Plastic fuel tank cover?

Hello everyone, long time lurker, first time posting.

Today I was tightening bolts while trying to diagnose a "clunk" in my front end, and noticed that my cheap fuel tank cover was broken at one of the 4 mounting points, so I took it off. Do you guys see any problem with leaving the tank exposed? Not like the plastic is going to protect against anything, and might actually cause rust issues if anything? Any opinions?

 

The tank is plastic material or so I thought it was. I would leave it on as an addition layer to guard against flying rocks and or squirrels driving down the road.

 

I think you are right on the tank being plastic. That's probably why there was zero rust on it. My bad. I suppose I will put it back on, since it doesn't seem to cause any additional rattle. Thank you for your opinions..

 

if you can get it plastic welded do that

 

TRD Off-Roads come with the plastic tank guard. All other packages don't. It's not the end of the world to leave it off. If you truly want protection, look into a Bud Built fuel tank skid plate.

The fuel tank is a multi-layer, multi-material composite.