EVOLUTION THOR Aluminum Skid Plate Group Buy

[swcrow17]

Hi swcrow17,

Because the OEM 6mm stud is missing on your car your going to need to drill out whats left of the stud and use a 8mm speed clip just like the ones used on the front corners for the skid plate. You can use one of the ones that came in your kit or buy another one at any automotive store.

If you need any further details please give me a call anytime.

Cheers.

Thanks! That is exactly what I did this morning.....front is nice and tightly secured...can't wait to see how it drives. No rattles, no rattles, no rattles....come on no rattles!

[White Lightning]

Hi swcrow17,

Because the OEM 6mm stud is missing on your car your going to need to drill out whats left of the stud and use a 8mm speed clip just like the ones used on the front corners for the skid plate. You can use one of the ones that came in your kit or buy another one at any automotive store.

If you need any further details please give me a call anytime.

Cheers.

you guys should do another group buy for us MKIV people!!!
if I was paying attention when this one was going on I would of tried to jump all over it!!!!

I would be more then happy to try to assist in setting it up!!

[acfirst05]

Mine came today! Hopefully going to install it this weekend.

[Mr.Wrong]

Came in today! Pics later on to follow...

[Kubus]

you guys should do another group buy for us MKIV people!!!
if I was paying attention when this one was going on I would of tried to jump all over it!!!!

I would be more then happy to try to assist in setting it up!!

We tried to spread the word to MK4 guys but the general consensus was "Skid plates are like condoms, I don't use either".

[Mr.Wrong]

LOL^

[Kubus]

Im serious. They had this level of apathy towards protecting their oil pans that I havent seen before.

[e.Mills]

installed. no issues. beautiful.



although... did get a $3.95 foreign exchange charge there somehow... not complaining, still WAY stoked with the % off! thanks Neil!

[Coderedpl]

Well here is my review,
Before you start reading let me just say, that even with the slight obstacles I had, I'm very satisfied with it, as feel solid and it does seem like it would do the job MUCH better than the plastic crap. I HAVE called Neil and at first he was unavailable but within the 10 minutes like the secretary has said, he called me back and walked me through. One of the few companies that actually CALL you back when they say they will. Anyway here goes the long essay.......

Car in question is a 2006 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro with Tiptronic Transmission.

Well I got it installed today, took longer than expected, since I wasn't thinking too properly lol and the entire assembly dropped on my head like twice (it wasn't bolted in & I was holding it in place by hand and bumper)
I picked up my car high enough so there was 7 spaces in the jack stands. YMMV but at some points a bit higher would of helped to do it comfortably, regular oil changes you just pick your desired height.

1. It's packaged, well like everyone else posted so I think those pictures would be useless. Before you start asking yourself the question about whether or not you're missing parts just look at the part list. I thought there were two star washers but there was one according to the list. Gold washer didn't exist, so i just used one of the supplied ones.

2. Rivet nuts, at first they seem like they are too big, and I don't know if it made any difference but I put the rivet nuts in the holes first without the bolt and the "tool", didn't have to use a hammer, just hand. Try to turn it a few times and push it slightly and the moment you feel it going in a bit, just apply a little force. It didnt require much for me once i found the "sweet spot"

3. Now the spreading the metal with the tool or whatever part on the rivet nuts. It was noted that it should be done at about 35lbs torque. Either the wrench I bought yesterday sucks major balls or my hardware was a bit weaker. Like someone else noted about it being problematic to use the longer bolt, it was the same case for me, so I used one of the short ones for this step. I started it by hand, then used a regular wrench, to turn a bit more and once I started feeling a tiny bit of resistance, I switched to torque wrench which was "supposedly" set at 35lbs. I turned, turned, turned and turned, then at one point I felt some resistance, So I think to myself ok, it will get harder and then i should hear my "torque wrench" click.....I never did, and then it just got loose after another turn........needless to say I stopped and took the bolt out along with a bit of shaved metal......
I went to the next bolt, same steps followed, and well.......same thing happened. So i figured they were good enough, try to pull off the rivet nuts using fingers and it didnt work.......so thats good. So hint here.......f*** the torque wrench, just do it by feel. Once you feel it resisting, be cautious, go slow and not too hard. Being the skinny guy I am I managed to break my spindle/knuckle on my car......so it doesnt take a superhero to break something

4. Attach the wings to the main part before you attach it to the car, because it will be a pain to do it later. Just have the nuts "tight enough" so they dont fall off very easily.
Get the long bolts ready along with the washers to tighten to the rivet nuts put anti seize and have them nearby OR If you're going to use the spacers, put the spacer on top, anti-seize on bolt, and put the bolt through the bottom of the plate, and then through the spacer. That way the spacer is on top of plate and bolt is on bottom. Much easier to mount since bolt won't go flying at your head (ask me why i say that).It held in place for me, so i believe it would for you aswell.
**I had to put the two provided spacers since I wouldnt have enough clearance to tighten the bolts to the rivet nuts. I'm not sure if that's just because I'm a tiptronic or something, **

5. Hold up the plate like you would do to your plastic. For my bumper, the front edges rest on the bottom of the bumper a little bit. so I put it on that first, then checked that the side wings are somewhat in place and then i held the rear up and screwed in the bolts just enough so that they "hold in place" Then started the wing adjustment. I personally didn't do the whole "three turns" thing as I think it will be different for everyone. I just did it to the point where I felt a bit of resistance and the plate didnt move.

6. Here is where the problem came up. On the drivers side wing, the front-most nut (not the bolt head) that is on top, touches a fat hose, which I think is from the SMIC.(in pictures) As funny as it may seem, this is actually the part that took me the most time as I was triple checking everything to see if i did anything wrong. With the bolt/nut tightened or not, it didn't make a difference. Passenger side was fine. After this happened I called Neil and spoke with him. I was told the side wings are optional and can be taken off, as they are mostly designed to hold your fenders from flying off if you have that problem. (More on that later) I don't but since I wanted to have it on anyway......i went to dig my garage for the heavy duty good ol' zip-tie! I won't lie, the skid plate & wing are close but not touching the hoses there, but then again, so was the plastic piece so not much to complain about here. Slipped the zip-tie through, tightened and it aint moving I tried moving plate forward as far as it can go, but that didnt help enough for me to leave the bolt there.

7. For the front most middle bolt I decided to use all the spacers I had left over and put them on top of of the hole and slide the bolt with one washer on the bottom. It gave me some extra clearance so when i tighten it up. It doesn't go up too much.
EDIT: 2/19/11^ As of this moment I'm not suggesting this step. My side wings are not sitting properly (they are sort of hanging) and i believe this is the cause of that. I will be double checking tomorrow.


Out of the three new speed clips I put it in, (center and two side) I only used the center as it was the structural one. One of the side ones also lined up (i THINK it was the passenger side, don't remember) but I opted not to put it on to save myself the trouble of removing a bunch of stuff. I only have to take off three to get the entire assembly off.

I'm not sure if this applies to all or not but if you have the bottom and middle torx screws in towards the edge of the fender liner, closer to the bumper (not counting the bunch of others on top and and closer to door) then your fender liner shouldn't be flapping around.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the product. Not complaining as these issues are not showstoppers to me. I think it's understandable as if you think about it, the same styled skid plate applies to a few vehicles, so there isnt much ground to complain. My suggestions would be providing an extra spacer, and improving the design of the drivers side edge of the main plate and drivers side wing.

The only warning i would have to everybody...........get ready to hear the first metal grind, because when you're not used to it, it will make you say wtf was that haha....Rubbed mine twice already in driveways :|

On with the pics and descriptions, Yes I know my bumper is scratched to hell. When I replace bumpers I will have to consider raising a bit or not going into certain driveways. =|

P.S. No vibrations of anything weird.

The car, the tools, and the plate.






The problem bolt, the fix, and the center bolt with the spacers.









Finished product.



The two torx visible that hold your liner from flapping.


Random shots of transmission scratched and the torture and side under-frame went through. Next car I get I'm doing the hockey puck trick because these stands and jack fuck it up good, I also made the mistake of not putting the jacks on the cross member bolts)





EDIT: Backing down into my work driveway which is quite steep, so it's kind of expected to scrape, but damn. It's loud, so you know if you scrape something haha..It's being broken in i guess?lol

[Matt@oCarbon]

Great write up and review.

[kristokes]

I tried to install my skid plate today but got derailed by missing a very important hardware (the 2 rivet-nuts that go into the subframe)

This is what I received: (missing 2 rivet-nuts and a 10mm gold washer)


I guess I'll have to try my luck with the skid plate next weekend. So until then, I have no choice but to put this plastic crap back on.



But on a good note, I managed to swap out my old Creative Auto test pipe for the massive RAI test pipe today

[Dangler]

Hey Kris, mine didn't come with the gold washer either, just use one of the larger washer for the rivet nut install, when you get them.

And for that test pipe. I'm definitely looking to get one myself.

Coderepl. Great write up, I had the same issue with my driver side wing's front mounting bolt being blocked by the intercooler pipe. I'm going to my garage today, to add the wings. I think instead of a zip tie, I'm going to drill another hole further back that will clear the inter cooler pipe. OH btw, i have the same winter tires!!! mine have some bad camber wear, so they are on their way out, but they were amazing when i first got them. and don't put jack stands on the pinch welds that far back. place them under the rear mounting points of the front sub frame. right under the bolt that holds it in. its a flat silver plate that look like large metal tabs.

[kristokes]

^ I couldn't do much without the 2 rivet-nuts that go into the subframe

[Dangler]

Use lots of velcro!!!

[kristokes]

Use lots of velcro!!!

lol But I'll wait until I receive the 2 rivet-nuts from Neil. I won't be able to tackle this skid plate til next weekend anyways.

[Coderedpl]

@Dangler - yea thats my new spot from now on. Lesson learned lol who looks under the car anyway

@Kristokes - how much was that testpipe? Is it 3" or 2.5"?

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[EVONEO]

Hey kristokes,

Wow, I don't know why your kit was missing the two rivet nuts. I'm going to have to flog the person who packaged up the hardware. I really apologize about that, it is not the norm at all. Monday morning I will put them in a padded envelope and ship them USPS as a regular letter. Let me know if that works for you?

Also there is no gold washer in the kits, they are all silver now so just use one of the 10mm silver flat was

Cheers.

[EVONEO]

Seriously, call your bank and complain. It appears as though some banks are charging illegal fees to try and generate more revenue so they can pay the government back the money that was borrowed two years ago.

installed. no issues. beautiful.

although... did get a $3.95 foreign exchange charge there somehow... not complaining, still WAY stoked with the % off! thanks Neil!

Cheers.

[danm5000]

Well, it was 50 degrees F yesterday, but back to 26F today. Guess what day I worked on the car!

Decided to change the oil first, then put on the Thor.

And then switch to new-to-me snow tires and alloy rims from craigslist. My putting on real snow tires will likely bring an end to the snowfall and an onset of early spring. That's how it goes.

Here's my additional comments to what others have said much better:
1. I didn't get a star washer, and there wasn't one on the parts list either. No Big Deal.
2. I am a complete moron with a torque wrench, it's been a while since I used real tools. Stripped out the first rivet nut, oops.
3. Ended up with some extra washers, didn't use the spacers, and only had some kind of rusted-out end on the middle thing, I forgot what exactly it is called. So I am using only 4 bolts to hold it on, I will keep an eye on it.
4. Apparently my moronic skills extend beyond torque wrenches all the way to the world of "catch the oil in the bucket." Oops. Sorry, environment

Photos below, I am slowly learning...

[kristokes]

@Kristokes - how much was that testpipe? Is it 3" or 2.5"?

To better explain, here's a link to the thread: .:RAI Motorsport New Product Introductory Offer: B7 TESTPIPE

Hey kristokes,

Wow, I don't know why your kit was missing the two rivet nuts. I'm going to have to flog the person who packaged up the hardware. I really apologize about that, it is not the norm at all. Monday morning I will put them in a padded envelope and ship them USPS as a regular letter. Let me know if that works for you?

Also there is no gold washer in the kits, they are all silver now so just use one of the 10mm silver flat was

Cheers.

We're all humans here and mistakes happen, so no worries Neil. If you plan on sending it USPS, please send to the billing address, instead of shipping address, listed on my invoice. Thanks!

[kristokes]

Well, it was 50 degrees F yesterday, but back to 26F today. Guess what day I worked on the car!

You worked on it today during the 26 degrees F weather?

4. Apparently my moronic skills extend beyond torque wrenches all the way to the world of "catch the oil in the bucket." Oops. Sorry, environment

^
(I love these EA icons, lol)

Btw thanks for posting pictures of the Passat.

[Coderedpl]

I noticed today when leaving for work that my side-wings are sagging (hanging down lower than they should) I believe that's because I put spacers on top of the center bolt, so I will be removing them and bolting up like normal and see what happens. I'm not blaming Evolution as I highly doubt it's an issue with the hardware but rather the way I did it =P

[Dangler]

Some pictures of my install. I drilled an new hole for the driver side. This let me use the hardware provided and clear the intercooler piping. I used a 1/2" drill bit, and used the bottom left corner of the letter "D" on the wing as my center point.




It was difficult to get the front edges of the wing panels to clear the rear edge of the front bumper. So what i did was, removed the front most bolts, and loosened the rear bolts holding the wing panels. rotated them back, mounted the center plate. Now both hands are free to work with the wings. I pulled on the bottom rear edge of the bumper and then rotated the wings into position. An reinserted the bolts and tightened everything down snug at the end.

Installed

driver side



passenger side



final shot



also note: I mounted the driver side wing panel on top of the center panel to drill the hole. This is for drilling the new hole only. For installation, mount the wings to the bottom of the center panel as shown in the final shot.

[Coderedpl]

I was trying to follow what you did with the wings but I get lost trying to imagine it haha. Mine are currently not on top of the bumper like yours. They are under it, that's what i need to fix. Did you slide the whole plate as much forward as it goes or did you leave it back?
There is a little slack in forward and backward movement

[beemercer]

so I got my plate yesterday or so... still haven't installed it but I did punch the box it was in this night in frustration from other work I was doing on the wrecker... lemme tell you that shit is heavy duty!

/DRUNK

[Coderedpl]

Took off my drivers side wing today and remove the spacers on top of the center bolt. Going to see how it is now. Seems like the drivers side front corner of the skid plate slightly touches the hose. Too cold and no "free/willing" time to be investigating this.

I think i'll have to invest in a re-threading tool for the rivet nuts, it sort of seems like after a few oil changes or few adjustments of removing and installing bolts they will strip.

@Dangler - I sent you a pm.

[bangoman]

I got mine installed today - B6 S4. My first mod and my first time modding any car... I know f'all about what pipe is what on my car, the Bentley manual is in the post.

1. Removal of old skid plate. Mine was a beat up POS. The screws were pretty much destroyed, no screw driver required to remove! Everything was pretty much shredded, the winter's been brutal here in SW Ontario. Another 15-20cm of snow tonight...

Pic for fun:



2. Followed the instructions from Evolution Imports' website and the ones above for installing the rivet nuts. I left the wings until the end like Neil's instructions.

I installed the wing like so:



And then swivelled it around "catching" the fender liner at the back and wedging the front part under the valance to achieve this:



3. Did the same on the right side, tightened everything down, realised I'd forgotten the washers, loosened everything again!

Here's the finished result:



PROBLEMS
(a) Notice that the driver's side forward bolt is missing - the top of the bolt hit some pipe so I wasn't happy tightening it down. If I could find my hacksaw, I'd just shorten it and see. It's ok for now.

(b) Only 3 attachment points: 1 front centre and then the two rivet nut ones. 1x spacer at each spot. I got 2 with the kit and then the extra 3 I had to order = 5 total, only 3 used. What are the other 2 for?

(c) What is this the place is exposing?:



I've got one spacer up at the front. I tried doubling up at the front spacer but the bolt wasn't long enough. I suspect my motor mount needs replacing as well. I think I'll try a longer bolt and two spacers.

Anyway I also identified a washer fluid leak in the process (my safety goggles are now very clean).

I'm happy as anything is better than this POS:



And as a side benefit, the rattle I described in this thread (B6 S4 V8 sounds like TDI), has gone

[md5mike]

Just finished installing mine (B6 3.0) had some extra hardware left over & that 3-4 inch bar that comes in the hardware kit left me perplexed for a good 15min just ended up mounting it as me and my friend saw fit, in the end all 3 mount points up front. and the two center ones on the subframe using the two supplied spacers at that point, removed some of the oe mounting point hardware as its not needed anymore anyway yada yada blah blah happy for the most part. ^^ some light instructions in the box would have been nice.

[t0ken]

@EVONEO

I seem to be missing the star-shaped washer, though everything else appears to be in orderr. Would it be ok to use something else there or is that something you would need to send off to me?


~~~

Great pics/write-ups guys! Good info.

[bangoman]

Just finished installing mine (B6 3.0) had some extra hardware left over & that 3-4 inch bar that comes in the hardware kit left me perplexed for a good 15min just ended up mounting it as me and my friend saw fit, in the end all 3 mount points up front. and the two center ones on the subframe using the two supplied spacers at that point, removed some of the oe mounting point hardware as its not needed anymore anyway yada yada blah blah happy for the most part. ^^ some light instructions in the box would have been nice.

I used this:
https://www.evolutionimport.com/v/vs...g%28PDF%29.pdf

I thought that one holed aluminium bar is a tool, not to be left on the car. Just been for a drive in the snow. Skid plate = at least +11bhp.

[mad70sx]

Installed mine today. I have a B6 S4. Took a bit of work to get it in. It doesn't fit the S4 very well without modification. As with anything that is "universal fit",a little cutting,drilling and cussing is an inevitably.

Not sure how I feel about it just yet. I'm not unhappy with it. Overall it is a good product. It was just a real bitch to install and removal/reinstallation will be a real pain without further modification.

A tip for the S4 guys....

The stock,secondary belly pan will not got back on without some alteration to the Evo pan. It is a little too long to reinstall it.(hint,hint,Evolution) I trimmed about 1-3/4" off the back edge of the Evo pan and drilled a hole for the center bolt for the secondary pan brace and I was able to install the secondary pan. Unfortunately,the 1/4 turn speed screw was just a hair too short and I was not able to turn it in due to the added thickness of the Evo pan. I think a threaded speed clip and a regular bolt will do the trick. I was able to use the 2 outer most speed screws which were good enough to secure the secondary pan for now.

The wing plates and bolts were a real muther to put together. No way the passenger side wing is going on after the pan is installed. There are a couple of hoses that couldn't be moved that are in the way and there was absolutely no room to get my hand or tools in there to tighten up the forward most bolt. I had to remove the pan,install the passenger side wing,reinstall the pan,then install the driver side wing. I will probably have a friend tig weld the bolts to the pan.(hint,hint X2 Evolution) That way the wings and pan can be removed/reinstalled separately,making it a hell of a lot easier to do so.

Without welding the nuts to the pan,oil changes are going to be a real pita. Even after welding them to the pan,I'm going to drill out a hole for the oil drain plug. I see no more danger in a hole there than the air duct that Evolution stamped into the plate themselves.

The nylon spacers were also a real pita to install. I ended up taping them in place to make things a little easier.

There is also no place to install the front driver side bolt on the S4 either.

Pics....

Evo pan with secondary pan installed.


Riv nuts installed,also showing the secondary pan brace. The center speed clip shown on the brace is the one that I mentioned that I am going to replace with a threaded clip.


Nylon washer taped in place. I used HVAC aluminum tape. Sticks to most anything and it's thin enough to push the bolt through it. Looks a little like shit but it got the job done.


Pic of the area where the passenger side wing installs. No room in there kids!

[mad70sx]

I thought that one holed aluminium bar is a tool, not to be left on the car.

Correct. The aluminum bar is just an installation tool and is not meant to be left in place anywhere after installing the riv nuts.

[White Lightning]

We tried to spread the word to MK4 guys but the general consensus was "Skid plates are like condoms, I don't use either".

Well... wish I was paying attention when this was all going on...

But considerin all the mkiv people on here aren't low enough and drive 1.8's....
what the hell do they have to worry about? Lol

My oil pan is about a half inch off the ground..... lol

O well ill buy one soon enough!

[Robb12]

Got mine installed today. No problems at all, install went very smoothly. Here's a pic of the belly pan before...



Here's a pic of it installed, my front plastic sags a ton in front so I've got a t-fitting with a screw to hold it up.



Thanks again for this opportunity

[Coderedpl]

@Neil -
Say we stripped one of the rivet nuts, how would we go about fixing them so the bolt can be screwed in. I believe i might of stripped one of the rivet nuts too much when first installing because after doing my oil change today I went to re-install the plate and noticed that one of the bolts just spins with no significant resistance as compared to the other one.
- Do we get one of those thread repair kits and repair it that way? Would you be able to provide specs on the rivet nut so we know which thread repair kit to get if that happens.

It also seems that nobody has posted whether or not the skid plate is doing it's job, or any kind of action shots. I guess I shall be the first then







Replaced this crap:

[Kubus]

Your plastic pan was in such great shape! Mine was in a million pieces just flapping around

[Berettanut]

had a huge snow storm this weekend, i would have loved to test it out, but my car doesnt like me very much and my alternator died. V10 dodge had to pick up the slack.

[Coderedpl]

Your plastic pan was in such great shape! Mine was in a million pieces just flapping around

I had little pieces of broken plastic all over the place. It almost seemed to me that every mounting point was broken lol

[EVONEO]

The star washer goes in between the head of the rivet nut and the install tool when installing the rivet nut. It's purpose is to ensure the rivet nut doesn't spin during installation however it isn't really needed for these Hex style rivet nuts as they can't really spin in the hole.

I hope this helps, shoot me an email if you need any further information on this.

@EVONEO

I seem to be missing the star-shaped washer, though everything else appears to be in orderr. Would it be ok to use something else there or is that something you would need to send off to me?


~~~

Great pics/write-ups guys! Good info.

[EVONEO]

It really depends on how bad the rivet nut was stripped. Most auto supply stores carry single taps that you can purchase to clean up the threads of the rivet nut. The size you need is a M10 with a 1.5 pitch. If the rivet nut is too badly stripped out then you will need to remove it from the frame by cutting the head of the rivet nut off and reinstalling a new one.

If you need further info on fixing the rivet nut, please feel free to give me a call to discuss in person. 250-963-3232

Cheers.

@Neil -
Say we stripped one of the rivet nuts, how would we go about fixing them so the bolt can be screwed in. I believe i might of stripped one of the rivet nuts too much when first installing because after doing my oil change today I went to re-install the plate and noticed that one of the bolts just spins with no significant resistance as compared to the other one.
- Do we get one of those thread repair kits and repair it that way? Would you be able to provide specs on the rivet nut so we know which thread repair kit to get if that happens.