This is a quick summary of my take on the malo industries crank seal plate,
for a more indepth review and all the technical details (with alot of back ground and explanations) of why you need a crank seal plate and why belt failures may occur
go to my main thread: https://f87.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...6#post27336806
Here are the reasons why you need a crank seal plate and why I think the malo industries plate is the best choice:
1) If oil (common gasket leaks, oil change), fluids (coolant leaks, rain from a vented hood), or debris gets on your serpentine belt it can slip off of the harmonic dampener and get caught behind it and end up being forced into your engine causing catastrophic engine failure. On rare instances belts can break during track use and also end up in your engine. The solution is a crank seal plate and the one I chose and like the most is the Malo industries plate.
2) Made in Canada (at the time of this writing from what I know only 3 plates are made in North America: Malo, Vac/Kies (can have fitment issues due to the ridge), Oxwerkz - not cnc constructed) - meaning good quality and great tolerances which is important because the fitment must be perfect or it will rub against the harmonic dampener and if it is not tight enough around the crank hub the belt fragments can still make it past the plate rendering it useless.
3) CNC from a single piece of billet aluminium meaning the plate is extremely strong which is important because the stresses of a belt break and being forced behind the dampener is immense.
4) Does not have the alignment ridge which may cause fitment issues because it hits the crank seal.
5) Is extremely affordable at ½ the price of many made competitor plates that are also made in North America (Vac/Kies - same plate) and made out of cnc billet aluminum.
6) Extremely robust tab design with alot of supporting material compared to other billet plates
