Aluminum side plates on mine. It was a direct swap, did not have to cut/adjust anything. Interestingly I think it may be thinner than the plastic part it replaced, but agree that aesthetically it’s much more pleasing. Given the alum on the bottom is about 1/8” thick, not sure it will provide much more than scratch protection. Honestly, all the alum parts really seem more to “catch the fisherman, rather than the fish” to borrow a term from buying cool kit for your tackle box.