[DKovac12]

I was looking into getting mud flaps and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations. I was looking at these on ebay (For Chevrolet Cruze Mud Flaps Splash Guard with Reflective Paper Mark 4 Pcs | eBay ) and was wondering also if anyone had these. They look cool with the blue reflective. Any advice would be great!

 

[James1549]

I think they are a good fit. But I would prefer nothing written on them. James

 

[Tomko]

I went with the OEM splash guards.

 

[DKovac12]

Also I have been looking at some and was looking how to install them. Do I need to drill holes in the plastic in order to install them?

 

[LiveTrash]

I bought and installed these: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00HGAJBIO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

The screws that came with it were no good. I went to my hardware store and bought 8 stainless steel bolts and nuts, washers and lock washers to bolt them on. I drilled small holes through the plastic. You of course do not want to be drilling through the metal. I can post pictures of mine if anyone is interested in getting a better idea of how I've done it. They look great and fit very well for $18 mud guards.

 

[DKovac12]

I bought and installed these: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00HGAJBIO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

The screws that came with it were no good. I went to my hardware store and bought 8 stainless steel bolts and nuts, washers and lock washers to bolt them on. I drilled small holes through the plastic. You of course do not want to be drilling through the metal. I can post pictures of mine if anyone is interested in getting a better idea of how I've done it. They look great and fit very well for $18 mud guards.

yeah some pics would be awesome, and I would install didnt take too much time taken you only drilled into the plastic (read some posts where they drilled into the metal and worried me a little)

 

[S-Fitz]

The OEM splash guards use the plastic retainers in the wheel wells for installation. If the holes in the aftermarket ones don't line up with the retainers in the wheel well, I would just drill holes in the splash guard instead of the wheel well.

 

[DKovac12]

The OEM splash guards use the plastic retainers in the wheel wells for installation. If the holes in the aftermarket ones don't line up with the retainers in the wheel well, I would just drill holes in the splash guard instead of the wheel well.

in order to put the aftermarket ones one i would have to drill holes into the wheel well, since they are not pre-existing holes (unless im missing something)

 

[S-Fitz]

They are there, you have to remove the plastic retainers. They look somewhat like these:

They attach your fenderwell liner to the fender. Just remove the ones that would be obstructed by the splash guard, mark the location of the holes in the fender onto the splash guard. Drill holes into the splash guard to match the location of the holes already present in the fenderwell and fasten it with the plastic retainers that were removed in the beginning.

 

[DKovac12]

They are there, you have to remove the plastic retainers. They look somewhat like these:
View attachment 166642
They attach your fenderwell liner to the fender. Just remove the ones that would be obstructed by the splash guard, mark the location of the holes in the fender onto the splash guard. Drill holes into the splash guard to match the location of the holes already present in the fenderwell and fasten it with the plastic retainers that were removed in the beginning.

i was looking for those and only have one in the front wheel wells and two vertically along the bad wheel well, is that enough to hold them on?

 

[S-Fitz]

I believe there are two more along the bottom of the fenderwell liner up front. They are under the rocker panel area. I've since sold my Cruze so I'm going by memory from nearly 5 years ago when I installed mine, but they were well mounted and felt pretty solid.

 

[LiveTrash]

i was looking for those and only have one in the front wheel wells and two vertically along the bad wheel well, is that enough to hold them on?

They didn't work with my mud guards. The hole sort of lined up, but was sitting out too far and the push-pin pictured above wasn't long enough to fit into the hole in the metal frame once placed in the mud guard. Who ever designed the mud guards didn't test them I suppose. I'll hopefully get some pictures soon and I'll do a brief writeup of how I did it in this thread for you to reference off of should you decide to go the same path I did.

 

[DKovac12]

They didn't work with my mud guards. The hole sort of lined up, but was sitting out too far and the push-pin pictured above wasn't long enough to fit into the hole in the metal frame once placed in the mud guard. Who ever designed the mud guards didn't test them I suppose. I'll hopefully get some pictures soon and I'll do a brief writeup of how I did it in this thread for you to reference off of should you decide to go the same path I did.

that would be awesome, thanks

 

[LiveTrash]

Here's the mudflaps I ordered: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00HGAJBIO
Took a bit longer than I expected to get the pics. I waited until I put extra washers on before I took all the pictures. Here they are with brief descriptions.


For each mud flap I had 2 bolts, 2 washers for each bolt and 1 lock washer for each bolt. All of which are stainless steel to prevent any severe rusting/corrosion. The large hole is where the plastic push-pin is inserted. The diameter of that hole was enlarged with a drill because the push-pin wasn't long enough to fit through and still grab onto the metal frame. I needed to put the push-pin in after the mud flap was installed because I needed to peel back the plastic guard to get the nuts on as seen in picture 3.


One push pin on the underside as seen can be pulled out to allow the plastic guard to be pulled back to access the rear of it to install nuts as seen in picture 3. Shorter bolts would have worked better.


Plastic is very flexible so no need to worry about breaking/cracking it.


The underside of the rear mud flap. Again, shorter bolts would have worked just fine.


Closer shot of the read mud flap installation. The longer bolts ended up going through the other bracket piece, also plastic.


View from inside the rear wheelwell.




Finished result.

 

[DKovac12]

Awesome write up man, thanks. Also, do you have any clearance problems with steep angles on driveways or roads?

 

[Merc6]

My car came with them for $120 or so, didn't stop rocks so was a waste. From what I recalled in a older threads, these actually worked better than the expensive oem ones.

 

[LiveTrash]

Awesome write up man, thanks. Also, do you have any clearance problems with steep angles on driveways or roads?

My friend has a pretty steep step-up onto his driveway. I never hit it hard cause I do end up scraping the front black plastic trim under the front bumper, but the mud flaps have never hit anything or scraped on any speed bumps.

My car came with them for $120 or so, didn't stop rocks so was a waste. From what I recalled in a older threads, these actually worked better than the expensive oem ones.

I imagine they would work better. They seem to be double the length if not more. Those OEM ones only seem to protect the very leading edge from stone chips. Way too expensive for what you're getting. These were $18 and free shipping. They took a while mind you, being from Hong Kong, but worth the wait. The installation can be a bit of a pain since they're not a direct fit, but the result will be much better than going any other route.

 

[DKovac12]

So I was doing some debating and Im not too sure if I want to be drilling holes into the fender (yes I know its not that big of a deal). So I have been looking at the universal rally armor ones. I have noticed that you use the already existing holes and screws. Anyone have or had the universal rally armor ones?

 

[BowtieGuy]

IMO, the universal rally armor mud flaps look tacky. I have the OEM splash guards and have been happy with them. However if I were looking for a set, I would probably go with a body color matching set like these, assuming they fit like the stock OEM ones.

Splash Guards Mud Flaps Set for Chevy Chevrolet Cruze Brand New | eBay

 

[NickD]

Went with these, my Chevy dealer was so impressed with these, call the general manager and the sales department to see them.









RoadSport Pro-Fit Splash Guards - Model #4

Ten bucks a pair at my Fleet Farm store. These were the same exact splash shields as they call them used on my 04 Cavalier, another PITS vehicle. With all the vehicles I have owned over the years, never had to add them, fenders were flared out in the rear.

But sure need them on the Cruze, and splash shield is a stupid name, stone shields are more like it. If your don't add them your front door and rear bumper would be loaded with stone chips. And the OE ones for 150 bucks do a very poor job.

Removed the existing push pin rivets on the outside, very good at aligning holes, punched a couple of holes in the shields and lined up perfectly and replaces the stock push pin rivets. Shield come with screws, worthless in an 1/8" thick plastic wheel well. So purchased Dorman push pin rivets and added more on the inside. These never rust out. Was easy, just drilled 1/4" holes using a 135* split point drill bit. Standard tapered drill will make a mess, nice clean holes.

Rears were the same as the front, but to fit flush against those wheel wells, had to do some trimming. This was a day one project, four years and 40K miles later, no stone chips on my door or rear bumper.

Then I noticed no sill plates, another thing left off, least my windshield still has that weather strip on. With older vehicle exposing that crack between the windshield and the roof line, water gets in there, freezes up and cracks the windshield. Left that off on the newer models, anybody have a cracked windshield yet? Sooner or later.

Door moldings are gone, what's next? About time we wise up and leave these dam things in the showroom. Screws are sure history.