HUGE THREAD! But it helped me for my 1st oil change
. My CM has 2 skid plates, stamped metal and the alum optional plate. Yes they were a pain to deal with (easy off - much harder to align and get back on). I solved this by using a 4 inch hole saw in each one and now I no longer have to remove them. I pluged the hole in the lowest (alum) skid plate with a stainless steel "pluming plate" I got at Home Depot, just put a backing bar and tighten it up. Keeps all the dirt and "stuff" out. I would not just remove the skid plates and leave them off as I belive they do provided protection from "road debris". As for the oil shooting out onto the tire, just use a folded up piece of cardboard to direct flow into drain pan. A Fumo valve will also work but I like the high flow rate when draining oil to carry out anything that might be in the bottom of the pan. Now oil changes are back to a reasonable 20 min!
