Can someone explain the purpose of the stock mudflaps?

[bdaniel230]

That’s it? That is all it is? I will trade the 0.0000001 MPG gain for the better look. That is like putting a rear diffuser on a F150

Anything that keeps the sand and gravel away from the rear wheels is a good thing in my opinion. Gravel and sand under the wheels, especially the non-driven rear wheels, will keep it tracking the front wheels in a turn. A good question for the engineer that added them though, I am just guessing about the reason but as I said, anything to keep water, sand and gravel from getting at the rear wheels and rear wheel wells is a good thing to me.

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[bdaniel230]

Anything to reduce the amount of grime, rocks, slush, etc. thrown from my truck is a good thing. I just added some RokBlox front & rear flaps to my truck. They were easy to install with the included hardware, and they have great coverage.

Ford Maverick 2022+ Mud Flaps – RokBlokz

Edit: No drilling required. Helps to have a right-angle Philips screwdriver/socket wrench. The black flaps with black logo look really nice on my velocity blue truck!

I used the RokBloks because I couldn't cut down the flaps from my Peterbilt far enough to fit behind the wheels. But I would like it if the RokBloks were just and inch longer so the mud from the front wheels doesn't cake up on the rear door .

 

[RR - All the way]

You can't order something that comes Stock

MUD FLAPS do not come stock.

 

[Mymaverick2021]

MUD FLAPS do not come stock.

What the photos in the post are showing is tiny front and rear factory mud flaps, So yea there and there are no mud flaps at the rear of the wheel wells

 

[RR - All the way]

What the photos in the post are showing is tiny front and rear factory mud flaps, So yea there and there are no mud flaps at the rear of the wheel wells

I thought we decided that the flaps that come stock are NOT mud flaps. Mud flaps which are behind the wheels are after-market. Guess it is a matter of terminology and no biggie either way.

 

[Pilot323]

So, I think the truck looks better with deleting these. My question is...why are they even there? Hear me out. They are on the leading edge of the wheel well. The tires rotate clock wise. Logic would say mud/stones are thrown backwards. So what purpose do leading edge mud flaps serve?

I hazard to guess that they prevent snow/ice build up. There was an entire sports team killed in a 15 passenger van during the winter, in icy conditions. The cause was later determined to be a chunk of built up ice falling from the front of the rear fender well. It caused the rear wheel to lock up momentarily pitching the van into oncoming traffic. I experienced this once myself, fortunately there was no oncoming traffic as we spun at highway speeds on black ice to a safe stop. Just a guess.

 

[Hcopter]

Looks like they're commonly called "spats", there to reduce drag.

Good explanation here:

Santa Cruz has them, so they must be good:
https://www.santacruzforums.com/threads/what-are-these-flaps-in-front-of-the-rear-tires.8545/

 

[Shakesbear]

Can't believe this thread is still alive

 

[bdaniel230]

What the photos in the post are showing is tiny front and rear factory mud flaps, So yea there and there are no mud flaps at the rear of the wheel wells

It appears that the plastic "flaps" in front of the wheels are supposed to be called "deflectors". They are still just little mudflaps to me that were mounted in front of the wheels, but some may take exception to that term.

 

[Joe Kelly]

They are probably fart of a dam to reduce air flow under the truck. The removal is probably not noticeable in performance but in the long term they may save a few gallons of gas per year. If you can get a insect fogged and a fan cheap wind tunnel. Put the fogged near the front of the truck the fan a few feet back and watch what happens to the fog. Interesting experiment.

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