How-to: Make & install your own Mud flaps / guards for less than $5

khoi

Member
:
2009 Sunlight Silver Mazda3 s Touring 5-Door AT
Hi all,

To this day, Mazda still does not make Mud flaps / guards that will fit the Mazda3 Hatch S with Side Sill Extension. I didn't want gravel and mud get thrown up against the side of my brand new car. So, I decided to make my own mud guards from a waste basket (that I had lying around but not being used). All that I had to spend was $1.47 to buy a package of screws and plastic anchors from Home Depot.

Why did I decide to make my own? Well, the main reason is because the local auto-part stores in my area no longer sell generic mud flaps for cars. There are a few stores that sells mud flaps for SUV and trucks, but those are too big for our car. The only solution for me is to make my own. Here are the instructions along with pictures so that you can make your own.

Parts Needed:
-Waste Basket Size 28 Quarts (about $3-$4)
-Plastic Anchors #14-16 x 1-1/2" (Home Depot $1.47 package for 5 screws and 5 anchors)
-Drill
-3/16" Drill Bit
-5/16" Drill Bit
-Phillips-head Screw Driver
-Scissors
-Black permanent marker (optional)

1-parts.jpg


Start out with printing the cut-out pattern on a Legal size paper (8.5" x 14"). Make sure that you print it with no scaling (100% original size). You can use a ruler to verify that the print-out is in correct scaling. The pattern is attached to this thread and can be downloaded (login as a registered user and scroll down to the bottom of this post).

Next, trace this pattern onto each side of the waste basket and then cut them out. Then drill the holes. I have already marked the places to drill on the cut-out pattern. This will save you the trouble of making sure that the holes line up such that the mud flap is parallel to the ground. Use the 3/16" drill bit on the top hole and the 5/16" drill bit on the bottom two holes.

You should now have the mud flaps looking like these:
3-mud_guards.jpg


It's time to install the mud flaps. Turn the front wheels all the way to the left to install on the driver's side. Take out the 3 screws (the top one is metal and the two on the sill are plastic). Be careful taking out the plastic screws. Unscrew the plastic screw and then carefully pry out the plastic retainers. Keep these in a safe place in case you want to remove the mud flaps in the future.

4-plastic_screws.jpg


This is what the holes look like after the screws are removed:
5-screw_holes.jpg


Next, insert two plastic anchors into the bottom two holes of the mud flaps. The reason to put these through the mud flap is so that if you do end up deciding to take these out later, it will be much easier to pull these out this way. And also, this way when you unscrew the screw, the plastic anchor will NOT turn with the screw making it practically impossible to unscrew the screw from the plastic anchor later on. I used a black permanent marker to color the top of the plastic anchors black.

Front Side:
6-anchors.jpg


Back Side:
7-anchors.jpg


Now install the mud flaps and screw them in. I also colored the top of the screws with the black permanent marker. The mud flap should be 4" off the ground. Turn the tire and verify that the tire does not rub the mud flap at any angles. I have created this pattern so that the stock tires do not rub the mud flap.

NOTE: Do NOT over tighten the screws. Not much force is needed to hold the flap secured.

This is how it looks when you have the driver side installed.

8-mud_guards.jpg


9-mud_guards.jpg


10-mud_guards.jpg


11-mud_guards.jpg


Lastly, do the same steps for the other side.

That's it, this shouldn't take more than 30min to do.

Don't hesitate to ask questions, leave comments, suggestions, or feedbacks :)

I tried taking wider shots of the whole car, but because the mud flaps are black, they are really hard to see. Here are some pictures....
I had to crank up the brightness so that you can see the mud flaps, but it makes the rest of the picture very overexposed.

1.JPG


6.JPG


10.JPG


9.JPG


7.JPG
 

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wow you wern't lying you only have 2 post over here

if you can can you also post up the 8.5 x 11 pdfs

pic of mine made 1/2 in wider
 

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wow you wern't lying you only have 2 post over here

if you can can you also post up the 8.5 x 11 pdfs

Yeah, I should also be more active on this forums and get my post counts up. There's just too many forums out there, I can't be active on all of them at the same time :p

I have updated the thread with the 8.5 x 11 pdfs for people who can't print to Legal sized paper.
 
is that lamin-x on your door? still on?

It's the 3M clearbra material on the door. The pics in this thread are from my 2008 Mazda3. But after the accident, I got a brand new 2009 Mazda3 last month (Exactly one month from today's date).

I haven't had time to put the clearbra material on the doors yet. Right now, I only had the shop put the clearbra on the bumper, hood, fender, side mirrors, door edges and top of rear bumper (the areas in red). The areas in green, I will add hopefully this week or next week.

clearshield.jpg
 
^ Nice 09 man, I have an 09 speed 3. Mind me asking how much they charged to do the front end and the mirrors? I have been wanting to do that but I have heard it is atleast $1K =(
 
^ Nice 09 man, I have an 09 speed 3. Mind me asking how much they charged to do the front end and the mirrors? I have been wanting to do that but I have heard it is atleast $1K =(

I had it done at Elite Window Tinting. I did it as a packaged deal with clearbra and tint for $828. The shop put on 3M Color-Stable 30% tint on the back and 50% tint on the front doors. The tint is non-metal so it does not interfere with cellphone, GPS, and Tire Pressure Monitoring System. The price included clearbra on front bumper, hood, fender, side mirrors, door edges and top of rear bumper (the areas in red). It is totally worth the price.

I had it done one my 2008 Mazda3 last year and it protected the front of my car from rock chips. So, I had it done again on my brand new 2009 Mazda3 (I drove the car straight from the dealership to the clearbra shop). In the Northwest where I live, there's a lot of gravel on the roads during the winter months. I didn't want to have my brand new car sandblasted with gravels when I drive around. If you care about the paint, then you should definitely do it.
 
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^ Nice 09 man, I have an 09 speed 3. Mind me asking how much they charged to do the front end and the mirrors? I have been wanting to do that but I have heard it is atleast $1K =(

thought you were plasti-dipping ;)

********************************

BTW great thread! I cant see how people live with themselves spending over $100 on those rallyarmor wannabe subaru mudflaps for a city car especially if you wont be driving off road or in rainy climates. This is a nice cheap way to go and looks just as good. Do they flap and make noises against the body at all tho?
 
thought you were plasti-dipping ;)

********************************

BTW great thread! I cant see how people live with themselves spending over $100 on those rallyarmor wannabe subaru mudflaps for a city car especially if you wont be driving off road or in rainy climates. This is a nice cheap way to go and looks just as good. Do they flap and make noises against the body at all tho?

Nope, they don't flap or make noises. At least I haven't heard anything. I have had them on my car for 10 months without any issues. I have driven them on 400 miles roadtrip without any issues. The key is to get a good waste basket that is made out of good but flexible plastic (not the brittle kind that can snap easily).
 
d00d...none in t3h back?

The back has rivets, you can not unscrew them. So you can't really mount the mud flaps unless you are willing to drill into your car or use heavy duty velcro to hold the flaps in place.
 
The back has rivets, you can not unscrew them. So you can't really mount the mud flaps unless you are willing to drill into your car or use heavy duty velcro to hold the flaps in place.

All you do is drill out the rivets because they all go into the plastic anyways so no rust or corrosion issue. Use some stainless steel screws with some epoxy and your done.
 
All you do is drill out the rivets because they all go into the plastic anyways so no rust or corrosion issue. Use some stainless steel screws with some epoxy and your done.

Yes, that is true and I agree. However, I am not ready to be drilling into my one month old brand new car yet (nailbyt)
 
(dunno)
Yes, that is true and I agree. However, I am not ready to be drilling into my one month old brand new car.


You did it on the front? But not willing to do it on the back because the car is only 1 month old.

WTF does that mean?(dunno)
 
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ill leave it to the professionals and assume rally armor knows their s***. nice how to though. i know some people that made their own intakes out of pvc and some other stuff but im not one to put house pipes and trash cans on my car. each one to their own though. you paid 5 bucks....i paid 130. i guess it depends on who you are and how you feel.
 
i dont think itll work up her in new england with winter but ill give it a shot im gonna try this on a MS6 and use the PDF as a guide to make it fit.
 
I'm not trying to bash some of these companies that are making mudflaps for our car, but how can they charge 60-70 bucks for these things?? and how are people paying that much?
 
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