Many have hit road obstacles with very little, to no visible damage even to the aluminum splash shield. I myself have run over many things and would not consider using a plastic version while being as low as I am. In fact, I think you are actually making the case for why you SHOULD in fact need this more than ever.

The aluminum splash shield will not "make your car go airborne", as it contains zero Red Bull.

 

[smijus]

I'm in as soon as we have the 06-08 FX35 Powder Coated in stock.

 

[Renhalt]

Tollboothwilly,

Considering your the one selling them I think your opinion is rather bias to say the least, as far as airborne I think most understand what I was trying to say WITHOUT THE RED BULL!

In regards to the protection it offers, I'm sure it does! My concern is does it bent into the lower pully, oil cooler and stay there? Or does it flex and break like the plastic one? Also, does it rip my front spoiler off or break like the plastic one? I unsterstand your comments, but please try to understand mine before replying!

 

[meme405]

Tollboothwilly,

Considering your the one selling them I think your opinion is rather bias to say the least, as far as airborne I think most understand what I was trying to say WITHOUT THE RED BULL!

In regards to the protection it offers, I'm sure it does! My concern is does it bent into the lower pully, oil cooler and stay there? Or does it flex and break like the plastic one? Also, does it rip my front spoiler off or break like the plastic one? I unsterstand your comments, but please try to understand mine before replying!

Okay lets look at this another way, I was in a friends car the other day and we were driving down the road when one of those metal pipes used to anchor chainlink fencing was dropped on the road. The pipe went through my buddies lower chin spoiler punctured his radiator and also cracked the lower portion of his oil pan (right at the flange).

In that scenario a metal belly pan could have deflected that piece of pipe down, whereas a plastic piece would have just been punctured resulting in the same catastrophic damage which occurred.

The fact is, that your 4500lb car is not going to go flying into the air after hitting a tire, atleast not unless you are living in a world with cartoon physics. You're fear borders on irrational, but thanks for your comments, we can see you aren't interested so just move along.

---------- Post added at 10:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 PM ----------

Like TBW said, in more cases then not having a piece like this would be more beneficial than anything else. This is a common upgrade on MANY cars, and never have I heard anyone say bad things about it.

It's almost like upgrading from a useless piece of plastic, to a light duty skid plate.

 

[gto]

World with cartoon physics. Chuckles

 

[shadow191]

The pan is made from relatively lightweight aluminum. It's stronger than the factory plastic pan, but it's not structural so if you hit something hard, you're not going to jump it Dukes of Hazard style. If you hit something hard enough to destroy your plastic one, you'd probably dent this one, but not much else. It's still only held on by 10mm bolts, so again, it's not going to cause your car to flip. Even if it bent into your oil pan, it wouldn't do anything, it's a pan which isn't moving at all. My old belly pan was 3" off the ground (before I destroyed it) so I've given a lot of thought to what can and can't happen when you hit stuff. Worst case with any style belly pan is basically you damage/destroy the belly pan. You're not going to do other damage to your car. Short of totalling your car, the belly pan isn't going to bend enough to hit your lower pulley.

A long time ago, my wife was driving to work in a lowered Integra and hit a cinder block. Not just a tire tread, but an actual concrete cinder block. It hit the headers on her car and pretty much flattened them. But the car didn't go airborne or anything like that. And a header is way more structural than a belly pan. I see a lot of guys with slammed cars and headers build skid plates and braces to protect the piping. They hit stuff all the time and I've yet to see a car go airborne because of it. Again, those are actually solid braces, not just a piece of aluminum.

I can't wait for the 06-08 to be ready. I'm tired of driving around with no belly pan. Car is so low I get all sorts of debris thrown into the engine.

First of all please understand that I'm not trying to throw any negativity on this subject / thread but wanted to share something that happened to me a couple of weeks ago. And in a way this more of a question than simply a story!

I was driving on the freeway here in KY in pretty heavy traffic when all of the sudden a truck a few vehicles ahead of me lost a retread on one of these new wide tires the trucks are running in replace of the duel tires. There was no way to avoid hitting it and I Unfortunetly ran over it as it lay flat on the highway. Now keep in mind my car is lowered pretty good and I was running about 80 mph! If you could only imagine the sound this made and as i looked in the rearview mirror the sight of what seemed to be the entire bottom of my car was demolished as peices of only god knows what was left in the path of the traffic behind me. I was more than certain that the entire front spoiler, foglights and undercarriage including all the GT spec braces were destroyed! I immediately pulled over to survey the damage and to my amazement the only thing damaged was the plastic belly pan / splash guard we are all looking at on this tread. I took the car to a friends shop and put it on the lift to inspect further and again the only damage was the pan.

SOOOO, I can't but wonder what the outcome would have been had one of these pans had been installed as the plastic pan obviously flexed and shattered under impact in the 15 degree weather? Would the car have essentially gone airborne? Would it have come lose causing the rear wheels to run over it? Would it have bent up into the engine/oil pan? I don't know! But I was REALLY eyeing one of these custom pans for my car and after my experience I think I would rather have somthing that would flex under impact instead of a metal one that would bend and such.

Please understand, I'm not trying to be negative in any way for those of you contemplating the purchase and installation of this product as I Too was going to purchase one myself. If anyone here has had a similar experience as I with the metal pan installed, PLEASE share as I still like the thought of the metal pan with the trap door!

Thanks in advance!

---------- Post added at 05:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:48 AM ----------

Oh yeah BTW, why in the hell does our wonderful government that tells us it's SOOOO unsafe for us to drive without wearing a seatbelt allow tire manufactures to continue making retreads that eventually turn our highways into obstical courses. Only god knows how many people have been killed as a result of retread tires!

 

[tollboothwilley]

Tollboothwilly,

Considering your the one selling them I think your opinion is rather bias to say the least, as far as airborne I think most understand what I was trying to say WITHOUT THE RED BULL!

In regards to the protection it offers, I'm sure it does! My concern is does it bent into the lower pully, oil cooler and stay there? Or does it flex and break like the plastic one? Also, does it rip my front spoiler off or break like the plastic one? I unsterstand your comments, but please try to understand mine before replying!

I understand what you are saying Renhalt. I'm also taking it in with a light aire, so please don't be offended.

You are not, and will not be, the only person to hit road debris. It is very common. As you stated, the tire treads are very common on the roads. As such, MANY MANY MANY people running these on VARIOUS different vehicles hit road debris, including these tire treads, rocks, and things much worse. And WHEN they(we) do, the common thing to do is to check the undercarriage for signs of damage. Many times I myself have looked under the car, certain to find something to be concerned about. Finding the aluminum under tray exactly how it was, with a slight scratch that is minimal at most. I am certain I am biased about my own products, however, even if I didn't make these, I would find one and buy it for my car.

Aluminum will flex some, under very heavy hits, it will dent some, but very minimally if at all. If you hit something very very hard, you might bend the aluminum tray up, but the likelihood is that you saved your engine and are only out an undertray.

 

[Renhalt]

Thanks for the replies, I guess the airborne comment was a little over the top. It was just that I was traveling at a high rate of Speed and those tires are very wide and honestly I'm shocked it didn't wipe out the whole front spoiler when I hit it. I was simply wondering if the belly pan would have dented rather than deflect the tire and whether or not it would have pulled the bolts out of the front spoiler rather than shattering like the plastic one. I guess the good news is that I didn't have the metal one installed at the time and rather than having a 50.00 repair it could have been replacing the much more expensive alluminum one.

 

[tollboothwilley]

Had you had this one on you would have had nothing to replace at all. That is the point of having this on your car.

 

[tollboothwilley]

There should be 5 or 6 people who have received these by now. Many from the group buy still have yet to fulfill their orders though. For those of you who have received and installed, can you post up your pictures?

 

[low88111]

anyone has pics the brushed aluminum one installed on there fx? im for sure going to get one, leaning towards the black one. i know on the site it shows a pic directly under the fx, but i wanted to see how the brushed aluminum looked against the black plastic trimming we have and how much of the under belly you see with the fx just parked normally.
how long did the shipping take? im going to be moving soon and im not sure to order one before i move or after
thanks

 

[meme405]

anyone has pics the brushed aluminum one installed on there fx? im for sure going to get one, leaning towards the black one. i know on the site it shows a pic directly under the fx, but i wanted to see how the brushed aluminum looked against the black plastic trimming we have and how much of the under belly you see with the fx just parked normally.
how long did the shipping take? im going to be moving soon and im not sure to order one before i move or after
thanks

John fulfilled my order ridiculously quick, like later that day, and they arrived at my shipping facility in like record time. I don't know what he did but seriously from order to delivery was like 4 days.

I got the brushed aluminum one. I have yet to take any good pictures of it, but I will do so tomorrow. I'll also post a review of my pan.

 

[low88111]

John fulfilled my order ridiculously quick, like later that day, and they arrived at my shipping facility in like record time. I don't know what he did but seriously from order to delivery was like 4 days.

I got the brushed aluminum one. I have yet to take any good pictures of it, but I will do so tomorrow. I'll also post a review of my pan.

Sounds good, I'm looking to order one asap. This will help me solidify which one I really want.

 

[theMerchant]

I order a Black one a few days agao and its on the way. Alum was OOS so black it is... Ill post some pictures one I get it installed (next oil change :P)

 

[wlvrn97]

I order a Black one a few days agao and its on the way. Alum was OOS so black it is... Ill post some pictures one I get it installed (next oil change :P)

Wow Merchant...haven't seen you on here in a looong time man...I also got a black one from John about two months ago and I love it. Fits perfectly...I've been meaning to post some pics too but haven't gotten around to it. Will do soon also....

 

[low88111]

I just seen a black Porsche truck with brushed aluminum roof rails and a brushed aluminum under tray, and it looked great. my fx is also black with the brushed aluminum roof rails. im just waiting on meme405 to post some pics of his so i can see how much of the under tray you can actually see when the truck is sitting normally. or anyone who has the aluminum one to post pics of what it looks like. if not ill just get the black one because i know cant go wrong with that.

 

[wlvrn97]

You can not see it from normal viewing distance...you need to stoop low and look under the car...esp if you are lowered.

 

[low88111]

i just went ahead and got the black one since the aluminum one was out of stock. i was thinking of waiting until i move into my new place next month to order it, but didnt want this one out of stock too. hope to recive it by the end of this month, everybody seems very happy with this product