Skid Plates

Your ATV's underside is one of the most vulnerable parts of the whole machine, thanks to its positioning and lack of reinforcement (at least when you’re rolling stock). Every rock, sapling, jagged limb or whatever else that catches your frame or is a costly repair just waiting to happen. Skid plates, A-arm guards, and frame protection are what stand between your machine's critical components and the trail. Everything ATV carries skid plate sets, alloy A-arm guards, and lower frame protection for popular ATV models from brands that engineer these components for real trail conditions. Protect the underside and you protect everything above it.

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Buyer's Guide for ATV Skid Plates: Helping You Shop!

What ATV Skid Plate Protection Actually Covers

A full skid plate set typically includes protection for the front belly, frame rails, A-arm lower surfaces, and in some configurations the CV boots. Each of these areas has something vulnerable directly behind it. The belly pan protects your frame, engine cases, and oil pan from direct rock strikes. A-arm guards protect the lower suspension arms from the side and below. CV boot guards keep rocks and debris from tearing the boots that protect your CV joints. Losing a CV boot in the field means you're either packing out or waiting for rescue. A fifteen-dollar guard prevents that. The more surface area you can reliably cover, the more confidently you can just chug right through rocky terrain without feeling like you’re driving on eggshells.

Alloy vs. UHMW vs. Steel Skid Plates

Skid plate material determines how protection is delivered. Alloy plates are lightweight and strong, offering a good balance of protection and weight penalty. They deflect rocks cleanly and hold up well to repeated impacts. Polyethylene plates are lighter still, and they have this slippery quality that deflects impacts while helping you skate across (rather than get hung up on) debris. Steel is the toughest option for direct impact resistance but adds the most weight. For most trail and utility riders, alloy is the practical sweet spot. For rock crawlers and riders who expect serious, sustained contact with hard obstacles, steel is worth the weight.

ATV Skid Plate Coverage: Protecting the Whole Machine vs. Key Areas

You don't always need a full skid plate set. If your riding intensity/environment is moderately aggressive at the most and the biggest concern is protecting more sensitive areas in a few specific spots, targeted guards for the A-arms or front frame may be more than enough for your needs. If you find yourself constantly scrambling over jagged rocks, however (whether for fun or just because that’s the terrain you’ve got in front of you), then full coverage should be a serious consideration in your mind. Going with a full set allows you to save money over the piece-by-piece strategy while getting all the protection you need at once, and without having to worry about parts not fitting well together.

Best Selling ATV Skid Plate Brands

Ricochet produces comprehensive skid plate sets and A-arm guard combos for popular ATV platforms with precision-fit alloy construction that covers the underside properly without improvised fitment gaps.
Rival Powersports makes alloy central skid plates and rear A-arm guards for popular models like the Brute Force and Honda utility ATVs with the precise fitment and solid construction that trail riders count on.
Strong Made rounds out the protection lineup with front stick stoppers and lower protection accessories for popular ATV models that keep trail debris out of places it can cause damage.

Top 5 Selling ATV Skid Plates and Protection Products

The CFMoto CForce A-Arm and CV Boot Guard Set by Ricochet covers both the A-arms and the CV boots in a single kit for CForce riders. Two of the most vulnerable points on the underside protected in one clean purchase.
The Kawasaki Brute Force Alloy Central Skid Plate by Rival Powersports gives the Brute Force's belly proper alloy protection that handles rock strikes and trail debris without adding significant weight to the machine.
The Kawasaki Brute Force Front Stick Stopper by Strong Made keeps sticks, branches, and debris from getting up into the front end of the machine where they can cause damage to components you'd rather not replace on the trail.
The Honda Rancher/Rubicon Alloy Rear A-Arm Guards by Rival Powersports protect the rear lower A-arms on popular Honda utility ATVs from the rock and debris strikes that the rear suspension takes in rough terrain. Precise alloy fitment designed for IRS-equipped models.
The Honda TRX FourTrax Foreman Full Frame Skid Plate Set by Ricochet is a comprehensive underside protection package for the Foreman platform. Full frame coverage in a single set means the critical areas are covered from nose to tail without hunting for individual pieces that may or may not fit together cleanly.

ATV Skid Plates Frequently Asked Questions

Do skid plates affect ground clearance?

A properly fitted skid plate adds minimal thickness to the belly of the machine and has negligible effect on ground clearance in practice. They're designed to sit as close to the frame as possible and in many cases they actually improve how the machine slides over obstacles compared to an unprotected frame that can catch and hang up.

Are skid plates universal or model-specific?

Most quality skid plates are model-specific and that's what you should be buying. Universal skid plates require compromises in fitment that create gaps in coverage and mounting issues that model-specific plates don't have. Always buy protection designed for your specific ATV make and model.

How difficult is skid plate installation?

Much easier than you might think, especially nowadays. Most sets today are bolt-on. Full frame sets take longer than a single belly plate, but most riders can complete the installation in a couple of hours without any specialized equipment.