The factory skid plates on ALL machines (regardless of brand) are not really skid plates. They are more of a splash liner. I picked up a 4'x8' piece of 1/8" aluminum and made my own belly skid plate, A arm guards and diff guards. The whole belly of my Z8 is fully protected and slides well over logs, rocks and ruts. I would HIGHLY suggest everyone doing something like that if you plan to take it out and ride hard. I will add that there are companies that make HDPE (plastic) skid plates. And while those would work for most people HDPE will not stand up to the abuse that aluminum will. I knew a guy that had HDPE and had a stick go through the plastic skid plate and take out his brake line. He was trying to convince me how much better HDPE was than aluminum. I told him "I have never seen a stick no matter how big it is go though 1/8" thick aluminum. I will stick to what I know will protect the underside of my cart".