Crawled under my new '05 500 for the first time and realized the skid plate was thick plastic. I though it was metal. How does this hold up? Anyone had problems? Now it's low miles, but want to know how much it can be abused, if at all.

 

I would hope they hold up pretty well because you generally put a lot of confidence in them to protect important parts of your atv so your not stranded out on a trail! I have an 06 650 and bottomed out on a very large rock in some deep snow. After looking at it there wasnt a thing wrong so I have confidence that they are plenty durable

 

They hold up very well. They are lighter than metal and a lot more slick for sliding over things. They flex some, dont dent or bend and not spring back and are really better than the metal one.

 

The same can't be said for the stick stoppers though! They break quickly and are worth replacing with aluminum ones!

 

I have metal on the 250 and plastic on the 400. 2 torn boots on the 250 in 2 years and none so far on the 400, but only had it for 13 months. What the he!! were you going thru and how fast to break a stick stopper?

 

Maybe I spend a little to much time in the thick bush. Mine alway broke in and around the retaining bolts. I had cracks in 2 of the 4, and then I replaced them.

 

I do a bit of brush popping and so far I haven't broke or even cracked any of them. But I probably proceed with a bit more caution than you do, mainly it takes to damn long to heal anymore (if I ever do heal).

 

Like Bear I am a little over cautious to the point of avoiding brush spots and pointed rocks. Its probably because I think spending over 7 grand is enough for a while without added costs to fix something right away!