TRD PRO Skid plate is it worth it?

the $200 one on ebay for us road warriors. $12 for sticky trd letters. looks the same. probably made of the same tin as the trd.
For 2016-2022 Toyota Tacoma Off Road / TRD PRO Front Skid Plate PTR60-35190 | eBay

 

Looks interesting, and I kinda like that it’s smooth, no lettering. Maybe the ‘same tin’, maybe not, maybe even made by same people(?), $225.85 plus the letters for aftermarket that may or may not fit and may or not have warranty or parts support down the road vs. $306 for OEM? Easy decision, but that’s just me, given the not so big price jump between the two. HOH

 

Saving money is always good...no argument there.

What I'm learning is OEM is preferred but not the exception.

When I saw the one member get his OEM TRD Skid plate for $286 or basically $20 less than what I paid, I was happy for him.

I saved about $94 bucks (including shipping) and felt better than spending $400. Some sacrifices are judgement calls. At the end of the day, ONE has to feel good about the decision made.

 

Well said @TacoTime55. The cool thing is that we have choices - the aftermarket is strong for Tacoma and we all win by this strength. I’ve built a lot of rigs, mostly vintage, customs, hot rods, classics and shop things to death for the best prices. I’m by no means an ‘OEM snob’’, but - have simply decided that any part that can be done OEM for the right $ I will. I own my truck, no payments, no debt whatsoever and the parts I buy via card get paid for when bill comes due. Planning to keep this truck for the long haul. So - the parts put on it are going to be the best I can get, as long as prices aren’t outta line, but, fact is that someday it WILL get sold, that’s inevitable - probably for all of us. It is nice to go to the dealer a mile from home if there’s an issue w a part, and they will take care of it.
There've been many parts that are ONLY aftermarket, but again, others we have choices for. It’s fun to watch the mods that people have, and are doing - and the awesome rigs I see here on TW - personalizing our vehicles is fun, and can be spendy, but the bottom line is that it should be fun - even for a daily driver or work rig and when it’s not or becomes un-fun - then why do it? HOH

 

I saw that too Ed - and my first thought was crap - that’s $20!!! Glad he got the deal though HOH

 

The $310 skid plate is probably one of the most frivolous purchases I've made. But then I remind myself how I rode my old sedan, which had to have its skid plate replaced after I had it torn apart -- it was held by duct tape and zip ties for a long time until the replacement. And then the new skid plate got some damage too. Of course, that sedan had crap clearance but I know I'm going to go off road harder just because I have a truck...

So anyway, mine shipped from Franklin Toyota and is slated to arrive in a week or so. Thanks to the person who posted that incredible deal. (For reference, there were many used skid plates going off like hot cakes for $350 on the 3rd gen Buy/Sell/Trade forum).

 

What deal?

 

This one:

Just checked -- they still have free shipping, so it's still a lot cheaper than buying off of Amazon; but the discount is gone. Who knows if something will come up for Christmas / New Years...
You could also try your local dealership to see if they'll beat that price so you don't have shipping and get a cheaper price.

 

I just stumbled on that deal and had to share! Maybe they’ll do it again. Mine is supposed to arrive Monday and my Talon cat protector is supposed to arrive today. Happy wrenchng, gents!

 

Yea I’m gonna wait hopefully it goes on sale again. I really love the the look of that skid plate but also tempted to change the colors of the TRD letters

 

here's an OEM at a decent price:
https://www.ebay.com/p/11023591513?iid=115180267094

 

Also, if you look on ebay/Amazon, etc and see a skid that looks like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255301735453
it has the "TRD" stamping but it is shipped with a plate that covers the logo, which you would obviously remove. The holes that hold that temp plate on will be covered if you get the raised decal overlay. I can attest that these fit just like the oem ones, I had both side by side at one point.

 

I always worry about people passing off knock offs as OEM on ebay. Not saying this one is but for an extra $20 I'd go with the Franklin Toyota link someone posted earlier. Just my preference though.

 

Get the knockoff version (exact same) as the $400+ TRD Aluminum one for less than half the price and without the silly TRD logo that is just going to get damaged more than anywhere else on your rig anyway.
If you're planning to lift it 6" and slap 35's on beadlocker wheels with a full frame roll cage and tackle some gnarly rock crawling then by all means, drop $2,000 on a full set of steel skids and protect the underside. For me, doing some technical, but not crazy crawling in our $40,000 trucks, this will be more than sufficient:

LAFORMO TRD Pro Front Skid Plate Protection Compatible with Tacoma Off Road 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021# PTR60-35190

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B095C1BQ25?ie=UTF8


I just pulled the trigger on it because it is the exact same as the OEM TRD Skid Plate (after reading tons of reviews/installation videos) but has an added bonus that it comes With Out the embossed TRD letters which are actually pretty stupid if you ever plan on using the skid plate for what it's used for.
Scratching my head why ANY armor protection fabrication company (aluminum or steel) would put their logo right in the direct spot you don't want drag on the main reason the slider is bolted on there for. Not sure how embossing creating friction points or even worse laser-cutting a hole in a sliding protective plate making it weaker and prone to snags is smart, not even a huge fan of the vent slots/drains on the aftermarket version. but for 1/2 the price, much better.

Don't get me wrong, if my truck came with the TRD OEM Skid Plate I'd keep it on but would be bummed every time I smashed it into a rock.
This brick wall might as well have a beautiful embossed TRD logo or laser-cut Cbi logo on it lol

Sorry for the rant, just want to highlight the badass/functional products out there for less than half the price so we all get killer deals.

Cheers

 

Exact Same. Half Price: Just bought it yesterday after reading tons of reviews/videos:

LAFORMO TRD Pro Front Skid Plate Protection Compatible with Tacoma Off Road 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021# PTR60-35190

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B095C1BQ25?ie=UTF8

 

That looks pretty flimsy compared to aftermarkets. I'd skip if planning on using the truck for trail riding. I saw a guy in moab that had a cheap one and he hit a rock and it bent the skid and the crossbar and can't get the alignment on his lower a arms anymore. Also the old never gonna die augment about aluminum vs steal is BS. Never seen a truck get stuck on the skid plates because they are aluminum lol

 

Worth is all relative, all that really matters is if you like it, and i find it to be pretty good looking. I installed one on my truck a couple days ago and am very pleased with it. I paid over $500 with shipping to get it up to Alaska, and to me it was absolutely worth it.

 

Man, the shipping costs to AK! I've been holding off on ordering a new suspension/lift cause I don't want to pay an extra $500 - 900 on top of the cost. I thought I found an awesome deal on a kit with free shipping during a Black Friday sale, but apparently AK was "excluded" from the deal. After placing the order they contacted me to let me know that shipping would be $1,800... cancelled that shit right then and there.

 

I typically use eBay for a lot of stuff and have found shipping to be relatively reasonable, so it’s worth a shot. But yeah, shipping to Alaska is always a killer, sometimes it costs more than the actual product.

 

Many of us do very little off roading. I went with the OEM plate mostly because it looks good. And it was 20% off with free shipping. So, I installed it on my stock height OR...and haven’t seen it since.

Hindsight being 20/20...I probably should have spent the money on hookers and blow. Well...cheap hookers and talcum powder.