Undercoating: Skid plates on or off?

[Atom!]

I’ve set up an appointment to have my Ranger Rustproofed & Undercoated next month. I did an internet search with the AI assistant to see if I should pull off the skid-plates (AI says “yes”), but when I asked the shop, they said that they’ve only had a few clients pull the skid-plates in the past. Another shop (Ziebart) said that they’ve only had have tools they can use to try and get behind them.

My question for you is, do I pull the skid plates or not? If so, which ones should I pull? All of them or only some of them.

Any advice is appreciated.

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[CoryB]

I would pull all of them except the gas tank skid. That way they can’t skimp on the job and say they couldn’t reach some area. Have them put it back on the lift so you can examine the underside when you go to pick it up.

I’ve been shafted by ”service” facilities too many times in the past. I don’t trust any of them any more.

 

[mooner3]

OP I’m curious about this, can you provide more specifics of what you’re getting done and how you found a shop to do it? (Not that we live in the same area just not sure where I’d start if I wanted to)

Cheers

 

[CoastieN70]

Skid Plates OFF! The area needs rustproofing/undercoating is blocked by the skid plates, work arounds does not guarantee complete coverage to these areas.
Rustproofing skid plates is useless by the definition of their intended purposes, unless of course your truck is a "pavement princess" 100% of the time...

 

[daytoncarter]

Take them off but I'd leave them in the bed of the truck and have them sprayed too before reinstalled. Seems like a good way to solve both issues.

 

[mooner3]

I would tend to agree FWIW. Its super easy to take off the skid plate btw, I've done it in my garage, takes like 5 minutes. And every time Ive taken the truck off-roading it gets crazy dirty under there

 

[cozzishc]

you should know this answer yourself if you have the wherewithal to have it rustproofed.

 

[Atom!]

Y’all are just confirming what I was inclined to do. I was more surprised than anything that more people don’t do it.

OP I’m curious about this, can you provide more specifics of what you’re getting done and how you found a shop to do it? (Not that we live in the same area just not sure where I’d start if I wanted to)

Cheers

I’m not an expert on this by any means, but this is how I understand it. It’s basically the procedure that Ziebart uses (only less expensive with a better warranty). Rustproofing gets into the areas when it’s most likely to hold crud that causes rust and corrosion (I believe that they do it from inside the body panels via manufacturers access areas). They seal all of that up with a coating to repel the moisture, dirt, & salt. Undercoating is similar but more of an all encompassing coverage applied to the underside of the truck. Over time, undercoating will require periodic maintenance. There are DIY kits to do undercoating if your inclined. Anyone, feel free to correct me or add comments to this.

 

[Atom!]

Take them off but I'd leave them in the bed of the truck and have them sprayed too before reinstalled. Seems like a good way to solve both issues.

I was actually considering spraying them with Herculiner or Raptor bedliner spray in red (just because I’d see the red whenever I crawl under there).

 

[BigAir]

I undercoated mine myself. I pulled the skid plates and undercoated them separately. What product do you plan to have done? I definitely wouldn't have Ziebart do it.

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