Steel is a great standard material to use when you need anything that is very rugged, tough, and cheap. It's why Artec makes so many products from steel to this day. However, it's downsides make it not a good choice for large skid plates under your vehicle.

WEIGHT - At three times the weight of aluminum, steel skid plates are heavy to ship, heavy to install, heavy on the gas mileage, heavy on its toll on other vehicle components, heavy on horsepower, etc. What you may save in cost with the initial purchase, you pay for in the long run. Installing large steel skid plates is hard...imagine removing them and then reinstalling them for service. It's a real pain in the behind. To reduce weight, manufacturers generally will reduce material thickness on their skid plates which causes the next issue.

DENTING - Now that we've had to make the material thinner to reduce weight, our steel skid plates dent easier. Steel has a high "modulus of elasticity" meaning that it's not very flexible or elastic. Once it crushes, it stays crushed and now you always have a crushed skid. Now try to remove your heavy, crushed and contorted skid plate. Good luck. As an example, look at your thin, OEM steel skid plates after a couple trails...bet they don't look like they did on the lot.

HEAT DISSIPATION - Steel is a poor dissipater of heat. You never see steel heat sinks on a computer chip or a radiator made of steel. Why is a having poor heat dissipation bad for your vehicle? Not allowing the heat to dissipate quickly means overheated engines, wear on tear on your components, melted electronics and very hot feet.

RUST - Without a coating of some kind, steel will corrode and cause issues with hardware and removal. Some manufacturers will coat their skid plates in powdercoat, paint or zinc plating. On a product that receives frequent abuse, this coating will scratch, peel, or flake off, allowing the bare steel to now rust even faster, as it retains moisture in scratches and under paint. The chromium in yellow zinc coating is labelled by California as cancer-causing as well, leading to potential health issues. Continual maintenance of these coatings leads to extra time and money spent to prevent rusting.

Until recently, Artec offered one model of our bellypans in steel to customers as a budget option. However the price was not that much more for a 6061 aluminum version and the customers who bought aluminum were far more satisfied with their purchase than those that bought the steel version so we discontinued it.

We use 5052 quite often in other products that are not skids such as inner fenders, spare tire delete kits, and quart crates...all things that are not load bearing or scraping on rocks. Here's why we chose not to offer a 5052 skid plate.

FRAGILITY - While it is 1/3 of the weight of steel, it really does show that its not anywhere near the strength of steel. We've put only moderate amounts of weight on prototype skids and seen them completely collapse. Our initial JK bellypan never made it past the first 5052 prototype for this very reason, it was crushing too easily. 5052 only has a yield strength of 28,000 psi versus 6061 T6 which is 40,000 psi, which is 30% stronger. Steel is 50,800 psi however when using a thicker material with 6061, you achieve greater strength. Also, 5052 is not heat treated resulting in lower strength.

One of the reasons why manufacturers choose to use 5052 is because it bends easily in the press brake during the manufacturing process and no special tooling is required (so it's cheaper for them). One thing to look for in bent 5052 products is cracking in the bends themselves. Manufacturers will use the same press brake tooling as steel for their aluminum resulting in a very tight bend. It's easy to spot where the material will fail as micro-cracks form along the bends. Just because it can bend with that tooling doesn't mean it should be. Do you want something that is that easy to bend to be "protecting" your vehicle's vital components?

GALLING - 5052 has the lowest "modulus of elasticity" meaning that it's very flexible or elastic. So once it deforms, it can generally pop back into its original form better than steel or 6061. A big downside is that this means that its surface hardness is really soft, resulting in a stickiness on the rocks that literally can stop you in your tracks. This galling can lead to users dangerously trying to use engine horsepower to overcome an obstacle resulting in component breakage or requiring recovery to get off that little sharp rock holding your vehicle ransom.

In the Brinell scale which measures surface hardness, 5052 has a result of 60, 6061 is 95, and steel is 105. That means 5052 is 43% softer than steel and 37% softer than 6061.

Many manufacturers use 5052 aluminum in their skids without disclosing what grade they use. Many people don't even realize that there are other alloys available. Unfortunately, this has led to a bad reputation for "aluminum" as a whole when used in skid plates due to the failures outlined above.

We've now been offering bellypans using 6061 T6 Aluminum since 2014 and sold to the most abusive customers on the planet. Big names in the racing industry swear by our skid plates to get them across the finish line, so you can too. Here's what makes 6061 the RIGHT CHOICE.

STRENGTH - As already noted, Aluminum is 1/3 of the weight of steel but the rigidity of this material feels closer to steel than 5052...you can just feel it in your hands. We've had the entire weight of the vehicle both in the lab and on the trail resting completely on the skid with no deflections. We've run over our skid with heavy trucks to try to bend it like we did with 5052....not happening. It really is stronger. The T6 heat treatment is a big part of that, quadrupling its strength from its annealed state.

6061 requires special tooling to bend in the press brake during the manufacturing process. Using the right tooling means that you don't stress the material into cracking. This ultimately results in a huge strength gain from properly formed bend flanges.

SURFACE HARDNESS - 6061 T6 is closer in hardness to steel (only 10% less) than it is to 5052. That means that galling isn't nearly as big an issue and you can easily slide across the rocks others can't.

HEAT DISSIPATION - 6061 T6 has the best heat dissipation of all three materials making it ideal for use in automotive applications. See thermal conductivity in the link below.

WELDING & MACHINING - 6061 T6 has the best properties for TIG welding and machining. This means that welded seams are far less likely to crack under stress from hitting that boulder. It also means countersunk holes are machined properly.

ELASTICITY - 6061 is the perfect balance of strength and flexibility when you need it. This means it doesn't easily dent like steel and bounces back into shape.

LOW MAINTENANCE - Since it doesn't rust, it doesn't need paint so you can leave it raw material and be on your merry way for years to come.


For nearly 10 years, we've been proving that these skid plates are the best in the world. The material is a big part of that, but it does come at a higher price. In the long run, you'll spend less though as maintenance is lower, replacement is generally not needed, and wear and tear on your vehicle is lessened. Many customers come to us after other brands have failed them. Make the right choice, once .