i know a lot of people here, after getting their cars, immediately take off their mud guards coz' the color doesn't match or to install kits, etc...

however, if you have the car with the mud guards on now, but you ARE going to take it off later to install the kits, please, take off the mud guards RIGHT now!!!!!! the stock mud guards, after being used for a while, will leave some very DEEP scratches on your body!!!!

that happened to me. i got my car back in july and when i took them off to install my kits two weeks ago, i noticed two relatively deep scratches on the front sides of the car. the rear two also have some minor scratches. i don't think buffing or touchups will make it go away.

if you are staying with the mud guards forever that's cool. but if you are planning on getting the kits sooner or later, my suggestion is to take off the guards right now. true that you might have more muds or so, but washing your car every week is much better than facing some deep scratches....

 

Yeah same thing happened to me I bought my car used and a couple days after I got it I took off the mud guards. There were black smudges all along where the mudguards used to be. I was pissed but after a couple washes I could barely see them you would have to look for it to find it. So everything is fine now

 

Yup the vibrations will eat into and sand the paint, so if you definitely dont want the kit put em on, if you are not sure take em off. After dropping my Accord I had to ditch the front mudguards. 3 years of driving left a mark there that was well into the clearcoat, and annoyed me every time I looked at that area.