I removed the old RACP plates on my car, here's what I found

[siamkazi]

You know, I wonder how many people have actually removed reinforcement plates after they've been installed. Or even the ratio of failure post installation. Also the other factors such as weather conditions it was driven in after like snow and salt. While we're all hyping up what is the best solution, how many of us other than Nate has removed installed ones.

I highly doubt we're all professional welders or automotive engineers. And I hate playing devil's advocate. What usual frame stress are most of us putting on these cars post reinforcement? Is this your track only? Because if it was I'd assume more reinforcement other than just plates or Vince bars/CMP.

Regardless thanks Nate for taking it apart and sharing. It follows my original take or belief as someone moderately knowledgeable mechanic of what plates do.

And yes I've seen the reddish failure after installation videos. But they're in heavily salted roads.

Agreed on this point, I've never seen a 'tear down' post installation to check how things held up. As these cars get older, I think this thread will be even more valuable given that these sort of items do eventually have an expiration date (as do most things).