It keeps the wheel wheel liners from rubbing on the tires in the front. The belts and A/C lines are close ground up front too. I like how it keeps the engine bay clean. Other then that its your call.

 

I never removed it, but I did wear through it..... It did nothing but scoop up gravel for me. :weirdo:

 

Anyone know what size thread the hex screws are? I was under the car yesterday and noticed all were missing except for the 10mm screw in the front. I thought I needed a new engine mount but this might be causing the rattle when shifting in lower gears.

 

i read that it helps direct air that comes in through the 3 little slots in your lower bumper valence to cool off your brakes. i forget where i read it.

 

I dont think I have this plastic shield, and I have been trying to figure out why my fender well cover is rubbing my tire. h:
Sounds like I have found my answer. I did notice that when I bought the car it was missing three screws on the underside of the bumper and I replaced them with some push screws from autozone.

Can some one snap a picture of this cover so I can compare it to my car.

Thanks

 

I think the cover is there to keep thiefs from stealing you oil drain plug.

Kidding aside, it's there for aerodynamics and protection of the all the hoses, etc, that run underneath and around your engine.

 

And for noise reduction, according to the Bentley.

 

Can some one snap a picture of this cover so I can compare it to my car.

Thanks

http://www.pandpmotorsports.com/dv.htm

top pic

THe belly pan is there to make changing oil that much more of a pain in the ass,a nd make us take the car to the dealer. Their idea works well.

 

I credit it for the wonderful job onhow it keeps my engine bay clean and spotless.

 

Mine has saved my engine twice. Once I ran over the jagged remains of a lawn cahir. The cover was ripped and shredded so I can imagine what would have happenned to my engine.

The second time I ran over a ... something hure and steal. Even with the cover the damage was almost 1k, I don't want to know how bad it would have been.

Oh yeah and it keeps your wheel liners from rubbing

 

Anyone know what size thread the hex screws are? I was under the car yesterday and noticed all were missing except for the 10mm screw in the front. I thought I needed a new engine mount but this might be causing the rattle when shifting in lower gears.

Missing screws?? This is not uncommon especially after you get your car back from the dealer for an oil change or any other service that requires them to take that pan off. Trust me on this... they deliberately leave some screws off so that when you hit the highway, the pan will catch air and get pulled from its mouting to drag on the concrete and break off so that you'll end up having to pay $190 to get a brand new belly pan from them.

This is exactly what happened to me and I've heard it happened to many other people too... like friends of mine who have had to get a new pan after getting serviced by the dealers. They're notorious for doing so to "generate sales"!!!

So... ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS check to make sure all your screws are back on whenever you get your car back from them for service.

 

I hear they also secretly shave down our brake pads to make us have to replace those more frequently :crazy:

 

it's there to make B5 owners think they've got an "exclusive" vehicle that carries equipment similar to REAL luxury cars like MB and BMW and the like.

it's secondary purpose? to sag, drag, and eventually get caught under your wheels and get ripped off whilst driving at highway speeds giving you a good scare and more reason to curse VWs.

 

I can vouch for what happens when you don't have you belly pan on. I bottomed out my car going down a driveway and it cracked one of the hard lines for my A/C and that was about $650 not including the new belly pan since I decided to be safe rather then sorry.

 

I dont think I have this plastic shield, and I have been trying to figure out why my fender well cover is rubbing my tire. h:
Sounds like I have found my answer. I did notice that when I bought the car it was missing three screws on the underside of the bumper and I replaced them with some push screws from autozone.

Can some one snap a picture of this cover so I can compare it to my car.

Thanks

Hard to take pix down there without it on a lift but here we go. It runs from just behind the front lower grill to the bck of the engine.

 

It's there because if it wasn't, we wouldn't be here discussing it

 

it's there to make B5 owners think they've got an "exclusive" vehicle that carries equipment similar to REAL luxury cars like MB and BMW and the like.

it's secondary purpose? to sag, drag, and eventually get caught under your wheels and get ripped off whilst driving at highway speeds giving you a good scare and more reason to curse VWs.

104k miles. mine has never fallen off or come undone. The only reason I am on my second is that the first died protecting my engine from road debris.

BMWs carry equipment under the engine? That's a weird place to store things? :crazy:

 

104k miles. mine has never fallen off or come undone. The only reason I am on my second is that the first died protecting my engine from road debris.

lucky you.

but i doubt that this plastic piece protects from much else other than dirt and such. if you or anybody were to hit something hard enough to cause any damage to the engine or its components, there would be damage whether or not the belly pan was there.

think about it... it's a flimsy piece of plastic. it's not designed to carry any load or be there as a structural device. if you were to bang on anything hard enough to cause damage to the bottom of your car, chances are it'd be damaged whether or not this plastic piece was there or not.

BMWs carry equipment under the engine? That's a weird place to store things? :crazy:

by equipment i was referring to the belly pan itself.

ie, the bellypan is equipment similar to those found on REAL luxury cars and other exotics.

capisce?

 

Did you miss the part where my pan directly took the brunt of damage?

The lawn chair shredded part of the pan off. Had it not been there then the engine, hoses and whatever is there would have taken that damage.

The Steal thing I ran over thrashed the pan again but also destroyed the tranny pan and dented the exhaust. Had the pan not been there to take a few hits I'm sure more serious damage woulda been done.

Your results may vary but I'm glad it's there and if that's a piece of equipment that only "REAL" luxury rides have, then I'm glad VW copied it.

BTW "REAL luxury cars and other exotics" ??? :crazy: It's a VW for crying out loud. nothing exotic about it.

 

BTW "REAL luxury cars and other exotics" ??? :crazy: It's a VW for crying out loud. nothing exotic about it.

are your panties in a wad?

breathe, big fella. it's all good. i'm glad your bellypan has saved your engine from impending doom and horror. :thumbup:

it's a great piece of engineering and who knows why so few cars come with them as factory equipment.

and as far as the comment above.... i wouldn't expect ya to pick up on cynicism or sarcasm on here. i'll keep my smug B5-owner comments to myself... i realize it's difficult to get such subtleties such as tone and a sense of humor whilst reading text on the internet.

toss a few beers back and rejoice on the glories of the sacrificial bellypan.... it's there for when ya need it! :bow:


ps- to all readers: please note the sarcastic nature of this post. it is an indication that the author has no intentions or expectations of either being serious or being taken serious. you are advised to grow a sense of humor and take said sarcastic posts with a grain of salt and giggle at the ready. if it sounds too ridiculous to be true... it probably is. have a nice day.

 

it's a great piece of engineering and who knows why so few cars come with them as factory equipment.

I think most cars come with them these days, at least imports.

 

BTW "REAL luxury cars and other exotics" ??? :crazy: It's a VW for crying out loud. nothing exotic about it.

on a side note:

if you refer to previous posts by yours truly and imagine a sarcastic tone, you'll realize that the REAL luxury and exotic cars that i'm referring to are the likes of cars like MB and BMW and other players in that field.

i was basically illustrating that those luxury vehicles carry bellypans on them from factory as well. in addition to that, i was also making a cynical remark to how these bellypans are put on the passat to make the owner feel like he's part of said luxo-clique, even though the car carries a VW badge on both ends.

did ya get it this time around? see the humor in it? you know, like poking FUN of the things? you know... like a JOKE?

geez.... :roll:

 

And for noise reduction, according to the Bentley.

As stated above, the Bentley Manual calls it a noise insulation panel.

 

My bad two litre. Without the well placed smiley it's damn near impossible to derive tone from text. Sorry to be snippy

 

BTW "REAL luxury cars and other exotics" ??? :crazy: It's a VW for crying out loud. nothing exotic about it.

i was basically illustrating that those luxury vehicles carry bellypans on them from factory as well. in addition to that, i was also making a cynical remark to how these bellypans are put on the passat to make the owner feel like he's part of said luxo-clique, even though the car carries a VW badge on both ends.

I'm confused; I thought my Passat is a luxury car.

Oh, I get it. I didn't pay an extravagant amount of money on it, so it couldn't be a luxury car! :wink: Whewww! I'm glad I got that straightened out.

It only looks like a million bucks.