Full length skid plates for city driving in snow?

I have a 2020 SR5 double cab, long bed.... was driving in the snow around town and bent the fuel tank heat shield such that it rubbed against the driveline weights. Not a pleasant sound.

It was more annoying that 10" of snow on city streets deflected the heat shield.

Was this a fluke? Or does anyone else have a similar concern about the undercarriage? Do I need full length skid plates for city driving? . I am planning drives on BLM and forest service roads, but no technical rock work.

I am looking at a basic full length plate system without adding full suspension (side?) plates.

I thought I'd throw the question out there to see what other people have experienced.

 

That seems very odd to me. Are sure you didn’t hit something solid hidden in the snow? Snow is generally super soft and safe. I’ve been driving in it my whole life and don’t remember breaking anything. It is possible damage plastic on your bumper by driving really hard into a wall of packed snow I am sure, but that is avoidable.

Full skids sound like overkill for your use case. I drive my truck on rock strewn off road trails and I only have a front skid and sliders.

 

I have full skids for the mall

 

I have "plowed" snow with my bumper on multiple occasions and driven through plowed snow banks and never had that issue, sounds like a fluke. I also regularly drive on logging roads in PA and done mild off roading and have never felt for skids.

 

This to be the most likely scenario. I can't imagine "normal" snow doing that unless it was a block of ice or hard packed, in which case OP probably needed to slow down anyhow.

 

I've been high centered in snow with just the stock skid with no problems. I have also scrapped the fuel tank while off road not in the snow with no problems either.

 

I was really (very) surprised. The only think I can thing of is perhaps a block of accumulated slush froze, dropped and bounced. The "incident" occurred in Seattle... not known for super freezing conditions. Thanks for your comments.

 

I partially ripped of the lower heat shield for the cat on my '06 TRD OR driving thru brush. Its primary purpose is to shield flammable substances on the ground when when parking the vehicle. I never bothered to replace it (probably couldn't have because of fastener corrosion) and never set fire to anything. I think many of the other responses cover the possible cases.
If you looked in the rear view and observed a perfect profile of your truck's undercarriage left in the snow behind you, it's quite possible you were packing enough snow in or around the heat shield to deform it.
The skids can be a curse in heavy snow. If you get into really deep, heavy snow you can literally float the truck on top while the tires lose contact with packed snow and ground, resulting in not enough traction to go anywhere. When I plowed snow with my '06 I got into several situations where I could not move in any direction and had to shovel the snow out from under the truck to get out.

 

Same here and agreed.

@muddyfeet - If my niece can drive a Kia Rio around Fargo without skids, you don't need them on a Tacoma. Write it off as a fluke.