Greetings,

After going through some rough terrain a few times I've scratched and beat up my skid plates quite a bit. This being my first off-road vehicle, is there a good way to take care of them and the undercarriage in general? I remember reading that some people rustoluem them up so they don't rust, some just rattlecan them, some just leave it be... is there a best way to take care of them?

I was going to ge pick up some paint to touch up when I install my shrockworks rails, and was wondering what I should get for the other areas.

Is there an old thread (my searches hasn;t found one) that talks about this, or have any ideas on how to best take care of my jeep after beating it up on the trail?

Thanks!

 

With past 4x4's, I have not worried about the skid plates not looking good. So long as they were not deformed and were still able to protect the parts they are there to protect, I would not worry about them. It is a good idea to check them out after hitting them on an obstacle to make sure they are still sound. As far a general undercarriage care, I always made sure that I hosed off any mud that may have got caught up in the nooks and crannies of the undercarriage and wheel wells to reduce the possibility of rust, and, if you really like to mud whomp, take off the added weight of mud stuck to your Jeep.

 

Give a once over and make sure everything is tight and nothing has come loose and fallen off or broken off.

 

i resprayed the belly shovel on my TJ a couple times, mostly around the bolts, so it wouldn't spread rust into the frame. i used XO rust (a loctite product), but i imagine they are all good. just pull them off, clean them up real good and rattle can them.

 

It seems that the skid plates on the JK are designed to "learn" your driving habits much the same way as the engine's fuel system. Each time I go off road my skid plates give me more ground clearance than they had before the trip.

 

Well put, and ditto for mine; my stealership's service techs had a good laugh with me when we checked out my skid plates while my JK was up on the lift during an oil change.