I was going where sisk said. bump my skid plate and BLAMMO carbon fiber shrapnel.
I know carbon fiber (rods for example) pound for pound ar emuch stonger than even tempered steel. I realize that weight to strength ratio is off the charts like spider silk style strength.

But my understanding of CF was the stronger you make it, the more brittle it gets. You put a composite plastic SP on, and skip off a few stumps and rocks and it can be cut, gouged, and flex. at the end of the day, minus battle scars, it's no worse for wear. Steal SP will take a beating better, but warp on you. Aluminum will take less of a beating, but weight WAY less, but is prone to tearing more so than steal....

I am not being a smart *** (1 of 6 times so far) if i am wrong, please fill me in. It was just odd to me that he mentioned a ZR2 fiber plate. I remember seeing that they rolled aluminum plates until like 2002 or 3 when they switched to the composite plastic. If there was a CF version offered i was interested, and a bit amazed, because of the above reasons.

ALSO: i know they make the CF plates for sport bikes and some black bikes, again weight to strength but didn't know they got as big as an SUV

was this offered? **EDIT** Yes, in a way

that shows an aluminum blaZeR2 sp side by side with a S10 ZR2 composite sp. it is made to look CF. by all accounts i think i have figured this one out. did they make the cp plate look like it was cf. i'm leaning toward that being why this has not come up before. i may be wrong though.

BTW: Kyle... now that the Rainer is super tuned PCM style... and chance she can climb a retaining wall or landscaping

 

This may be irrelevant, but didn't the C5 corvettes have CF leaf springs? I could be wrong though, I just remember reading that somewhere.

If I'm right, wouldn't the CF be able to take enough of a beating?

 

I think I'd prefer the aluminum ones. Seems like the composite ones would not be as strong.

 

One thing I can see plastic having over metal (this is experience) would be in the case of an impact with a rock. I've had 2 ATV's now, and the other one had metal skid plates... I Hit a rock with it, and the plate actually dented and SPLIT (YES I WAS GOING FAST). With my new ATV I did something similar and it literally hit, but bounced and SLID across the rock, it gouged out the plastic, but that's about it.

The plastic has less friction and IMO even though it's more "malleable", the plastic will tend to hold its shape more and slide over an obstacle instead of molding to its shape and hooking onto it like the metal plate did, and subsequently sending me *** over tea kettle into the underbrush.

It may however be different for vehicles that weigh 3 times as much.

 

I think you are right. I know the Z06 does.

 

IMO (uninformed as it may be) i would think the aluminum looks better, but the plastic would BE better. Unfortunately it is easier to saw up a piece of aluminum than it is to injection mold a custom plate

 

Idea... What would the results be if you hacked up a piece of aluminum and the had it sprayed with bed-liner? I'm talking good quality, thick layers.

Wouldn't it help prevent the "cracking" effect of the metal and offer more of a "slide" effect if you hit something? Plus it's tough as hell.

 

Hmmm, thanks for the correction on the composite skid. I was told it was carbon fiber. Anyhow, my brother's GMC Sonoma "Highrider" (ZR2) has the composite skids and I can give a first hand account of how tough they are. He has drug them across all kinds of rocks and they are still holding up. They have a few gouges in them, but are still tough as nails.

 

I'm sure GM had a good reason to go with the composite ones. I can see where a composite plastic would "roll" over rocks and just flex a bit then pop right back into place.

 

Concerning the strength of composite materials, whether they be fiber reinforced plastics, resin over woven or random fiber mat, or layered metal plastic hybrids, their strength in the various forms of loading (impact, tension, compression, torsion, etc) are all in the design of the material. Changing the orientation of woven mats in a typical carbon fiber laminate can dramatically change its impact resistance.

The problem with most carbon fiber components is that they are not really engineered for their purpose. They are adapted from previous designs and just laid out in standard orientations with no regard for their intended purpose. This gives composite materials a bad rap.

And yes, the Corvette springs are carbon fiber. So is a vast majority of a F1 race car. If you think that carbon fiber cannot take impact just think of the forces involved with hitting a wall at 200+MPH and look at how well the driver capsule holds up. Sure the rest of the car shreds itself, but that is what it is designed to do. The part that matters remains intact.

But I digress, we've strayed quite far off the original topic at hand and I am responsible for the side track! LMAO