front mud flaps

just curious, does anybody know the purpose of the front mud flaps?

 

To scrape on anything they possibly can?

I took mine off not long after getting the truck.

 

Lol

 

Sex appeal would be my guess

 

To tell whose truck is a mall crawler at Walmart..if they have them, they never see dirt/mud/rocks..

 

Probably all accurate answers lol

 

To keep those damn rocks from flinging up and smacking my panels

 

Aerodynamics. It smooths the air going over the front wheels to give better high speed handling and fuel economy. They're honestly probably too small to actually do anything though. My BMW had them though and that car rocked at high speed.

 

This! I took 5" off my front flaps about a week ago and already had a rock fly up and nail my panel leaving a nice chip

 

This. I removed my remaining three mudflaps after one of them was brutally torn free from those plastic screws holding it on.

 

Hey OP, are you talking about the little flaps in front of the front tire?

 

Yes. I think everyone else was going with the ones in the back lol

 

Oh lol I heard those were supposed to stop water from going into the engine bay

 

Don't see how... we have them on our work van on only the rear tires as well. That what made me curious today. How did that (op) get on my name anyway? Didn't see it before....

 

The ones in front of the tires are called wheel spats and help with aerodynamics. Most cars and trucks have then now adays and often on all 4 tires.

And i like my paint so i keep the stock flaps on, yes they scrap on shit but they bend so its good, and if i plan on doing any real wheeling, i have a little hold center at the bottom of them i put a piece of bailing wire through and pull the front ones up and back by attaching the bailing wire to the frame.

 

This. Called a strake i believe. I wonder how much they really help? Someone do a wind tunnel test and report back

 

That's what I thought. Mrothwell was right. They are primarily an air deflector, directing air flow away from the front tires.

 

Lol yep I'd like to see the wind tunnel results. Very interesting though

 

Crazy question, Did anyone keep their front mud flaps after they took them off? I need to put a pair on my truck - just for the front.

Thanks!