Felgar

Well I knew the snow was gonna start 2 weekends ago so I stayed up till 2 am the night before the snow getting these on. Just made it.

It's been a while since I could wash my car to take some pics to show everyone, but here they are. I just thought I'd show them in case anyone else cursed with our brutal winter climate conditions was thinking about getting new mudflaps.

Before you Californian's start mocking, please note that when we get winter along with salt and gravel on our roads they really are a necessary evil. But nevertheless I'm actually pretty happy with the look.

There are a few things I still wanna do... 1) Grind the screw holes so that the whole flap has a little tighter fit to the body panels. 2) Sand them smooth and paint them to match the car... I think this will look really good when I get it done, and would probably be a necessity for a light colored car. And 3) Get some thin rubber molding that would wrap the contact area of the flap between the plastic and the car panels... Like around window trim on some cars... I figure this would get a nice perfect contact between the flap and the car while at the same time not destroying the paint like I think the straight plastic will.

If anyone has some suggestions on what might fit the bill for that rubber, please let me know. Oh, and forgive the wet... I just finished washing and my bro didn't wash my WW MF towel for drying.

kettlman

iTrader: (2)

hey, those don't look bad at all. good fit.

2wankel

iTrader: (1)

They look nice, countoured almost looks like part of a sideskirt kit. It allot better than flat flimsy mudflaps.

bizarro

iTrader: (1)

nice! they do look good...i have the mudflaps from mazda and they are flat and kinda flimsy

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Those look pretty good.

I need something a little wider. Also need to raise the fender lip front and rear since I lowered it.

Felgar

Yeah they do wrap around the outside corner but they wouldn't help you much. Looks like you need a wide body kit trochoid. On the other hand, driving conditions where you really need them (sand & snow) would be trecherous with tires that wide.

Tom

Got a set in my garage and I'm putting them on over the winter (I live a mile or so down a gravel road, so these will keep the stones from chipping the paint)..
Glad to see they fit!

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

I guess im not the only one with the original mudguards. Ppl laughs at me when see with it, but hey, my rear quarter panel is clean. unlike my RX-3, the 3 has so much rubber from burn out.

Felgar

With some effort they fit ok. They're not 'show' quality though by any stretch. For instance the total thickness of the wrap-around is thicker by about 1/8" for the driver's side than for the passenger side. Also the contour match is not perfect for the front, and for the rear it requires quite a bit of tweaking to have them sit right (and it's tough because of the rocker guard getting damaged).

That rubber trim strip would help a lot I think... I'll take them over the rubber flaps though, esspecially given that I couldn't even find ones that say mazda or Rx-7 anymore.

Tom

Yeah- I kinda figured some trimming and filing was neccesary. I think I'm going to either run a bead of industrial black 'caulk' where the flaps meet the body, or get some small rubber hose (like black vacuum hose) and slit it, then affix it to the flaps (where it meets the body).Try to eliminate any gaps between the two where rust could form.

I plan on spraying mine with either a flat black or possibly using a rubberized black compound (like truck bed guard spray) on mine.. I'll see what it looks like first, though..

Felgar

Yup we're on the same page.

Hose is not a bad idea... If the original hose was sized appropriately it would probably not even bulge around the plastic... Once the flap is on I would also expect the rubber to stay in position simply due to pressure on both sides. But some silicon would probably also work to stick the seam initially and would help for keeping it in place permanently too.

7aull

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for posting the pix. I bought a set of these 2 years ago and haven't installed mine yet ;p - But now I see how good they look!
Some ideas:
1) mounting to the fender rim: tapping in the supplied metal screws, etc. seems an invitation for rust. I bought a set of Ford "rivets" that they use to attach lower mouldings on Taurus, etc. These are _plastic_ screws that come with a flush-mount threaded body that presses into the hole you drill. As the screw is threaded in, it expands the thread body (which is now _behind_ the fender rim), holding the screw (and, therefore, the flap) in place. Looks absolutely "factory-finish" with no metal contact anywhere. the part number is N804570-S
2) looking for a rubber trim to put behind the flap, over the lip of the fender?? Any subaru Legacy has such a moulding on the rear fender lips. Just pulls off... cut to fit and press into place. BUT: these do collect mud and debris between the lip and the rubber trim, though being behind the flap will reduce this; it would be something you should remove from time to time to clean. In fact I would consider some sort of undercoat/POR15 of this area to but some sort of barrier in place to protect from the inevitable moisture trapped there!!
anyway - again, thanks for the posted pix!
Wouldn't it have been nice if Mazda had sold the factory-fit RX7 mudguards they made for the home market over here in the first place??!! Yeesh....
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

Felgar

Decent concept... I use tar between all the contacts to seal the threads of the screw, and that seems to work well. The plastic sounds like a good idea though.

Looking for trim to attach around the edge of the flap, where the edge of the plastic contacts the side of the car. The same rubber may work though, I'll have to check it out.

Ya, no doubt. I didn't realize that mazda had made some. Are you sure they can't be ordered by part #?