Originally Posted by Pleiades

If you beef up the tank protectors too much then they won�t do their job properly, which is after all to wear away, absorb and dissipate impact forces � the reason they work is that they are sacrificial. If you make them stronger, all that will likely happen is that the forces will be transferred to their mountings which are in the plastic of the tank with the possible end result that the tank will get damaged, holed or pierced at these points?

Why not keep an old scuffed up pair and just fit them when you�re going off road? Not personally a fan of them, but have you considered fitting crash bars?