Don't try the above feat at home but here you can plainly see how strong the Dieselgeek Panzer Plate is!!

Why should I buy a Dieselgeek Panzer Skid Plate?

  Our heavy duty aluminum Panzer Plate kits protect all of the parts in the bottom of the engine bay, including the cast aluminum oil pan, a/c compressor, radiator, condenser, transmission, and rear subframe. These items, and especially the very thin cast aluminum oil pan, can be easily damaged by road debris, ice chunks, and minor off-road excursions. Many A4 chassis engines have been destroyed by debris putting a hole or a crack in the aluminum oil pan and the subsequent loss of oil and oil pressure. Also, the 1998-2005 generation cars are very low to the ground and the front springs on these cars are relatively soft which causes the cars to bottom out frequently.  Damage often occurs when bottoming out.  In addition, the plastic belly pan that comes with these cars is often damaged. A replacement factory plastic belly pan currently costs up to $329.78 (New Beetle TDI).  Why replace it when you can buy a highly protective aluminum skid plate?  Installing our hefty .190" inch thick aluminum skid plate will help you avoid costly repairs and give you peace of mind that your engine is protected! 

These pictures show you why you need a Panzer skid plate:

A destroyed four cylinder oil pan.  And another broken 1.8T oil pan. One more punctured TDI pan. Here's a totally mangled VR6 oil pan. One more VR6 bites the dust. (VR6 oil pans are 1/2" lower)

Click here for a picture of  scrap oil pans at VW dealer.

Key Features of the Panzer Plate:

* Super strong and Made in the U.S.A.!

* A removable oil drain plug access window has been added to enable TDI Golf and Jetta owners to drain oil from bottom of car!  An optional but free* snap-in sheetmetal cover is also available to keep snow and debris from entering oil drain window.

* Very stout, reinforced steel front mounting posts with two rivnut anchors each.  The mounting posts are black powder-coated and utilize factory-style construction and engineering. See a comparison to our competitor's post here.

* An integral three-point stress “bar” at the rear of the skid plate stiffens the somewhat under-reinforced rear suspension subframe and eliminates the need for costly aftermarket lower stress bars.

* Less weight than other plates—23.35 pounds installed (with side skirts) for Panzer Plate versus 34.65 pounds for other plate. 

* Panzer Plate has 6/10 ths of an inch more ground clearance than with the steel skid plate. (4.200” inches for Panzer Plate versus 3.650” inches for steel plate measured on the same car on the same day and measured in the same place. Car was driven ¼ mile and allowed to settle between measurements.  The absolute lowest point of the plate was the measurement location.)

* Maximum impact protection for your oil pan, transmission and subframe, A/C compressor (TDI), power steering pump (1.8T, VR6, 2.0)

* All necessary high-grade hardware is included with kit.

* Panzer Plates are computer designed and CNC manufactured to ensure a great fit and good looks!

* We have the best rivnut installation tool provided with kit. Our rivnut installation procedure is bulletproof!

* Panzer Plate will fit with any aftermarket sway bars.

What about oil changes?

* TDI:  Panzer Skid plates are now punched with an easily removed "keystone" shaped oil drain plug access window.  This hole will allow you or an oil change technician to easily drain the engine oil from the oil pan without removing the plate. We will open this window for you for free if you select that option at the bottom of the page.  As an added bonus, you may also opt for a free* snap-in sheetmetal cover for the oil drain window by selecting that option at the bottom of this page. Alternatively, a Pela 6000 oil extraction device may be purchased to allow you to suck all of the used oil out of the dipstick tube. There is a link to the Pela 6000 at the bottom of this page.   

* VR6, 2.0 and 1.8T:  To access the oil filter on these engines it is necessary to remove the skid plate.  Removal of the plate is a five minute affair and the plate itself only weighs 17.25 pounds. Because you need to remove the skid plate to change the oil filter there is no need to remove the oil drain window knockout below the drain plug.

* Free when purchasing a skid plate.

Do I need to purchase a replacement engine bay side skirt kit?

  You do not need to buy new engine bay side panels if your stock side panels still have the two middle screw holes in the bottom flange nearest to the ground.  The side plastic splash shields keep water and dirt out of the engine bay and also reduce engine noise.  The modifications required to allow use of your existing side plastic splash shields are easy to do and should take 15 minutes maximum by simply cutting them with a hack saw. See instructions for modifying your engine bay side plastic splash shields here.  If you are missing your side panels or if they are too damaged to be used then you may want to order new aluminum side shields from the two links at the bottom of this page. The Panzer Plate will work without them but it's nice to keep water and dirt out of the engine bay.

Shipping:

To get an exact shipping quote for U.S. and international delivery points, add the item to you cart and input your state and postal code in the "Calculate Shipping Rates" box on the right side of the cart page.

* The very small print: Please note that we receive Panzer Plates from our manufacturer with some very minor cosmetic blemishes so by purchasing a Panzer Plate kit you are agreeing to accepting these blemishes as terms of sale. The plate will be very scratched up after a few week's worth of use.  Also, this kit is will not fit a PD150 Golf only made for the European market (ARL engine).

Instructions links for the installing the Panzer Skid Plate kit are here.