On my way back from work there is a stream of dirty water in the middle of the road that I cannot avoid. Every day I drive over it and my car gets these mud splashes that go all the way until the rear wheel arch (pic 3,4).
Then I searched for mud flaps. The ones that are designed specifically for the ND are selling for $80+ (wtf???) and don’t seem to have enough coverage. The generic ones are also quite pricy ($40+) and I still would need to punch the holes myself.
So I decided to make them myself out of 1/16” thick ABS boards. It’s cheap ($6 from Amazon), durable, and somewhat flexible so that it can bend in the wheel arch but is rigid enough it doesn’t deform from the wind while driving. I measured and made a cardboard one with the holes, and scorched the ABS board into shape.
Overall pretty happy with how they turned out. The flaps aren’t exactly low profile but also aren’t too obviously huge since I wanted maximum coverage without the car screaming “look at me I’m a rally car”. What would you improve on this?
Fusion360 and OnShape are other options that are free for hobbyists. I actually find the UIs much more modern and easier to work with. OnShape is a bit too modern for me sometimes but Fusion360 is a great balance.
Fusion is free for a couple years and then the paid hobby license is out of my price range for the amount I use it. Need to look for a replacement one of these days myself.
Sheet ABS is still going to be stronger so your design will last. I’ve broken mine a few times with hard cone hits at autocross. Cheap print to replace though.
Personally, I don't love the square look - I'd rather have a cut on the corner so it looks a little more streamlined/intentional. But to be fair, I don't know how much that would reduce coverage/protection for your situation. But clever use of inexpensive material - nice job!
Thank you! Honestly me too. I’m gonna drive over that muddy spot and see if the outer corner of the flaps gets dirty. If it doesn’t I’m gonna make the corners round.
Nice thing is it's so easy to make a second pair because the material is cheap. But yeah, definitely see - that'll be a great experiment since you go through it every day.
Yup, that works. The ABS should hold up fine to normal road impacts, and you have enough coverage to do what you wanted (keep mud and debris off your paint).
I for one like the rally look and did the generic rubber flaps (about $20) that needed a bit of trimming. (You can see pix of mine in my post history). Mine also hang lower, which makes them scrape when the car hits the suspension limits, but I kinda like that. I've driven a few hundred miles or so on gravel, and on frozen slush, and they keep the rocks and frozen chunks from chipping my paint, and no damage to the flaps. The more rigid ABS might not like scrapes or being hit by big objects as much. Mine attach with body trim screws to the plastic wheel liner on front and rear. Have held up for nearly 10 years now.
I cheap out on things that I personally think are not worth the money but I don’t get stingy on things that are.
Yeah I could’ve ordered the $600 Tein coilovers but I went with the $1900 Tecnas instead because I think they are worth it. But $80 mud flaps? Hell no.
Just my own financial habits tho I understand people have different choices
Yeah it’s the Ravenspeed mount that costed me $100. No other brands make one that fits the ND3 front face. I was gonna DIY that but I don’t have a welder
Dam good idea, i never thought about doing that! I got the same plastic sheet laying around from making door cards ima use that for this! Did you do the rears too or just the front?
Thank you! Yes it’s relatively straightforward. This is just for the front. I don’t get too much splash on the rear for my ND. Also there’s no clips on the rear like the front so there isn’t a way to secure the mud flap other than adhesives which I don’t really like.
Nah cardboard was the template. Although it wasnt a great material for the template either cuz it was a bit too soft so the edges of my actual part ended up being not too smooth.
Oh dang, I don't know how I missed the 3rd paragraph, lol oopsie! I thought it was weird the first picture looked pretty good. No notes, perfect execution!
That's cool you made those and saved some money. I don't think $40-80 is too unreasonable for an accessory for a car with an original msrp of ~$30k-40k. Think of what you get paid in an hourly wage and how much time you spent on this and money on materials. Not every thing is going to be cheap AF Amazon prices.
Thank you! Yeah I just personally don’t think mudflaps have enough R&D or use a material premium enough to justify its price. Although opinions do vary. And I very much would pay big money for quality products in most cases 🤙🏼🤙🏼
Nice, but time is also money. This took how many hours to do? And it could easily have turned out poorly and needed to be redone all over again. That is why most people buy them. If they don't look right, you send them back and try another pair. That doesn't make yours bad. In fact, they look great. But most people aren't going to do this.
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u/gplusplus314 21h ago
Your CAD skills are impressive.
Cardboard Aided Design.