For those of you who have chosen NOT to have mud flaps installed what is your experience? Do you get scratches from grit being thrown up? Do you have to clean there more often? Any junk caught around the wheel well?

Thanks

 

Just washed mine and looked at the trim behind the wheels to see if there was any problems. (Curious to see if I should have gotten the mudflaps.) It was dirty, but no chips or dings that I could see. I have 5k miles. I like it better without them. I do take care that on gravel roads or in areas where stones or stuff is in the road, I slow down to about 45 or slower.

 

Actually on TOV they found out that flaps actually damage the finish under the flaps themselves. The constant rubbing with dirt underneath will eat through the paint like sandpaper! On this TL the Flair of the fenders and the shape of the side rails make the flaps pretty useless. I live in snowland so I have pretty good expirience with this stuff. BTW I checked underneath the flaps of my type S and sure enough they had damaged the paint significantly.

 

Getting mine removed as soon as the A-Spec gets delivered. I was fearful of the scratching too, but you just have to remember to clean behind your ears, if you know what I mean.

BTW... interesting subject title. When I saw it, I thought, "what kind of undies you wear (crotchless, etc.) is none of our business".

 

I wondered the same a month ago while keeping seeing many of ppl here talking about whether or not 04TL should have Mud Guard.

04TL is my first car without this. So Far So Good. No damage since Oct./04.

As vtechbrain said above, TOV (click here) did write up the article about this. However, if you NEVER think about removing it, this should not be an issue for your car.

This is another thread ever talking about Mud Guard. Click here

 

As I've posted before, all you have to do to prevent any chance of paint damage underneath is to apply some of the 3M film material or similar underneath where they mount. It isn't that difficult. I've already done it.

 

I opted against mudflaps... the car doesn't look right with them.

 

I was flapless for 10 days until the parts came in. The sides of my car got constant showers of dirt and mud and grease from the street.

The wide tires and wheelbase really exacerbate this problem.

It is much better with the flaps - the car stays MUCH cleaner.

 

Thanks, looks like 2 in favor of flaps, 4 against, and 1 undecided. Not that this is a poll or anything, just points to this issue having no clear and certain answer.

My two current cars (Legend and Odyssey) have a 5-6 inch rubber-like panel running the length of the car near the underside. I think this helps tie-in the look of the flaps. The TL has no such panel so the flaps seem to stand alone IMHO. If I could be certain that the grit that gets thrown up would not damage the paint I would probably opt for flapless.

BTW, BlackSunshine, my next question will be whether to get hood and bumper protection or not ... look for my post entitled "Going braless"

 

I'm a flapper.

 

flaps would be better if they were body color. still its a good move. looks are subjective.

 

I've only had my WDP/5AT for two days. (I love this car!)

I'm currently "flapless". But I'm going to have them installed. The sides of mine have gotten really dirty already in the areas that I hope they will protect.

 

The flaps are very easy to install if you are even remotely handy. There's no drilling involved. For the front, just remove some existing screws, hold the flap in place, and reinstall the screws. The rear is slightly more complicated. Remove 2 existing screws and install a supplied bracket, install a supplied speednut on the bottom hole of the flap, hold the flap in place and screw to the bracket, install the bottom screw through the bumper (exising hole). It can all be done without removing the wheels or jacking up the car. For the fronts, you can just turn the wheels right and left to get access. For the back, you'll need a 90 degree angled phillips screwdriver. I have a small, cheap, ratcheting one that's phillips on one side, slotted on the other, that works fine for this. Don't spend an hour or whatever of dealer labor time on this job.