My Car: 2010 II My Location: Pacific Northwest After a couple of weeks of ownership, I've decided that I need to add mud flaps to keep the grime off of my new toy. I don't want anything too big that'll negatively impact MPG. The US mud guards seem so dinky; do they really keep the gunk off the car? I like the look/functionality of the Euro ones, but not the price (I can't justify $120 for mud flaps). So, here's what I've found. eBay has a set of 4 of US OEM mud flaps for $70 (including shipping). Or I found this set of 4 on partstrain.com for $30 (including shipping): PartsTrain.com - Hard to Find Auto Parts and Truck Parts - Partstrain.com says that it fits the 2010 Prius and seems to have a good return policy. Hard to tell b/c they're not on the car, but from the pic, it seems like it may even be bigger (more coverage)? Your thoughts? Thanks in advance! After being here for a month or two, I'm amazed at the wealth of information here on PC and very much appreciate all the feedback--you are my "go to" source for all things Prius!
Our new Prius is the first car in 30+ years without mudflaps. We've always had front and rear ones. Thought: give it a go as-is. And: Don't miss them. Maybe a little bit of accumulation (dead leaves or whatever) adhering behind the rear wheel well on the sides of the bumper, but nothing to speak of. The trailing edges of the wheel wells are almost like mudflaps, imho. BTW, just north of you, similar climate
Thanks for the reply, neighbor. I've considered no flaps, but in looking at my car after two weeks of use, it's pretty dirty on the side panels behind the wheels and pretty high up on the car. Alternatively, I'm not sure if those dinky mud flaps would prevent accumulation on the side of the car anyways.
I get the larger EURO type and to tell you the truth, they don't do much for me. Perhaps less dings but over all wasn't to thrilled.
Hey Spidey..thanks for the input.. do you think they really protect your car from dings or is that just a maybe? Do they keep it cleaner at all?
Well I had a 97 Camry (126K miles) without guards and the areas behind the wheels and the paint was very pitted. If fact I ended up using that bed liner to cover those areas it got so bad. But have to admit, it was not rusting. To be brutally honest, I don't think the flaps do much if anything up here. Perhaps more so down south.
Are those Corolla rims? That's what we got, worked out fine. The only thing: we've got more-or-less zero snow this winter, so far...
Oh, Alaska, LOL! I wonder idly: about common components. Isn't the engine sort-of lifted from a Corolla? Sorry, off topic.
