Underbody shield / skid plate needed or not?

[Doug]

i have a 2022 R1T with 73,000 miles and 21 inch wheels. I am thinking about upgrading to either a Tri or Quad. I drive 99% of the time on actual roads. But for the 1% of the time I want to offroad, how important is underbody shield? For those who are avid off-roaders, a couple spots I have done or would like to do are the Durango CO area and near Red Lodge MT the hell roaring road. I have done both of those areas. I would like to go to the Moab area and explore as well. I have road wheels so that is another question. Is that adequate for those areas or do you need different wheels? I did a road outside Red Lodge MT a couple years ago and took a chunk out of a sidewall on a rocky road. I was not sure if that was just bad luck or if that is what I should expect with road wheels.

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[CrazyOne]

Only you can answer whether you will drive over terrain that will hit the underbody.

Having said that, I believe you will need more mods for off roading, like rock sliders etc. under body shield will only protect the battery pack afaik.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I would watch videos of other people driving the trails you are contemplating, and see if they experience impacts in the areas protected by the shield. Either way, you'll probably want better wheels.

 

[Dr Medjools]

I just did the classic roads near Durango. I definitely wanted off road wheels and tires. And I did hit the skid plate a few times. Sliders are also an issue if you don’t want ANY body damage. I consider my R1T a truck so body damage is a sign of experience . Although just a few scratches and small dents please

 

[Doug]

Thanks for the input. I currently have a reinforced underbody. I think I would feel better with it. Also, before I do any serious trails I would get rock sliders.

 

[Dr Medjools]

I didn’t do sliders since they lower ride height on many of those too thick sliders. They do protect the doors a bit

 

[Captain JB]

If you go off road at alll, you need the under shield for sure. Not worth the risk.

 

[shadow_tek001]

I didn’t do sliders since they lower ride height on many of those too thick sliders. They do protect the doors a bit

I think you meant "impact your ground clearance"... As ride height isn't changed by installing sliders.
However, the RMAXX sliders are only about 1/4" lower then the stock rocker panels, and the protection is totally worth it

 

[Dr Medjools]

The distance between some part of the truck you value and that big ass rock

 

[HaveBlue]

Thanks for the input. I currently have a reinforced underbody. I think I would feel better with it. Also, before I do any serious trails I would get rock sliders.

So you can answer the question yourself. How many times have you contacted the underbelly on the truck you have? Dirt roads is one thing. Trails are another. I've been on numerous interesting dirt roads with the rivian and not gotten close to damaging it with no under body plate.

The undersides of my Toyotas have extra skid plates and sliders that are bent and damaged. The gas tanks don't hold as much fuel because not only is that skid plate dented in but so is the tank. I have decades of rock crawling experience and try to stay on top of those marbles but doors, rockers and bumper still get it. Not unusual for someone to tip over.

So again it depends on where you take it and how skilled you are behind the wheel.

 

[Doug]

So you can answer the question yourself. How many times have you contacted the underbelly on the truck you have? Dirt roads is one thing. Trails are another. I've been on numerous interesting dirt roads with the rivian and not gotten close to damaging it with no under body plate.

The undersides of my Toyotas have extra skid plates and sliders that are bent and damaged. The gas tanks don't hold as much fuel because not only is that skid plate dented in but so is the tank. I have decades of rock crawling experience and try to stay on top of those marbles but doors, rockers and bumper still get it. Not unusual for someone to tip over.

So again it depends on where you take it and how skilled you are behind the wheel.

I have not done much with my current truck. The one time I did take it out i took a chunk out of the sidewall on a tire (partially my own fault did not air down). I broke off the receiver cover and broke the clips. I will take a look at the underside of the truck tomorrow. The trails/Roads I would like to do I have done with other vehicles. One was my Ford Sporttrac and it had some pretty good underbody dents from rocks. Took it in after some trail driving and the tranny pan was dented and leaking. I live in flatland MN so the mechanics were wondering how I did that. I am not expert but have done some trail driving. I am leaning toward a quad with 22-inch road wheels. I currently have a Quad with 21-inch wheels. Range is very important especially with how cold it gets here. I know duel has a little more range, but it is not as awesome.

 

[usulio]

Of course it's safer to get underbody protection, but you can do a lot without it. In Out of Spec the guy mentioned that he's bashed the bottom of his Rivian on rocks a bunch of times with no underbody protection and been fine. I wouldn't recommend that, but there is a pretty serious carbon fiber plate.

I don't have the underbody shield, and I've done a bunch of medium-gnarly trails and never come close to being worried about the battery pack. I have landed on the sliders a couple times. But I'm not attempting really tough stuff.

If you want to do hard trails where you're planning on scraping and sliding, obviously get it. If you plan to not do those trails and are worried about the once in a while chance of bumping the bottom, you might not need it.

 

[Doug]

Of course it's safer to get underbody protection, but you can do a lot without it. In Out of Spec the guy mentioned that he's bashed the bottom of his Rivian on rocks a bunch of times with no underbody protection and been fine. I wouldn't recommend that, but there is a pretty serious carbon fiber plate.

I don't have the underbody shield, and I've done a bunch of medium-gnarly trails and never come close to being worried about the battery pack. I have landed on the sliders a couple times. But I'm not attempting really tough stuff.

If you want to do hard trails where you're planning on scraping and sliding, obviously get it. If you plan to not do those trails and are worried about the once in a while chance of bumping the bottom, you might not need it.

Thanks for the info. I am a little torn between the Tri and Quad for this reason. The Tri does not come with the underbody and road wheels but is cheaper and the Quad has the cool factor as well as the underbody and bronze road wheels.

 

[RivianRiverRat]

Rivian is running a special to the end of the month
you can get the off road package for free or a discount
Don’t remember the particulars
Jose has it posted on his site too

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