My '91 300E has a cover which is attached with four screws. I've been removing this thing for 12 years w/o jacking the car up. Before that, I was able to remove the cover on my '84 190D for 17 years w/o jacking the car up.

The 190D required that the front cover be installed because it provided a shield to keep air from tearing off the rear cover. The same thing with my 300E.

The cover protects the oil pan from damage. There has been more than one occasion that the cover has saved me from an expensive and inconvenient accident.

I can't believe anyone would discard these covers because they are too lazy to deal with them. If I can deal with them at my age and size, others shouldn't have an excuse not to