So, lastnight I'm driving down a beautiful twisty country road in Central PA when a little bunny came hopin' acrossed the Audi trail. I has going about 80mph when he hit me (Mr. Bunny was so excited that he flopped for joy...repeatedly) and unfortunately the Audi was so excited that it dropped the aerodynamic panel covering the bottom of the engine. My car is a 99.5 1.8TQA and the front fender is okay, but that panel underneath had about every fastener and securing hole in it ripped out. There was basically nothing left holding it except for the back two brackets so I removed the entire panel rather then temporarily zip-tieing it in place.

My question is (took a while to get there), should I bother replacing that panel and how much should I expect to pay for a replacement if so? Any reliable Audi salvage yards out there?

Thanks!

Josh

 

ECS tuning sells the W8 belly pan for $55. Depending on how much you want to spend, you could also get the Dieselgeek Panzer plate which goes for $250.

 

I changed my oil a while back, and lost a couple of those little plastic screws, and I have not put mine back on yet... Oh well... It's under warranty if anything happens, but I think I'm going to put it back on here soon...

 

U killed a bunny?? damn dog, $hyt aint cool, you shouldve killed a skunk, or racoon or sumthin

 

Id recomend using it. It prevents water and debris from getting up in there on all those expensive parts to replace. I think Audi considers it more of a sound insulator than a guard... When i first changed my oil i was like WTF is that'??? But now its no big deal, i can get it on and off in 1 min. Lots of people dont use it though so its your call... All i know is that your belts/boost and vac lines/ac compressor/other things are better protected against the elements with the belly pan... so i say use it.

 

haven't had my belly pan on for 6 months now... However, I am an advocate for keeping it on the car. I have just been tweaking the underside of my car so often that I got tired of removing it.

 

YOU GOT IT ALL WRONG -- THE BUNNY SUICIDE BOMBED MY UNDERCARRIAGE -- I'M THE VICTIM! LOL!

But on a serious note, I think I will be replacing it. I did contact ECS and after shipping and everything the W8 belley pan will cost almost as much as if i get the factory part here locally. Does anybody have opinions on whether the W8 pan sacrifices any quality, etc.? The original piece was fiberglass, they said the W8 piece is a heavy-duty plastic.

Which way to go?
W8 shipped with complete mounting kit is $138.70 (ECS Tuning)
OEM Audi A4 piece with complete mounting kit is $223.25 (local Audi dealer)

 

try shokan.com they are an audi only used & new parts supplier.

 

The W8 belly pan is just as good as the original oem piece. It's from the Passat so you could go to a VW dealer and get it locally.

 

Yeah man that piece of plastic/screws isnt worth more that $50 at most.. Find a junk yard, or someone that owns an audi and will never know they are missing it.. Maybe leave them a couple $20's under the wipers so you dont feel too guilty....jk..