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Pros and cons of removing mud flaps? R50 SE


PrecisionX
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I have an 04 SE, it has 123k and is rust free. I'm thinking of removing the mid flaps and wondering about the pros and cons of doing so. It seems like what they love doing is keeping built up snow and salt so that I have to kick it off. If its going to look better and be better off road and for the truck I want to do it but what is good and bad about it and how hard are they to remove?

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I took both my mud flaps and my flares off long ago. Mine isn't the prettiest rig, has plenty of natural pin-striping on it, so I'm not too worried about it getting the occasional scratch like adamzam mentioned. If you're worried about that, keep em on. I replaced my rear bumper, and with it gone the flares looked weird poking out so far, so I took everything else off to match. I enjoy the look of it now, and you're exactly right about not having to kick off the built up snow with them off! My wife has to do it all the time for her Rav4, but with my flaps gone, I haven't had to worry about that once.

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Some states have laws on mud flaps for "trucks", that could be a con (though PA is a sneaky one for SUV owners as they are titled "SW" [station wagon] and "legally" by the states words not trucks :jig: ) and the look is gonna be personal preference. I havent pulled any r50 flaps so I don't know what that will take, but would assume it shouldn't be too challenging and easily reversible if you don't like it.

 

Personally I prefer the look of lacking the flaps :aok:

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I hear what you are saying with them collecting stuff from the roads. On that model the flaps are more ornamental than functional. I would replace them with some Rally flaps. You don't want to be the guy on the highway tossing up rocks at other's wind shields.

 

The Rally flaps are pliable so no worries wheeling and they give much better coverage to keep the back end of your truck cleaner.

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I hear what you are saying with them collecting stuff from the roads. On that model the flaps are more ornamental than functional. I would replace them with some Rally flaps. You don't want to be the guy on the highway tossing up rocks at other's wind shields.

 

The Rally flaps are pliable so no worries wheeling and they give much better coverage to keep the back end of your truck cleaner.

 

I'm not even sure it's worth it in that case. I want to clean it up but spending more money only to replace something for it to work a tiny bit better makes me just want to kick them. I just didn't know if removing them would benefit off road, asthetically and or hurt my rust resistance if they were gone.

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I have a 95 pathfinder I took the mud flaps off for a winter and yes it works great on the snow and ice build up but I reinstalled them in the spring cause Around town is allright but did not want to go on he highway without them throwing pebbles or rocks at another vehicle's windshield just isn't cool and out here we have IOWA STATE PATROL and they aren't to kind.

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Aesthetically, I prefer them off. They're easy to take off, so give it a try on one side and see if you like it. Like Nunya said, it is definitely personal preference. Rust? They've been known to trap water and dirt behind them, and a constant supply of water sitting on your fender makes it a prime area for rust buildup. Many Pathfinder owners have commented about finding cancer behind the flares after ripping them off. But I'd take a set off and take a look at em to see if you even LIKE the look before just tearing them all to pieces. I'm going to get some different flares eventually for mine, maybe the universal ones, just so I don't get pulled over for my tires sticking out a bit.

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The flares seem to be on super tight I wouldn't even know where to begin to get that take off and I don't know how to take the flaps off either. Are there any DIYs out on them?

I'm pretty sure there are just some pins, clips and screws. What do you see?

 

For those worried about rocks getting kicked up, 3M makes a clear film that gets squeegied on (sort of like window tint) and stays put. It's pretty heavy duty and will ward off a lot of damage. I used some on my CBR1100XX with great success.

 

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M_Automotive/OEMs/Product_Center/Product_Catalog/?PC_7_RJH9U5230GNH60IQ4GSSPD0422000000_nid=XC1XV5L5G8be7PJ6KTK7DLgl

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M_Automotive/OEMs/Product_Center/Product_Catalog/?PC_7_RJH9U5230GNH60IQ4GSSPD0422000000_nid=9FM78M6QXFbe7PJ6KTK7DLgl

 

B

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Aesthetically, removing the flares will "raise" the wheel arches a good inch to an inch and a half. I removed mine because my rear tires were "chomping off" the paint due to the excessive rear flex. The problem with removing the flares is that you will expose the holes in the body panels that the flares snap on to. I have chosen to deal with the holes rather than put the flaked paint plastics back on it. My next option is to go with the pre-facelift factory '96-'99 flares. I'm going to keep my eye open for some at our local scrapper.

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