Which mudguards?

I recently put the European mudguards on our Prius. I went with them because they seemed to stick out more, on the side, to catch more of the crud. Whether they do or not has yet to be seen, but they blend in nicely with the car. See the attached photos.

 

My euro-style work great!

 

Oh man! I had a feeling the flaps wouldn't do much, but it looks like they don't do anything. I wonder if this Paint Protection | Paint Protection Film | Clear Paint Protection | Huskyliners.com would be a good investment, if they make it for the bottom half of the Prius doors?

 

Well our environment is a bit on the extreme side but if I had to do it again, I think I would look into the film. I don't like the flaps much, as they contact the speed bumps and ice chunks. They do stop rock pits behind the wheels for sure. My ol' Camry had a rash so bad from that I just use bed-liner paint to coat the entire bottom half of the car. It did not have flaps.

 

I don't have any experience with the protective film, but I would imagine that having it on would allow the exposed and unexposed paint to fade differently.

 

I wonder if the mudguards will work with the Plus pkg. body Kit...?

 

Neither mud guard will work with the body kit, unless you can massage the shape of the mud guard a bit.

The only thing the mud guards will do is keep the bigger and harder bits of earth from pitting the metal behind the tire. Finer dirt will flow and stick to the sides of the car as pictured so well on spiderman's Alaska Prius.

I just ordered the European mud guards, just in case I decide to stick bigger a set of aftermarket wheels on the new Prius. If you live in moderate climates and have good pavement, you can probably get away without mud guards. Cooler northern areas need to put them on.

When I traded my old Silver '05 Gen II, they had a Silver '07 Gen II for sale there without mud guards. The area behind the front wheels on that poor '07 was toast. More pits than paint. I should have taken a picture of both cars together to show what those mud guards really do.

 

I just installed the Euro-style mudguards on my 2012 Five last night.
Chose them after reading quite a few negative reviews on the undersized US version guards.
The install took less than an hour- I did remove the rear tires to facilitate install. Nice thing on the Prius is there's a front and rear central jack point so you can lift both sides of the front or rear of the car at once with a decent floor jack. I also raised the front and just swung the wheels by hand to either side for easy access to the fender- no need to remove the front tires.

 

Has anyone painted them to match the car?

 

I have seen photos of a member who painted his to match his Blizzard Pearl car. I do not remember where the photos are try looking in one of the other mudguard/mud flap threads.


Posted from my iPhone via the Tapatalk app.

 

They are on ebay all painted up....just supply your paint code...

 

Was any drilling required?

 

I do not believe that you need to drill, the rears to have a self tapping screw that you need to install.


Posted from my iPhone via the Tapatalk app.

 

No drilling for the fronts; three holes are already on the car- remove and replace two 10mm bolts and one plastic pushpin. Literally less than 5 min per side on the fronts.

The rear has three mounting holes in the mud flaps. The car has no pre-existing holes for the rear mud flaps. So you can use the self tapping screws included to make their own holes, or use a small (1/8" maybe) drill and make pilot holes for the three screws. The underside (bottom of the car) plastic seems softer than the fender/wheelwell plastic- I just let the screw self-tap for the underside screw.

I have the Five with 17" tires- I don't see how you can install the rear flaps on the Five without removing the tires- unless you have a right angle drill/screwdriver.

 

Those painted ones on eBay ain't cheap! I may go that route anyways 'cause they sure do look nice. Are those painted ones on eBay the Euro style? I haven't seen photos of the smaller flaps to really know the difference in size.

Don't think I want a unpainted black mudguard on a white Prius.

 

I did the Euro's on my 11 five with the 17" tires last week.

As reported the fronts require about 5 minutes to install both - just pop out the clips and reinstall with the mudguards in place.

On the rears you need to use the self taping screws and the included metal clips. You slide the clip over the lip of the bumper and the screw goes through the plastic bumper and threads into the back of the clip.


I marked the location of the holes using a marker -- then slid the clips into place (the clips determine the final location of the hole) I just used a long screwdriver and started the screw into the bumper at an angle to get the hole started -- the plastic is soft and it goes right in. Then I placed the mudguard in place and put the two screws in -- the bottom screw does not need to be marked as it is installed after you have the mudguard in place.

I used a small right angle screwdriver to finish it up -- $3 ....... the clip insures that the screw is flush when you tighten it.

I spent about 15 min on the one side and about 5 min on the second -- no need to take the wheel off.


They look good on my white car -- and they work.

 

Do the wheels need to come off to install?

 

I'd expect mudguards to create some degree of additional wind resistance, therefore negatively impacting miles per gallon a bit.