Aramid
I did some detective work and am 99% sure this is my car:
In those clips the first owner behind the wheel, about 16 years ago, which is
just over a year after purchasing it (best wishes if you’re reading this!).
The same owner kept the car for many a years, despite driving a whole bunch of very unusual cars during that time (looking at you, Fiesta R2 and DS3 R3T). I’m mentioning this because on Friday, I removed the aramid skid plate from under the engine, a memento from those days. The aramid plate is cool, but for my usage and how I drive the car, it’s definitely an overkill. It also had one flaw: the front is securely held on with two bolts, but the rear has a, rather poorly designed, pair of tabs, which slides into holes in the plastic underbody shields (I had to have those floor pan splash shields welded back in the day). This is not a great solution. Not only does the skid plate not stay rigid and hits the underbody on bumps, giving me a mini heart attack every time it does that, but over time, it also cracks the shields it’s inserted into. I think this plate might have been a part of a bigger N12 kit, and perhaps it was better integrated with the other shields?
Anyway, it’s going into retirement, waiting for better days, replaced by an OEM set.
