When I bought my car, it had mud flaps. Actually, they probably more properly called mudguards. They are factory. Not some cheesy things hanging down. But on a recent trip, I started wondering how much drag they created. Whether they were working like little parachutes. I debated about leaving them on, or taking them off. My wife also has a 2000 Honda Civic, the same as mine, and her car didn’t had the mud flaps. And I didn’t see any damage caused by not having them. So I decided to take them off.
There were only 3 Phillip’s head screws holding each of them off. It should be easy. Yeah, right. The problem was that it was hard to get a screw driver in there. For the front wheels, I was able to turn the steering wheel and get two of the screws pretty easily. But the third required a slight smaller screwdriver. I know I have a stubby little screwdriver around here somewhere, but I couldn’t find it. The back mud guards were a lot more work. I had to actually jack up the car, and remove the back wheels to have enough room to get the screwdriver in there.
I was worried about how my car would look without them. I thought they made my car look maybe a little more sporty, but I like the look of my car without them even better. And I think it has helped improve my gas mileage on freeway driving slightly. But it all adds up.

Posted by Rob in My Car on May 13th, 2009 | 1 Comment