bosa1

I was working under my car yesterday and I was thinking, "these splash guards are in the way" . . .

So . . . Who has taken them off? Who is happy they have removed them? Any problems with water in the engine compartment? Any regrets?

Please let me know so I can decide if I should remove in the rainy and snowy climate of Minneapolis.

Thanks Y'all.

007max

iTrader: (3)

mine just kinda removed themselves...
not the most durable plastic piece to put 5 inches from the ground on any car. i was wondering if i should replace them too, but i do live in arizona so i dont have to worry about snow/rain

MrEous

iTrader: (11)

My logic would say the less turbulance you have under your car the better off (faster) you are. Leave 'em on.

*shrug*

Nismo

iTrader: (18)

what are you trying to accomplish? I would also think that the cavity will trap air in and cause more drag. not to mention cats sleeping in the nice warm engine bay

billfromtr

i had to remove mine when i put on my skyline front because the splash guards didnt come out far enough forward to attach them. therefore they were dragging on the ground and i removed them. no problems thus far but i am concerned because the alternator and my air filter from my cai are exposed to the elements in a snow filled new jersey.

87MaxWagon

I put mine on after buying my 98 (the previous owner had them off). I did so for:

- dirt/moisture protection in the engine/belt areas
- aerodynamics, weird drag can create more noise penetrating the cabin at speed
- sound barrier from tire road noise

I believe that all of these items were improved somewhat by adding the panels back on.

P

sryth

Mine are off, but for different reasons. I pulled them off to do my transmission, and managed to destroy most of the screws holding them up (damn rust!)

I will eventually take the few good screws that I have to the fastener warehouse to get replacements for all of the others. It's gonna suck drilling all those damn things out, but what the hell.

Ant96GLE

iTrader: (4)

I havent. I had my car serviced for a coolant leak under warranty when I first got the car and they didnt put them back on. I had to go back and make them put them back on. Even under warranty, I like to do my own work on my own car, I dont trust any old mechanic.

To be honest, yes they do get in the way and they're a pain, but in my opinion your better off keeping them there so you dont get all kinds of road crust, water and salt from coming up into the engine. It might cause corrosion on some of those little bolts that you cant really see until you have to change something under the car. I guess what I'm trying to say your better safe than sorry, especially something as simple as one of those flimsy plastic covers.

SkyMaxGTR

i too thought about taking to whole splash gaurd off, but i didn't. instead i cut an opening about an inch high and 4-5inches across the splash guard, where air could flow up into the intake(INJEN). it ended up being perfect, the hole is facing the front of the car, and is upright, so air underneath the car will flow straight into the filter(acting like a scoop for the intake). when i test drove it, i could notice a difference in the sound of the intake, it was slightly louder.
as for water getting on the filter- there was alot of rain here in austin a few weeks ago, and i drove the whole time fearing water was goin to splash on the filter, but the filter never got wet. so i suggest not taking to whole splash guard out, if you want, just cut some holes.

Maxima95Tuner

Ok, speaking from experience, this is what I have to share. I took mine off when I got in an accident and they were dragging. Shortly after, it rained. The day after it rained, my oil pressure sending unit went bad. That part is very close to the bottom of the engine bay. My guess is that since i had that panel off, water got up onto the OPSU.

lefty

If the car came with them stock, I would leave them on. If the car really did not need them, I am sure Nissan would have left them off and saved themselves alot of $$ in plastic and installation costs.

It serves a purpose.

maxima98vspec

yea i don't dare taking them off over here where im at, toooooo much salt messes up sh*t, and i like to keep my engine bay clean so i leave them in.

007max

iTrader: (3)

Maxima95Tuner: when was the last time it really rained here?

but seriously, these things dont exactly line up to form a watertight barrier down there. i'm sure if you drove through water plenty of it would get up into the engine... of course those of you who drive on salted roads should keep them on to keep all that crap out of the engine, but i dont really have to worry about that down here

now here is a grat idea: someone should make the cover for the bottom as one piece of CF for aerodynamic purposes

Macidcrook

i have an injen intake and theres not much keeping water out except for the splash gaurds. i did cut a 1"x3'' hole infront of the intake just so a little more air goes by the airfilter, but i have to put duct-tape over it if it rains.

Lost_N_a_97Max

iTrader: (1)

WHat did anyone with the skyline body kit do?

bosa1

Thanks for the info guys. I'll keep removing and then reinstalling it anytime I need to get into the engine bay from underneath.

FormorAccordMan

iTrader: (3)

Does the shield cover the entire bottom of the engine? I don't think that mine is entirely covered, should it be? Does anybody have a picture of what the stock shield looks like properly installed? Thanks

Maxima95Tuner

007Max: It's raining right now here in Mesa

lxl - MaX

iTrader: (2)

i took mine off on my third gen and nothing happened

007max

iTrader: (3)

yea... starting to drizzle here too

Broaner

iTrader: (10)

Ok, I have more time now. Are you talking about the three pieces under the engine or all five pieces. I have had the lower three off for 5K and all five off for 3K. Before I tell my opinion let me say that I don't drive the max during the winter at all so snow and salt are not an issue. I am very happy after taking these off because of ease of working underneath, visual aspect, and weight saving. I removed 'em when I put on my budget Y and I didn't even think about the negative consequences at the time, just knew that they were anoying as ****. The visual aspect is very important because they hang down and its more fun to look into the engine bay and see the ground. Kinda like older cars. The negative aspects that have been stated don't bother me. Wind/tire noise doesn't bother me because I either have the windows down, music up or am on it so intake/exhaust drowns out all other noise.

007Max, I think it would be awesome if someone developed a well made, CF, aerodynamically efficient splashguard. That would be a very intensive research/development process to do it right though. The Skyline, Enzo, and other supercars have full CF underbody. These pieces effectively lower the pressure under the car and suck it to the ground above 100MPH. If this piece wasn't designed correctly the air entering through the bumper openings would create little vortecies and could actually create positive pressure under the car. That would be bad. The Max would turn into the Maxiplane. With a nice diffuser on the trailing edge it would be nice though. I'd pay some good $$$ for a product like this.

Show Max, I don't think that your removing the splash gaurd correlates to the failure of the OPSU. That area of the engine bay isn't covered very well anyway. It was just its time to go.

Lost_N_a_97Max

iTrader: (1)

Still leaves me with the question, what did anyone with a body kit do?