Stupid Question Time.

[Hedge]

Occasionally I have these strange little ideas. Most of the time they are just rubbish and get shot down in seconds. Like my Suicide Door question a while back

But ill ask anyway.

Why arent the bottoms of cars covered in a smooth flat plate, that would shield everything from the elements beneath.

It would also mean that should someone get run over, there is less chance of getting caught up in anything.

Im guessing the reason against it is something like aerodynamics or physics, the car might lift off the ground or something? lol.


No doubt its obvious why not, but Im currently out of ideas.

Cheers

 

[Squark]

Ease of access to the exhaust, brake/fuel lines, that kinda stuff? Cost of material? Anything to save money

 

[Hedge]

Ease of access to the exhaust, brake/fuel lines, that kinda stuff? Cost of material? Anything to save money

If it was a standard it would be easily removed Id imagine.

Although one reason could be that it would prolong the life of things. and car manufacturers dont like that.

 

[Ricochet J]

Apart from the fact there's not a need, however,
Weight saving
Maintenance access
Cost

 

[Thomas. PLease.]

yeh, its not like the bottom of a car is a level surface either. and it would be blooming annoying to get off everytime you wanted to work on it.

 

[POB]

Would not be the best thing to fall off though at speed.

 

[MikeHunt79]

Rally cars have this, loads of metal underneath to protect the underside from rocks and things. It's a little OTT for road cars tho...

 

[Thomas. PLease.]

yeh rally cars have heavy duty sump guards too, to stop rocks smashing the sump to bits. not really needed on a road car, although it does happen

 

[Dogbreath]

My MR2 had plastic panels under the car from the front to back. Bloody annoying things held on with what seemed like hundreds of rusted M6 bolts that sheared of if you looked at them too hard.

 

[Hedge]

Well I guess my thought wasnt that stupid, just not realistic

I think that brakelines and exhausts etc would benefit from being shielded better though. although probably not.

 

[Thomas. PLease.]

probably wouldnt be a great idea sealing the exhaust between a floor and the car. They get seriously hot especially the cat. shielding the brake lines though i guess would be a good thing.

 

[Jotun]

If cars were fully protected from the elements then people would need less repair work done and keep cars for longer, so it may not be in the manufacturers best interests anyway.

It wouldn't cause it to take off though, it may be possible to do the opposite if it was designed to take advantage of Ground effect

 

[BigglesPiP]

Supercars, and some sports cars already have this. It improves aerodynamics.

It's not cheap tho, and makes maintenance more expensive too.

 

[Jez]

F1 cars have this dont they?

 

[Fido McNasty]

Usually cost prohibits most intelligent solutions on everyday cars. Undertray's also encourage heat buildup in key areas such as the diff, gearbox and engine.

I remember testing a tray on a Marcos Mantis race car eleven years ago and we found it simply got too hot under the car to be practical. Also tried one under the rear of an e36 compact race car, same issues came up. Diff needed extensive cooling, by the time you add a diff cooling radiator and pump, with the undertray you're back into negating any benefit.

An undertray is still so often an afterthought though. It strikes me as odd they aren't more prevailent these days.

 

[Sone]

look under most modern cars they are pretty smooth. On my S80 all you could see is a channel for the exhaust down the centre.

 

[KaHn]

F1 cars have this dont they?

F1 cars have it for aerodynamic purposes, as mentioned above cost/time/access limits their use on road cars.

KaHn