Opinions sought, mud flaps...

[Escapologist]

Howdy folks,

Broke open my garage-saled stash of random mud flaps and dug through them, there was a NOS pair of FORD labelled, otherwise flat plain jane mudguards. The style of the lettering looks kinda eighties to me. They seemed fairly vintage anyway... Hard to get a good shot holding one on while shooting with the other hand...

I kinda like that they are not humungous, but on the other hand, are they ridiculously small? I kinda like subtle, but so subtle it's pointless?

I am in two minds whether to do ANY mud flaps, don't want to kill the mpg, but on the other hand, some vehicles have marginally improved mpg with the blended ones.

Speaking of which I have several sets of the PowerFlow universal fit ones around, the number ones look too far off, but the number twos are fairly close for the fronts... maybe some hot water soak and a touch of trimming to get them on nice, but it could be done. I looked at an application sheet which had several vehicles up to 2024, but no Maverick fitments recommended. It said the Escape will take a number two though. I think somewhere I have a number four and number six to try so I will have to find those.

Anyway, anyone seeing any noticable mileage changes with mudflaps of various pedigree and size?

Also found were some generic flat ones I might cut for extending arch liner.

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[Cancunbadlands]

Looks solid

 

[DWV]

Just do it. I doubt you will see any mileage decrease, but if you do - you can then decide to keep the flaps or delete!

 

[commadorebob]

Look nice. Highly doubt your mileage is being impacted by mud flaps that are mostly blocked by the tires anyway.

 

[Misterwakko]

Hey, I got Daffy mud flaps, you should definitely do Ford. Looks good and keeps dirt off.

 

[Surly Old Bill]

Two things immediately popped into my head;
Is there an issue with mud where you live?
Does Ford pay you for advertising their brand?

When I had Tacomas in the 80-90's and early 00's, the amount of road splash from the front tires was astounding. Factory flaps did very little, so the very common move was to get larger aftermarket mudflaps. This also kept the rocker panel from getting so many rock chips.
Now that I live in relatively dry and paved CA, I haven't really thought about mud flaps.

Good application, I'll have to keep an eye on my Mav to see what happens with wet roads.

 

[Escapologist]

Update: I was still curious about what era that FORD comes from. After beating it out of google, it seems to be 78 thru 1981 Ford Fairmont Futura logos. Not sure if anything else in the era used them, if so they're not as popular now as that model, to be able to come high in searches.

 

[Tbone289]

They look a bit small, like they're made for vehicles with 14" wheels and 195mm cross-section tires as in the 80s.

Mud flaps are much more effective if they protrude out slightly past the wheel wells at the top. At least, that's the way you want them if you're trying to keep debris from splashing down the side of the body.

Looks-wise, they're not my cup of tea but that's purely subjective.

 

[Escapologist]

Two things immediately popped into my head;
Is there an issue with mud where you live?
Does Ford pay you for advertising their brand?

When I had Tacomas in the 80-90's and early 00's, the amount of road splash from the front tires was astounding. Factory flaps did very little, so the very common move was to get larger aftermarket mudflaps. This also kept the rocker panel from getting so many rock chips.
Now that I live in relatively dry and paved CA, I haven't really thought about mud flaps.

Good application, I'll have to keep an eye on my Mav to see what happens with wet roads.

I can rely on 6 months of wet and slush, plus summer storms. So it could help to keep the reverse camera a bit cleaner.

Heh, I doubt the advertising value is very great. Just have the incentive not to see ford go bust tomorrow and still be able to get parts and service. Or are you saying I should debadge it entirely and apply a speckled wrap like a manufacturer test vehicle so nobody can tell what it is? Or maybe to use Subaru branded flaps to mess with people?

Good point about chips though, I got the stonechip due to large construction projects about to break out all over around me, maybe should do fronts to save the rockers.

 

[Escapologist]

They look a bit small, like they're made for vehicles with 14" wheels and 195mm cross-section tires as in the 80s.

Mud flaps are much more effective if they protrude out slightly past the wheel wells at the top. At least, that's the way you want them if you're trying to keep debris from splashing down the side of the body.

Looks-wise, they're not my cup of tea but that's purely subjective.

True true, I am gonna aim for a narrower winter tire though so they might catch more slush than they do summer gunk.

 

[Snowbird]

I like the Ford look but they are too narrow.
I believe in mud flaps and went with the Mabett ones.

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