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Old 12-17-2012, 09:27 AM   #1
bettrave
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Default Impreza mudguard and paint protection

Hi,

Do you think that mudguards are good for protection?
I don't do offroad.
My seller told me that the Subaru mudguards (sold by Subaru) are more for the look.

Is the 3M film protection or other products like the 3M for paint are good product?

Thank you.
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Old 12-17-2012, 12:29 PM   #2
myrt1987
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I think mudguards help with spray from the tires. When roads are salted, I find the sides of my car layered with salt from tire spray. I may look into mudflaps but will probably make my own since theyre so darn expensive to get name brand.

I also bought the hood deflector for protection from rock chips, and I dont mind the look either.

I dont know much about the film protection but i have heard good things.
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Old 12-17-2012, 12:34 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by myrt1987 View Post
I think mudguards help with spray from the tires. When roads are salted, I find the sides of my car layered with salt from tire spray. I may look into mudflaps but will probably make my own since theyre so darn expensive to get name brand.

I also bought the hood deflector for protection from rock chips, and I dont mind the look either.

I dont know much about the film protection but i have heard good things.
but a lot of that salt is due to mist from your tires and other drivers
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Old 12-17-2012, 12:43 PM   #4
myrt1987
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Originally Posted by flyboy1100 View Post
but a lot of that salt is due to mist from your tires and other drivers
Yes of course. But you can follow the lines back to the front tires. Idk how to explain what im talking about, but ... hold on...

here, something like this...



except the entire side of the car.

I think mudflaps would help but ive never had them before so not sure how well they work.
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Old 12-17-2012, 12:49 PM   #5
flyboy1100
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Originally Posted by myrt1987 View Post

Yes of course. But you can follow the lines back to the front tires. Idk how to explain what im talking about, but ... hold on...

here, something like this...

except the entire side of the car.

I think mudflaps would help but ive never had them before so not sure how well they work.
I know what you are talking about, even when I've had vehicles with mud flaps the car still got coated from other drivers, just not as thick.

I'm hoping to find some rally armor under the tree from my wife :-)
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Old 12-17-2012, 12:54 PM   #6
myrt1987
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Yea I want to keep the paint looking as good as possible which is why this irks me. But it doesnt snow much in NJ so im probably overreacting.

ND is a different story.

I hope you get them, we need more pics in the pic thread.
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Old 12-17-2012, 01:57 PM   #7
WStrembitsky
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I've noticed that the Rally Armor mud flaps seem to shed the snow better than anything else I've had, maybe it's the shiny, smooth finish of the urethane. We've had a lot of snow so far this year and I haven't needed to kick a big build up of ice and snow out of my wheel wells once.
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Old 12-17-2012, 04:14 PM   #8
flyboy1100
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Originally Posted by myrt1987 View Post
Yea I want to keep the paint looking as good as possible which is why this irks me. But it doesnt snow much in NJ so im probably overreacting.

ND is a different story.

I hope you get them, we need more pics in the pic thread.
<1/4" on the ground now. in the last 10-12 years we haven't had much snow, just the usual cold
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Old 12-17-2012, 09:32 PM   #9
Guzzi 1
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I would have to agree that the factory painted mud guards don't do a lot. My car came with them as well. What I was considering doing was to purchase some decent rubber guards and add them to the factory guards. I really have not looked closely to see if it is possible yet. In the past, I have cut rubber mud flaps from the auto part store to the size needed and bolted them to extend metal flaps. What I would do is to stick a broom handle at the back of the tire and use it to determine how far down the flap should extend to avoid throwing crap on the car.

On another note, I did notice that the bottom edge of the rocker is coated with stone guard from the factory.

John
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Old 12-18-2012, 09:14 AM   #10
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I added the Rally Armor flaps to the front of the factor splash guards, mostly because I didn't like the look of the car without the OEM ones on my 2013 Premium. I don't have the strake kit, just the splash guards. I think it has cut down on the amount of stuff from the road that gets on the car as the RA flaps are fairly wide and the volume of rocks hitting the underside of the car while on gravel roads is less.

I had to modify the front bracket a little to get them to fit properly, and the backs I eliminate the bracket alltogether as the OEM flap makes a decent mounting spot for the flaps. Its supposed to snow tomorrow here, so I'll know if they work well.
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Old 12-18-2012, 01:04 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Haggin View Post
I added the Rally Armor flaps to the front of the factor splash guards, mostly because I didn't like the look of the car without the OEM ones on my 2013 Premium. I don't have the strake kit, just the splash guards. I think it has cut down on the amount of stuff from the road that gets on the car as the RA flaps are fairly wide and the volume of rocks hitting the underside of the car while on gravel roads is less.

I had to modify the front bracket a little to get them to fit properly, and the backs I eliminate the bracket alltogether as the OEM flap makes a decent mounting spot for the flaps. Its supposed to snow tomorrow here, so I'll know if they work well.

Pictures? I was thinking of doing this as well
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Old 12-18-2012, 01:15 PM   #12
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Pictures? I was thinking of doing this as well
agreed! lets see it!
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Old 12-19-2012, 09:44 AM   #13
Haggin
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Crappy cell phone pics from the parking lot at work. Its cloudy and foggy this AM, so the pics are hard to make out.

The only challenge to this is the modification of the "double L" bracket for the front flaps, the part that connects to the body of the car needs to have the bend extended out about 3/8" so it can clear the OEM flap. It was kind of trial and error for me, but once you get a set you'll see what I'm talking about. So far the pin type clip that holds the OEM guard and the bracket on has held (its the pin that comes from RA). There is also a gap at the top of the flap on the fronts due to the thickness of the OEM guard that I haven't decided how to eliminate yet. You can see this in the second picture.

On the rears, RA sends a bracket to mount to the body, but the OEM flap provides a perfect mounting spot for the inside screw, all you need to do is drill a hole and mount the inside with a nut/bolt combo.

Due to the fog and humidity this AM, all the dirt that was on the flaps was "washed" off, so you can't see how well they cover, but they are wider than OEM and catch pretty much everything. The only dust now is from the road and road spray form other cars. I drive gravel daily from the house to the highway, so the car gets dusty, but not much mud kicks up from the wheels onto the car, most is in the wheel well and on the RA flap.

My only worry now is snow/ice buildup inside the OEM flaps themselves, since they are sort of pocket like. Like I said, we're expecting 5" to 8" of snow today and tonight, so I'll know whether or not I need to add some drainage holes on the bottom of the OEM flaps to let any buildup out. Personally, I think they stick out a little far for me, but they are doing their job. I may slide them in when a bit I rotate the tires next.







ETA: Yes, the car is dirty, I drive 55 miles to work each day so it'll get a wash after the snow/salt/magnesium chloride commute today and tomorrow.
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Old 12-20-2012, 06:51 AM   #14
Guzzi 1
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That sure adds better coverage for sure.

What I was thinking about was to buy some generic flaps and use a jig saw to cut sections to extend down from the bottom of those pictured above. Softer rubber rather than hard plastic to allow some flex. (Doing that probably would not protect as well as what you did but....)

John
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Old 12-20-2012, 06:31 PM   #15
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May have to look into these or retrofitting factory splash guards at the least. Can't believe the amount of water/mud that gets thrown on the side of these cars.
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Old 12-21-2012, 01:01 AM   #16
the_dog
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Originally Posted by hi5.0 View Post
May have to look into these or retrofitting factory splash guards at the least. Can't believe the amount of water/mud that gets thrown on the side of these cars.
And the slush thrown on the hood and windshield... from my own car.
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Old 12-23-2012, 10:24 PM   #17
Haggin
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Uppdate from after the snow the last few days. The flaps eliminated a lot of what gets thrown onto the side of the car. Still some under the rocker panels, but I don't think you can eliminate 100% of that. There was a lot of buildup in the wheel wells. Not sure if the wide RA flaps caused more buildup in the well or not as this is my first Subaru and first snow with the RA flaps on.

All in all I like them and like they way they performed as I installed them, but do definetly need to drill some 1/2" to 3/4" holes in the bottom side of the OEM flaps to let slush and gravel out as it tend so build up between the RA flap and the OEM flap.
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Old 01-05-2013, 10:29 AM   #18
sport6
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Wow that looks pretty good. The amount of crap that the oem mudguards pick up and hold onto in the snow is unbelievable. Yeah it's not on the car but a huge ice block that hangs to the ground is not cool either. I haven't check but is this a specific kit for the impreza or the universal kit?
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Old 02-21-2013, 10:11 PM   #19
austriker
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The pics are gone! Booooo

(although yes the thread is quite old) but Im looking ad some mud flaps to mine too but dont want to drop the $150
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