SEBO Front Bottom Plate for AUTOMATIC X8 — Gray Black

On the underside of the power head, the front plate is the panel that rides the floor ahead of the brush roll and sets the gap the nozzle works with. Part 52118GS renews it in gray black for the SEBO AUTOMATIC X8.

It is a wear item, and hard floors take it down fastest. As the plate thins the nozzle stops sitting level, the seal against the floor opens up, and pickup falls away at the leading edge before anything mechanical has gone wrong at all; a plate that has cracked or gone rough underneath can also start marking a finished surface. Fitting a new one restores flat contact and returns the clearance the brush roll was originally set up for. That clearance is only meaningful if the height adjustment still works properly, so check the pile adjustment wheel 5174GS and its rubbing plate 5155GS at the same time — a nozzle running at the wrong height wears its plates unevenly and will do the same to a new one.

Front and rear plates fail with different symptoms, which is the quickest way to work out which one you actually need. A worn front plate shows up as poor pickup at the leading edge and a nozzle that no longer sits flat when you set it down; a failed rear plate or its sealing strip shows up as a thin line of debris left behind on each pass, because air is being drawn in behind the brush roll instead of through it. The rear assembly for this machine, supplied with its strip and screws, is 52120GS.

• Fits: SEBO AUTOMATIC X8
• Part number: 52118GS
• Colour: gray black
• Position: front underside of the power head, ahead of the brush roll
• Related part numbers: 52120GS rear bottom plate with sealing strip, 5400-2 sealing strip, 5174GS pile adjustment wheel, 5155GS rubbing plate

With the head inverted you have sight of everything that shares its wear pattern, so look over the brush roll bristles, the left-hand brush cover 52134GS and the rear plate while you are there. Front and rear plates rarely reach the end of their lives together, but a machine that has needed one usually needs the other before long. Genuine SEBO front bottom plate, ships in 2–5 business days.