How To: No Rear Mudflaps Protection Mod

Ok my first thread start. So bear with me...kind of a noob still.

I took the mud flaps off when I bought my truck earlier this year. I have almost 5K on it now. Started to notice some rock chips behind the real wheels, and I knew it would continue to get worse. My Bro in Law had some 3M clear bra installed on Volvo R80 and I was really impressed with it, so I thought I could buy some bulk roll and put it behind the rear tires for protection. Here is how the process went:

Buy a 12'' x 48'' bulk roll off ebay, like $25 with shipping, comes with a squeegee.

Mark up 12" from the bottom of the rear quarter and make a tape line and start making a pattern from a brown bag.


Get your pattern traced, just flip it around and you have the pattern for the opposite side.


Same for the Flair


Take it into the workshop and put on some Drive By Truckers' Southern Rock Opera.



Lay out your patterns and your clear film.



Trace all pieces and cut them out.


After you get your patterns all cut make sure your truck is super clean. Get all the junk off of it because this is how it is going to look after you put the skin on it.

Mix up a solution of alcohol and water in a spray bottle. In the other bottle baby shampoo and water, only like one good pump on the baby shampoo bottle.

Spray your spots real good where you are going to apply the film with the alcohol solution to get it good and clean one last time. Then wipe it dry.

Spray your hands with the soap solution, keep your hand wet through the whole process. Peel back the 3M film, it helps to have two people, because it is hard to peel and hold it at the same time without it trying to roll back up on you. Spray truck with soap solution and lay the film in place. At this point it will be really wet and slide around real nice. Don't worry about getting it perfect it slides around great, you can get it just perfect before you squeegee it out. Once you get it in place where you want it, work out from the middle of the film and squeegee the water out. Once that water comes out it sticks! It sticks real well. So you do have to make sure it is in the right position, but behind the rear wheel it is not to technical. The alcohol solution acts as a type of activator or glue. On the corners or when you are wrapping it around the bottom of the fender it works real good to hit those ends with the alcohol, to make it seal real good.

After you do the other spots wipe it all down and you are good to go. Instant Rock Protection!

Can't even see it in this picture. Even if I have to change it every few years it is worth it, as it is super easy and cheap to fix. I went through some tar on the way to work this morning, went to the carwash over lunch and it sprayed right off.

 

Nice write up

 

Thanks I think it will hold up real well. The paint seems thin on these trucks, I am not that hard on my vehicle and I had a good amount of chips on my vehicle already.

 

Thanks Snipe, it was my first!! I am no longer a thread virgin!

 

Cool write up and pics!

 

Nice writeup dude! I'm gonna try it.

 

Thanks for the writeup, looks good.

 

Good idea & great write-up.

 

Thanks, I like it, alot.

 

Good write up man

 

what's a volvo R80?

 

3m is good but get yourself Ventureshield, The stuff is so much better that 3m actually bought the company out -lol

 

Wow, great idea!

 

I've been wanting to try that stuff but I didn't know how difficult it would be to apply. Thanks for the write-up. I'm going to put it on my front bumper for starters - that paint scratches if you look at it too hard - should make bug removal easy too.

 

Great job!

 

Thanks for posting, great read and idea!

 

neato

 

thats awesome.i l ike that

 

badass, thanks for the write up!

 

Thanks X10! I was thinking about doing a strip of line-x on my rocker panels but now may try this. The guy at line-x actually told me that they do this as well and to the whole front of vehicles. Interesting. I wonder how long it will last against hot and cold temps.