I demolished my skid plate... DOH!

[Stubacca]

My SRT8's front bumper seems to be a couple inches lower than my last car, my 5.7 300C. It only took slipping over two curbs (that my old 300C would clear) to rip the SRT8's skid plate from the front bumper.

So I learn from the dealer that, "The cost for a new skid plate for any 300 series will cost about $50..." SWEET! "...except for the SRT8. That one is $350!" Aparently it is completely different and actually sweeps air into the front brakes to help cool them. So I asked them to remove the broken one and forget about a new one.

I can't imagine it making a difference in perfomance and is that extra air on the brakes really necessary if I'm not on a race track? Has anyone else out there torn their SRT8 skid plate? If so, how did you handle it?

... and how stupid did you feel taking it in for repair or replacement?

[TLW1022]

Sorry to hear that.....But welcome to the club (and it is a big one )

I believe it helps support the front bumper also, so I don't think you can go without it. My bumper ripped on both sides when it came back over the parking stump, my belly pan was OK, I have a good body shop that fixed the bumper, I did not have to replace it.

[Outlaw Throttle Jockey]

It does give some stability to the front bumper, but I've been without mine for sometime now and havn't had a problem. Less plastic, less hassle. I went ahead and took my plastic belly pan off too. The way i see it is it lets more air up into the engine department when going down the road.

[GoofyTimL]

Not the skid plate, but a boo boo none the less...

The other day as the wife and I are eating at Pizza Hut, I looked out and noticed something unusual about my MSRT8 front fascia. On the driver's side, just to the inside of the brake vent intake the lower edge of the fascia was deformed and dropping down noticeably. As we all know these things are easy to skid on timkins and the light and I try to be very careful.

So when we got home I knelt down and tried to "feel" if I had broken anything loose, or was missing one of the 8mm bolts to the skirt, etc. Nothing was missing, but things did seem a bit loose. I didn't have time to work on it until last night.

We all know the SRT8s are slung low, so I was going to be very, VERY careful getting the beast up on my ramps. I placed my usual 1x6x2+ ft boards on the ramp slope to soften the angle as I have for the Heritage Edition, but even though I tried to ensure the spoiler didn't catch... IT DID!

Numbskull me I didn't take enough time to inch forward and check, then inch some more and check. So now I have two, quarter sized defects (one worse than the other) on each side of the fascia where one side of my metal ramps "caught" the lip and just before it got high enough!


AAAAAAArrrrggghhhhh....


I'm just going to have to live with my stupidity for a while (several months) until I can afford a new fascia. The best price I can find is about $410 out in Oregon before shipping, and I'm sure... paint.

I knooowww... , but I can't bring myself to take shots to bring my own humiliation to the masses. So forgive me.

The wife said that's one of the most pitiful things she's ever seen... at least she's sympathizing and not yelling. Of course if I went out and ordered a new one at the moment... the latter could start at any time! LOL

Is there any way at all to apply some kind of cosmetic "repair" of sorts to this plastic mass?

I guess no more cruise ins or car shows for me until this is over.

[So Cal 300]

I just purchased a new SRT 8 skid plate from my dealer, price? 170.00. It came with all the tabs for the 7mm bolts and the air ducts for the brakes. It took about 30 min to install and it's all back like stock.

[Stubacca]

Originally Posted by So Cal 300

I just purchased a new SRT 8 skid plate from my dealer, price? 170.00. It came with all the tabs for the 7mm bolts and the air ducts for the brakes. It took about 30 min to install and it's all back like stock.

And they quoted me $350+ w/o the air ducts! UGH... DEALERSHIPS! Does anyone else feel they just try to rip you off? I will be calling to ask "WTF?!"

[So Cal 300]

Originally Posted by Stubacca

And they quoted me $350+ w/o the air ducts! UGH... DEALERSHIPS! Does anyone else feel they just try to rip you off? I will be calling to ask "WTF?!"

I purchased it at Moothart in Cerritos, they have 2 more in stock maybe they can send you one. Good Luck.