alextaylor29

Guys,

Quick question, a few weeks ago a I ran over a tire carcus on the freeway. Well technically it went between my wheels right down the middle front to back of the car while I was going about 70 MPH. It hit pretty hard I remmber the, "Thud" sound as it went under my car.

I checked immediately after the incident and didn't see any damage so I kept driving.

Since then, I noticed the under carriage plastic protector (the one directly under the engine bay just behind the front bumper) was hanging lower with one of the bolts was basically broken as a result of the tire carcus so I just removed the entire plastic piece for now.

My question to you all is this a key piece/protection for our E55 and I should replace it/buy a new one or one of those, "Don't worry about it things?" (Maybe the engine might run cooler as air flowing under the car now as access to the bay and might pull some heat away?)

Obvious it was put there for a reason by MB so I'd figured I'd check with you smarty pants people before automatically having it replaced.

Anyway appreciate your advice as always.

Thanks!

Alex

stockC43

for the price of the plastic its worth replacing. It does multiple things, it helps cooling by directing airflow through the radiator and other coolers etc. it helps fuel economy by reducing drag (minimal) and most importantly if you run over another piece of debris it will be your oil cooler that gets ripped off and not a piece of plastic. i would replace it

alextaylor29

Perfect thank you! I will replace it. It did save me damage from the tire originally, so it's worth replacing.

Thanks again, this is why I love this forum.

Alex

W211 BEAST

Good bit of info. If my plastic got ripped off or damaged I probably wouldn't have replaced it.

E55Dimon

Mine is effed up too. Has been for a while, I've lost a couple hid ballasts because of it.
New piece from dealer is like 300! so gonna make a custom one out of plexiglass just to cover the huge hole.
Sucks, these things arent durable at all. I've looked for them online too, can't find any reasonably priced. Maybe you should look into going custom route as well.

Jakpro1

I am missing the one below my tranny and EVERY time it gets wet in the car wash the car goes nuts. Think Benz didn't design that area to get sprayed.

Lots of guys run with no plastic under there at all, I just disagree.

Gotta have some protection at least.

Forrest Gump 9

Don't have mine. I took all of the off except the one right under the front bumper. I tinker with my car too much to have mine on.

BBBSS

I suspect it may have been part of the aerodynamic setup on these cars to help keep them stable at high speeds. Underbelly pans are kind of a big deal with all the guys doing the crazy top speed run on the salt flats. Air can get under the car and lift the car up at high speeds causing traction loss and the car wanting to move around and not be as stable.

AWOL

I took mine out.

alextaylor29

Thanks everyone! I'm going to check on the part/replacement cost tomorrow at AutoHaus here in AZ and if it's not too expensive I'll have them replace it. It saved me once, so I'm leaning toward replacing it.

Thanks again!

Alex

Hammer Down

My MB tech/friend took mine off to help reduce underhood heat temps.

But then again I don't drive my car in the rain or puddles.

alextaylor29

Being in AZ I don't really either but as heat rises does removing the cover BELOW the engine really help? Is that because the air flowing beneath the car pulls the hot air around the engine with it?

Sorry if this is a silly question. This thread is split about 50/50 for me to replace or not.

Thanks!

Alex

jay_55

+1

I would have it replaced just keeps the car clean and all together...

alextaylor29

Roger that, thanks all for the advice as always.

Yacht Master

They are a PITA but I think they do control the air flow around the engine and exhaust.
Worth replacing.

grantwoodtx

I had mine off for a short while after replacing my idler and tensioner pulley's. I should have put it back on but I left it off and a week later on a *****ty road here in Houston I tore my front oil cooler off. Needless to say the tray is back on after $350 worth of parts to replace the oil cooler.

justinwrock

Does the W211 or E55 have the optional metal under trays?

I bought one for my W124 from the dealer. Saved my oil pan on more than one occasion!

Yuille36

I don't ever recall hearing or seeing a metal underbelly tray that is available.

Alextaylor29, your pretty lucky. I heard of guys hitting tire carcasses end tearing up their car's oil cooler.
And their not a cheap fix either, as your car need to be flat bedded to a repair shop.

alextaylor29

Agreed! Just came back from AutoHaus here in Scottsdale and the part is $75 from MB and they'll charge me $25 to install. So for $100, it's worth putting it back on.

In AZ during the sumertime, our freeways are litered with tire carcuses and the road heat causes tires to fail more often. Think about it, if the outside temp is 115 then the road heat and the speed/friction on the tire probablly put the tire at 145? So if your tire is in bad shape to begin with...BOOM it's toast...and hold on!

Since I have such a long commute (100 miles daily) I am literally dodging blown out tires (the truck ones are the worse because their huge!) during the summer months. Some though you just can't miss.

Relacing this tomorrow!

Thanks for all the advice.

Alex

Yuille36

But the belly pans also serve another purpose as it protects your oil pan, transmission oil pan. I rather sacrifice a belly pan, then knock a hole in my tranny or worse.

Forrest Gump 9

They also catch all the dripping/leaking oil too.

jrsalesco

Mine is messed up too so I got rid of it..Havent got a chance to replace it but since I ran into this thread, It just reminded me that I need to get this replaced! Anyone have a part # for this? I would love to put it back on just to keep anything from flying up underneath and potentially damaging anything. Thanks guys!

alextaylor29

Shame on me I didn't keep the part number but all in, it only cost me $75 for the part and the install to get it replaced. It took the guy all of 1 minute to screw the new one in.

There are several under car plastic protectors so the one I had replaced may be different than the one you're looking to do.

Net-net here, they don't seem to be very expensive and it could probablly be a DIY job if you can get your car off the ground.

My $.02.

Yuille36

All the belly pans are pretty cheap, and are made to be sacrificed.

theeddie

anyone have part numbers