Best Skid Plates for the Money

I'm just looking for a bit of undercarriage protection after a recent incident.

I don't do extreme wheeling, but I have dented the stock skid up a couple of times.

I have heard AllPro getting bashed on other products, but how are their skid plates. Is their anything equivalent for less money?

Relentless has a really nice looking set, but it's more expensive than the AllPro set.

 

Basically it boils down to this, if you want good skids it's going to cost you.

 

Understood, I know it's not cheap. But that isn't helpful in evaluating AllPro vs something else.

 

Pelfreybilt makes a nice skid. Shipping is a pain but I have his IFS skid and its built really well

 

Did you have to reroute the exhaust? I was worried about it hanging below the skids; not a big deal to reroute I guess.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/279871-skid-plate-comparisons.html#post6958481

 

I only have the IFS and with that no you dont have to reroute anything

 

Since you're in VA it will probably be cheapest to get them from Budbuilt. Buds out of NC I believe. Makes great stuff, prices should be on par with everyone else, you'll just save on shipping.

 

Budbuilt skids look pretty good. For the whole set shipped (for me), it looks like it's cheaper than the full AllPro set.

Thanks

 

All Pro is acceptable quality, I have bashed my IFS skid extensively and it has stood up to it; but if I had the choice (and it sounds like it is the cheaper choice for you as well) I would go with bud built.

 

I had a set of budbuilts on my 86 4Runner and that thing saw more rocks than i'd like to remember hah. Nevertheless, my budbuilts took every rock hit without ever bending, I could only manage to scratch them.

Not only is the build quality top notch but the customer service is A+ often times Bud himself answers the phone and always goes out of his way to help people. That means a lot in my book.

100% satisfied with Budbuilt!

 

I like to support the smaller companies on here so i would go with the cheaper route; Budbuilt

 

I agree with this, I had a full set of skids from Tyler and they are very stout. Although if you ask anyone with anyone else skids they will tell you the same thing about a different brand.

I ran his skid without having the exhaust rerouted to begin with, I didn't like how the exhaust was touching the skid so about 2 weeks after the skid was installed I rerouted the exhaust. Is it needed? I'm not sure but I didn't want to warp my new expensive skid and it was cheaper (about $80) to have the exhaust rerouted than to by another one.

 

Adding on to the All Pro skid, I have bought a few of their products and they are very robust and I wouldn't think of a reason to sway you away from it. A local (Houston) guy is running one, beats the crap out of it and he is satisfied.

 

No problem bud. I have a full set of his aluminum skids and the gf has his sliders and a custom front bumper on her 5th gen 4runner. Great people to deal with

 

I am ordering a budbuilt 4 piece set in the next few weeks. During my reasearch, they were polite, helpful, and quick to respond to any questions I had. They are local for me (and fairly local for OP, Lenoir, NC). For a 4 piece set to eastern NC, shipping will run between $70-80 as of last week. Also, they offer powder coating from their shop. All in all, a 4 piece set, powdercoated, will run about $900 before shipping. Really not bad at all. I will let you know how they turn out once I get them.

 

skids are pretty basic when it comes to design and construction. There's only so many bolt holes on the bottom side, and everything should be about the same thickness. Your differences are getting a company that can reliably get the bolt holes to line up.

If this was a bumper or something, I'd worry more.

budbuilt is an industry standard
I haven't had any fitment issue with my Relentless

 

I bought Skid Row skids. That was the cheapest route for me. I called the nearest 4Wheel Part and since they carry them, they shipped them into the store in Colorado Springs for me. So there was no charge for shipping and the prices were cheaper than they were on Skid Row's website.

I haven't really tested them yet on the rocks, but there are pretty heavy duty!

 

The biggest difference I've seen between full sets of skids is the t-case skid and some have numerous exposed bolt heads. I'll say Relentless doesn't have many, and the t-case skid is probably the stoutest on the market.

That said some of the other companies may be cheaper or get you your skids much quicker.

Just my .02

 

OP has a 2nd gen, Skid Row only makes skids for 1st gens AFAIK.