Concerning Build up of Leaves in Wheel Well

When I rotated my tires the other day, I noticed some dried leaves sticking out of the drain holes at the bottom of the wheel well. I thought this was normal and decided to remove the leaves to prevent a clog. However, leaves just kept coming out. I removed some of the clips to loosen the panels, but there is a push on clip holding it together and restricted full access. I didn't want to pull it out, so I just pulled back as much as I could and used my hands to scoop it all out.



This is what came out.


I checked the other side and found the same thing.


I've had the car for 3 years, don't really park the car under too many trees, but this is what came out. I've never cleaned out this area of the car before.

I never had a car that collected leaves like this, so I looked for the entry way of the leaves. Turns out the top of the fender in the engine bay and the base of the windshield are relatively open for leaves and debris to enter.

Top of the driver side fender from the engine compartment.


Rubber flap can be lifted up and exposes the backside of the fender and can be an entry way for debris.


The main entry way of debris is near the hinge. There is no guard there.


However, these 2 pieces try to limit the amount of debris, but it still makes it past. I've found plenty of leaves in this area.


I would suggest to you guys to check out your car for yourselves and unclog this area to prevent water retention and potential mold build up. But mainly...weight reduction!

When I have time, I'll see if I can find a way to make a simple little guard to limit debris from entering this opening.

Looks like you're showing entry point under the hood. I wonder how all of that ends up there. Would not the entire engine bay be covered with leaves then?

The entry point starts at the base of the windshield, but the debris mainly collects in the cowl.

The leaves make their way past the rubber barrier my index finger is on in the last picture. From there, they stay in the area where the hinge is and eventually fall into the fender space.

Only sometimes the leaves can make their way further forward to the long barrier running down the top of the fender in the 4th and 5th picture.

I wonder if we can point an air compressor nozzle in the entry point and blow out the leaves at the other end? If that would work, cleaning once/twice a year would be easy. Hopefully someone at Mazda visits this forum and takes note for the next design.

This is nothing compare to the amount of leaves collected in the plenum chamber in front of windshield on the VW Passat. You have to clean the leaves once a year with at least five times more than the pictures shown here as the design is like a leaf collector! To clean the leaves thoroughly, you have to remove the heavy battery which could break your back due to the location. Worse, if you don't do it, the leaves will clog the drain of the plenum chamber, and flood the cabin which will damage a couple of expensive control modules sitting on the floor pan!

how about just sticking a water hose in there and flushing everything out?

The problem is that the drainage hole/area is too small/restricted for the bigger leaves to come out, even when forced out with air or water. I think the best solution is to prevent the bigger leaves from entering that area in the first place.

I always avoid parking under trees for this reason and bird droppings. It's also a good precaution to open the hood at least once a week and make sure the rain collection screens are kept clean. Even if you avoid parking under trees, those pesky maple tree "helicopter" seeds can still find their way in there.

Thanks for the pics man. The homemade guard idea sounds tricky. Looks like a hard spot to secure anything.
Good luck with it!

Not an elegant solution by any means but I wonder if some bunched up mesh that will allow water to flow through it but restrict debris intrusion would work? Something like this anyway...

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=66431&catid=635

I agree with yrwei52. That doesn't look bad. The wife's Honda collects more than that in a year.