Mudflaps

[Calimark]

Does anyone have any experience in fitting the California front and rear mudflaps..I was just wondering whether this is an easy job or whether I will need to get the garage to fit them.

 

[Hubert]

No experience of fitting the rears, but had to refit the front ones following a tyre change. The fronts are within anybody's capability, all holes/bolt fixings present. The rears look like they are screwed into the sides of the bumper so may be just a case of aligning correctly.

Hubert

 

[jts46]

As hubert said easy enough to fit. Fitted mine all round in 2007 and they haven't fallen off yet

 

[sebking]

deffo need to order a set of these, but rears do look a bit of an after thought

 

[Freeley]

Had ours fitted by the dealer for £65 cheaper than doing it yourself.
Rear flaps are different shapes which looks odd assume it's to clear the exhaust properly?

 

[Craig & Ian]

Omg. Gutted had mud flaps fitted by VW and they have drilled into the bummer to fit them. Not happy at all

 

[Skylark2.0]

Omg. Gutted had mud flaps fitted by VW and they have drilled into the bummer to fit them. Not happy at all

View attachment 10327

That would be a freudian slip that then!
I would give then a very large portion of my mind and not pay for it in the very least. Dosy whatsits...

 

[WillSS]

To fit them retrospectively you have to drill into the bumper.
Not an issue unless you plan to remove them down the line for some reason?

 

[Hotel California]

Mine original fitted looks like this

Only one screw visible fron underneeth , but guess there are more from the inside out , non visible


Guess aftermarket is not the same as factory fitted

 

[Freeley]

No aftermarket are definitely different. We had mudflaps fitted to our cali when we bought it and they were screwed onto the bumper as per the photo above.

Sent from my Galaxy S6

 

[DavidApp]

To fit them retrospectively you have to drill into the bumper.
Not an issue unless you plan to remove them down the line for some reason?

I had mine fitted retro but asked for the factory types, not drilled into the bumper.

My problem is the front ones seem to be falling out, both sides. They are held in by what seems to be one allen bolt and plastic strip on the inside (nearest engine) and a metal stud on the outside (nearest running bar). There seems to be nothing holding the metal stud in place. I am going to have to get onto Listers in Coventry on Monday, but was wondering if anyone else has had this problem?

 

[HugoFar]

Did you get the front ones sorted? I've just fitted the fronts and how they stay fixed is impossible to work out for the reasons you mention. But my front ones still seem to be holding strong. I did tighten the underneath ones a lot.
The rear mud flaps still have me stumped. I purchased the genuine VW ones and it seems the rear bumper may need to be removed to fit the mud flaps perfectly. The local VW dealer has never retro fitted them so can't say if there is a template or marked drill locations on the inside of the bumper. Don't really want to get the three drill holes (2 x screws and 1 x locator hole) per side wrong. It's looking more awkward than anticipated.

 

[Borris]

I am having some mud flaps retro fitted shortly. I have asked the dealer to fit these basically because if they get it wrong they will have to put it right.

Also looking at the photos on this thread it strikes me that the after market rear flaps look to be a more robust fit. These have a large flange to support the flap on the bumper where as any knock to the factory ones may compromise the fixing.

I imagine that the cost of bumper removal to fit the factory fitted ones would push the cost up a lot.

 

[Hotel California]

If i would have them retrofitted i'd look out for softer ones.
Think the trouble is they are more plastic rather than rubber.
If hitting a curb while parking backwarts they would indeed could cause damage ( not to the curb)
Softer flaps are better imo.
On my LR defender the first thing i lost while offraod where the hard mudflaps.
Replaced them with rubber/ softer ones.

 

[WelshGas]

My Factory fitted ones are still perfect after 28,000 miles.

 

[HugoFar]

The original VW front and rear mud flaps fitted to my 2010 VW Multivan 4 Motion are still going well and still firmly fixed but the rear of the Multivan rides about 40-50mm higher than the Cali probably due to lighter weight, so less likely to get knocked off. If the Multivan had a full 7 people with luggage load,then the ride height is probably the same as the Cali. But we very rarely do this.
I'm very interested to know from your Dealer Borris if they find any locator points printed onto or moulded into the inside of the rear bumper. If they are in the plastic moulding then a correct drilling pattern will be far more likely than a guessed one. Appears there are 3 side bumper holes to drill,and the two underside fixing points. One of which seems to require the addition of the supplied steel angle plate.

 

[Borris]

The original VW front and rear mud flaps fitted to my 2010 VW Multivan 4 Motion are still going well and still firmly fixed but the rear of the Multivan rides about 40-50mm higher than the Cali probably due to lighter weight, so less likely to get knocked off. If the Multivan had a full 7 people with luggage load,then the ride height is probably the same as the Cali. But we very rarely do this.
I'm very interested to know from your Dealer Borris if they find any locator points printed onto or moulded into the inside of the rear bumper. If they are in the plastic moulding then a correct drilling pattern will be far more likely than a guessed one. Appears there are 3 side bumper holes to drill,and the two underside fixing points. One of which seems to require the addition of the supplied steel angle plate.

I will try to find out. Personally I prefer the factory fitted flaps as they look better. Also upon reflection, depending on how they are fitted inside the rear bumper they are probably more secure. I suspect the aftermarket ones are just held in place by self tapping screws. However if the cost of retro fitting the factory flaps is too high then I will have to accept the after market jobs.

 

[Gavrobb]

Just to chime in on this one and from a slightly different perspective - our T6 same with these factory fitted and I've just 'nipped' out to remove - not as easy as I though, in fact not possible. For what its worth - these must be factory fitted prior to offering up the rear bumper as has been stated previously. I mistakingly thought it was just the main two bolts underneath holding on each flap but I see from further inspection that there are two dirty great big self tappers from inside the bumper that screw into the side 'fin'. No easy way to remove the mudflats then...

Agree with the query above - I can only guess that the holes are pre-marked from the inside for this, no tolerance for mis alignment getting a big screw in a thin section of rubber.

Guess they are on to stay....

 

[julianjdj]

After-sale Mud Flaps

I fitted these mud flaps recently. I think they look good, are very easy to fit, have stayed on so far and are relatively cheap!

https://urbancraftuk.wordpress.com/2016/04/18/vw-california-mud-flaps/

 

[CannonDale]

After-sale Mud Flaps

I fitted these mud flaps recently. I think they look good, are very easy to fit, have stayed on so far and are relatively cheap!

https://urbancraftuk.wordpress.com/2016/04/18/vw-california-mud-flaps/

They look good, did you have to drill any holes?