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Is it safe to drive without a belly pan?

marksix

Passed Driver's Ed
My belly pan is damaged and sometimes ice will get stuck under there and I will be pushing it for kilometers before it finally breaks loose. It's really annoying.

Can I just remove the belly pan instead of replacing it?
 

riceburner

Autocross Champion
You're mostly hurting efficiency. It's safe yeah.
 

EJBGTIVI

Autocross Champion
You're mostly hurting efficiency. It's safe yeah.

^ this, plus your engine bay is going to be a mess. I suppose a lot of people don't care about that, but I do. I would replace it.
 

riceburner

Autocross Champion
Fuel consumption, cooling, aero... The belly pan has ducts which cool your trans... So on and so forth. Not only would I replace but I'd suggest upgrading to a tdi pan or r32 as those go all the way back to complete the around approach and also have a turbo cooling duct.
 

nvturbo

Go Kart Champion
You guys do realize that some cars never came with crappy plastic belly pans and the engine/tranny lasts longer than VWs?

Mind blown, huh?....lol
 

MrFancypants

Autocross Champion
You guys do realize that some cars never came with crappy plastic belly pans and the engine/tranny lasts longer than VWs?

Mind blown, huh?....lol

The aerodynamics and cooling systems on other cars are not the same.

You can drive the car without a bellypan and it'll be fine. But airflow through the cooling stack will probably not be as good and there will probably also be a marginal increase in turbulent air flowing beneath the car leading to more lift at higher speeds.

Can't know for sure without actually testing it, but those are the standard educated guesses on the subject.
 

nvturbo

Go Kart Champion
The aerodynamics and cooling systems on other cars are not the same.

You can drive the car without a bellypan and it'll be fine. But airflow through the cooling stack will probably not be as good and there will probably also be a marginal increase in turbulent air flowing beneath the car leading to more lift at higher speeds.

Can't know for sure without actually testing it, but those are the standard educated guesses on the subject.

Belly pan is there to prevent water splash-up. Nothing else. No aerodynamics or cooling benefits blah blah blah. There are more effective means to cool the engine bay.
 

marksix

Passed Driver's Ed
So I put my car on a lift and there's more than the belly pan that is damaged. :(

There's also another plastic cover on the right side of the car that is cracked and hanging. Can someone help me find the part number for that part please?
 

marksix

Passed Driver's Ed
So that's $80. Still not terrrrrible.. lol

I called my VW dealer yesterday and they told me it's $92 CAD. RockAuto sucks for your cousins in the North.

Do you know what the other plastic thing behind the belly pan is called? There's one on each side of the car.
 
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