Mud flaps or mud guards are made from durable all-weather material and generally install on the rear of your vehicle behind the tires. Some mud flaps are also made for the front tires.

The purpose of mud flaps for trucks is to protect fender wells from being caked by road debris and dirt, including salt and slush in the winter. The flaps can also prevent rocks and debris from being kicked up by your tires and hitting another vehicle.

Enthuze offers a wide selection of mud flaps for pickup trucks and also kickback mud flaps for large, lifted trucks with extra large tires.

Let's take a closer look at what mud flaps do and why you need some.

What Are Mud Flaps/Mud Guards?

Mud flaps are pretty simple pieces of equipment. They're usually made of rubber or some type of all-weather thermoplastic and hang behind the rear tires of a vehicle. There are many different designs for mud flaps. Some are large rectangle pieces of durable material, but others are small molded lips fitted to the rear of the vehicle's wheel wells.

Some large trucks have two rows of mud flaps--behind the rear wheels and then hanging from the bumper. Most mud flaps are plain and black, but they can also be different colors and have logos or slogans on them.

Without mud flaps, damage occurs to the body and undercarriage of your vehicle.

 

What Do Mud Flaps Do?

Mud flaps protect your vehicle by deflecting road dirt and debris away from your fender wells. They especially help in preventing rust from road salt and slush that can end up in your fender well. If you don't have a mud flap to kick them away, the salt blob can stick in your fender well and keep eating away at it.

Your tires are actually in constant contact with road debris such as salt, slush, muddy water, and road tar. Your fender wells are made to protect from some of this, but they do not extend down behind the tires. This means that debris can easily be thrown up by your tires to hit vehicles behind you or directly damage your vehicle.

Mud flaps create an extra barrier between the tire and the fender well. Once debris penetrates the paint around your fender, rust becomes a very real concern as chemicals, oil, and salt can easily stick to the metal beneath.

 

What Kind of Mud Flaps To Buy

Most of the time you'll be choosing between rubber or plastic mud flaps. Both protect your vehicle, but plastic guards are more likely to be on lighter vehicles like cars, and rubber flaps are more likely to be on trucks and commercial vehicles.

Another type is kickback mud flaps. In addition to their thick, flexible rubber material they are made with stainless steel and anodized aluminum. The type you buy is mostly dependent on what fits your vehicle and your preferences. Some areas have guidelines on what type of mud flaps you can use, so make sure to check your local laws.

Kickback mud flaps

 

How To Install Mud Flaps

There are both no-drill and drill mud flaps. No-drill mud flaps usually install into factory-drilled holes in your vehicle's wheel well. The holes generally contain screws that you'll have to remove before installing the mud flap.

Place the flaps so that they line up with the factory-drilled holes, then replace the screws. Don't tighten the screws immediately so you can adjust the flaps if necessary. You may have to install additional screws or bolts that came with the mud flaps as well. If your vehicle doesn't have factory-drilled holes, then you'll have to drill some to match your mud flaps.

Enthuze Mud Guards

 

Why Don't Cars Have Mud Flaps Anymore?

You may have noticed that not many vehicles do not have factory mud flaps anymore. An interesting factoid, mud flaps were required on vehicles for many years due to a law made in the 1970s.

Part of the reason manufacturers stopped installing mud flaps is that they weren't all that great at protecting against mud for most light passenger vehicles like cars.

However, for trucks and off-road vehicles, mud flaps do a good job of defending the undercarriage from debris hitting it. Mud flaps can also make cleaning easier for the owners of off-road vehicles after a day on the trails.

In conclusion, the automotive industry largely stopped installing mud flaps because they didn't do much good for most drivers, but there are definitely situations where you can benefit from them.

These situations include owning a large truck or SUV, regular off-roading, living in a place where you get more rain and humidity than average, or living in a place that sees a lot of slush on the road during the winter.

Enthuze Mud Guards

 

What is the Minimum Length For Mud Flaps?

Regulations for mud flaps such as the minimum length may vary by local area. For example, each state in the United States has different guidelines. In Canada, mud flaps are generally not required on passenger cars because the rear fender and bumper are not higher than the center of the wheel.

Vehicles that do have higher fenders and bumpers are usually SUVs and 4X4 trucks. Some provinces and areas have different requirements. As far as width goes, the Society of Automotive Engineers recommends that mud flaps be at least the full width of the tire.

Other Safety Tips & Info

Road debris ultimately causes quite a lot of accidents and damage, but even if your vehicle kicks up debris that causes damage to another vehicle, you won't be responsible for the damage.

However, kicking up debris is different from dropping debris. For example, if you're hauling something in your pickup bed or in an open-air utility trailer, you are responsible if something falls out and causes damage.

You can get mud flaps to help protect other vehicles from being damaged by debris kicked up by your tires, but what about protecting your own hood and windshield? This is where a hood deflector comes in. These are also called bug deflectors, but they actually help channel airflow so that bugs and debris go up and over your hood and windshield.

Rely on Enthuze for all your aftermarket truck and Jeep accessories, including mud guards, mud flaps, kickback mud flaps, bug deflectors, and much more. All Enthuze truck accessories are thoroughly tested for durability and the highest quality before using the Enthuze name.

Related articles:

• A Closer Look at Kickback Mud Flaps