One of our org members, Reb (who can't yet start a thread), has noticed a couple of plastic shrouds. This is what he writes --

"There are two unsecured black plastic shrouds flanking the engine. Crawl under the front of the car and look up into the engine bay opposite each front tire. They are there on my '08SL."

I am not sure what these plastic shrouds are since I could not find them in my 07SL. According to Reb, they adversely affect the handling of the car especially in highways. Have any of you guys noticed this thing in your car?

Here are some pictures of the plastic shrouds in Reb's 08SL.

 

You'll notice I had to tape them down with some black duct tape. Otherwise they flap around like birds wings when you drive the car, worse on a windy day. My '97 Villager with the VQ3.0 has much heavier guage shrouds secured with fasterners and they don't budge.

Are the '04-'07 Maxes not shrouded like my '08??

 

yup. they clip on at the top but not at the bottom.

btw,nice and shiny oem flex pipe!

 

Might have something to do with the abundant undercar kryogen.

I'd ask the dealer.

 

Mine is not like that

 

is that the flap next to the filter? i thought it was loose so you could reach the filter while protecting it.

so you really noticed a sound and handling difference after taping it?

 

And then..?

 

On my 03, I scrapped mine altogether.