[Andre]

I brought the car for annual service and the dealer wants me to add the missing bottom engine underpanel (in fact, two undercarriage cover parts are missing). Interestingly, they didn't tell me this during my last three annual visits and I certainly did not loose the covers on highway. Do I really need these parts installed?



I autoX the car and generally prefer to keep weight low, i.e., no covers. On the other hand, maybe there is significant benefit in rust/stone chip/curb damage protection? I often drive on competition tires and they do pick up stones and shower the undercarriage a lot.



Any advice?

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[Greimann]

I bought my car 2 1/2 yeas ago without the panels and haven't seen the need to replace them yet for any reason. It is actually nice not to have them when you drop something in the engine compartment, it goes right to the ground! I suppose they really matter for Autobahn speed cruising. You, DO need the big black plastic valence that is attached to the bottom of the bumper cover.

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[sasilverbullet]

I've heard many differing opinions on the pans...



If you drive a lot over 110mph, then all the pans need to be in place...



The pans DO protect the undercarriage to some extent. I once ran over a dead deer with my Boxster and if it weren't for the pans, I would have had extensive damage to my front steering.



That's my .02...

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[apex]

the most frequent thing I hear is that they establish/maintain the right negative pressure behind the radiator and keep the engine cooler.



I was worried about this when I once drove the car for about 3 mos without either of the pans - but didn't notice any significant change in the temp gauge. I *did* notice a significant difference in the amount of dirt that accumulated in the engine compartment.



But Dave's right - the biggest PITA is that you really need to just take the damn thing off every time you work on the car. I've gotten used to that. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[flash]

ever taken a look at the shape of the center pan - it's specificaly laid out to pull air from the engine bay to the rear



when was the last time you looked underneath any of the high speed cars? they go to great lengths to streamline the air under there - the lift coefficient is greatly reduced with the pans in place - i am actually working on pieces to finish out the entire underside of the car - the RS had an entire rear section that we don't have

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[Andre]

Thanks for the info!



Top speed autobahn driving is not in the cards, but I will be taking the car to the track and some extra cooling from improved engine compartment air flow may help. Some lift reduction on the front straight wouldn't hurt either, so I'll get those things installed.

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[apex]

flash - do you have any pics or other documentation of the RS rear under-panel? I'd love to know what that looked like! <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/wink.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[flash]

ya know - it was pete at rs barn that was telling me about it - i haven't seen it yet - i just asked him if he could post a shot or send me one - he's a couple of days yet from getting his RS back up on the lift - then he'll take the shot for me

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[apex]

cool, can't wait!

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