Loose Undertray

Nitefly

Nitefly

Nitefly

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Joined
24 Sep 2005
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Hi there, complete car novice here hoping for some help.

Irritatingly I damaged my W reg golf's undertray this morning and I only noticed when a song ended and I heard an ominous scraping sound. Having a look at it I believe it has to come off as the plastic has broken / cracked and the screws are all rusty and crappy anyway.

Can I still drive without it or should I get it replaced ASAP? I'm not entirely sure how much it protects the engine. Also, how much should I be looking for a replacement?

Thanks :)
 
You'll be fine to drive without it, but obviously replace it sooner rather than later to prevent any potential road debris flicking up and hitting something important (and to stop the engine bay getting utterly filthy).

As for a replacement, eBay, breakers yards, or go straight to the main dealer (expensive). If scouring eBay, try looking for someone breaking a golf of the same age as yours and just ask for that part.
 
As above, the fittings are made out of cheese, which is further compounded by the fact that no dealer bothers to refit the undertray correctly.

Best solution i've found is to use cableties instead of the stupid fixing screws.
 
I took the undertray off my 306 ages ago, 20k plus easily.
The engine is cleaner without it tbh as mine was very close to the engine.
Also makes oil changes SOOOO much easier.
You dont need them in most cases
 
I left mine off my Yaris when i last serviced it, and the transmission one off my subaru as that was a massive massive ballache to get off to change the gearbox fluid.
 
Also I prefer to know sooner rather than later when I have a leak of some sort.
With an undertray you wont know until it starts going over the sides.
 
Last oct I had the engine replaced on my celica, dealer noted in the work report that some clips were missing from the undertray (they werent before it went in)

Then when the snow came in winter I was driving the car and found that the trays came loose and were litterally shoveling snow, I ended up removing the damaged tray and was then told by toyota that it would be £200 for replacements, didnt have the cash for it at the time so couldnt buy them until feb

By the time feb came around I had a leak in my radiator from stones that had bounced up into the engine bay and rebounded into the radiator itself

Toyota then wanted > £500 to replace the rad, I bought the new plastics but sourced a new rad and replaced it myself

They were put on the car for a reason, id recommend you get them replaced
 
I ripped the undertray off my supra after the clips broke and it started to catch on the road. haven't replaced it yet. Well I say that, I bought an undertray and realised it was the wrong one /facepalm
 
n3vrmind said:
Last oct I had the engine replaced on my celica, dealer noted in the work report that some clips were missing from the undertray (they werent before it went in)

Then when the snow came in winter I was driving the car and found that the trays came loose and were litterally shoveling snow, I ended up removing the damaged tray and was then told by toyota that it would be £200 for replacements, didnt have the cash for it at the time so couldnt buy them until feb

By the time feb came around I had a leak in my radiator from stones that had bounced up into the engine bay and rebounded into the radiator itself

Toyota then wanted > £500 to replace the rad, I bought the new plastics but sourced a new rad and replaced it myself

They were put on the car for a reason, id recommend you get them replaced
Click to expand...

This is fair enough if stuff is exposed, But my engine is tilted like 30 or more degrees and the rad stuff isnt exposed.
Stones shouldnt piece a rad hose though. Usually they are quite thick (Mine look/feel reinforced)
 
Cheers for all the input guys :)

Turns out although some of the plastic is a bit shonky, it's sufficient if it's held in place, but a few of the clips have gone. Just doing some DIY now to get them on!

Will update with how terribly it goes :D
 
Keep your eye on other Golfs you pass on the road and you'll notice a surprising number of them have the undertray hanging off, pretty much scraping the road.

I popped mine back up with cable ties, did the job.
 
Ended up putting it back into place using some one way 'bolts', cable ties and a power drill :eek:

Read all about it falls off on a motorway soon!
 
i like having an undertray on my cars. it reduces wind noise, keeps the engine bay cleaner and gives me a theoretical mpg boost :D

in reality it scrapes on bumps in the road and is now damaged :(
 
Eliot said:
This is fair enough if stuff is exposed, But my engine is tilted like 30 or more degrees and the rad stuff isnt exposed.
Stones shouldnt piece a rad hose though. Usually they are quite thick (Mine look/feel reinforced)
Click to expand...

Didnt say anything about it piecing a hose, I said the stones had damaged the rad itself, if your traveling at speed and you get stones bouncing up into the engine bay then they can bounce off things. Evidently thats what happened because the rad was forward of the trays but still got damaged, it was the side of the rad facing the engine that the coolant was leaking from

Replacing the rad was cheaper than the trays when i did it myself but then its left open to the possibility of the new rad getting damaged in the same way

You could just leave the undertrays off and hope for the best, but not everything in the engine bay can take being pelted with the occasional little stones
 
I used cable ties to hold on the front of the undertray on one of my old cars. It definitely wasn't the better solution when it ripped out under the car and flew off behind me with great altitude along the M4 one (fortunately quiet) eve
 
Lucero said:
I used cable ties to hold on the front of the undertray on one of my old cars. It definitely wasn't the better solution when it ripped out under the car and flew off behind me with great altitude along the M4 one (fortunately quiet) eve
Click to expand...

Obviously needed bigger cable ties, they can fix everything! (Or gaffer tape, or super glue)
 
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