Mudflaps?

Great story but I can't help thinking that if you had mud flaps fitted it would have been far worse and you would have heard the sound of tortured metal as they dug in to the bank and ripped your wings off.
Of course being rubberish you could have reused them on your new wings.
There's always a silver lining..

Our TF had three mudflaps when we inherited it. I don't know why the front nearside one was missing, but I do remember noticing that about 15 years ago when I travelled in the car as a passenger (it belonged to my mother in law originally), so it is likely it has been missing for a very long time.

When I was working to get the car back on the road, I removed the other mudflaps, and both wheel arch liners to give everything a thorough clean and inspection, and whilst I am not sure I will be reinstalling mudflaps, I have to say there was significantly less accumulated dirt, and significantly less corrosion to the front of the cill / wheelarch on the side which had a mudflap in place.

Anecdotal evidence at best, and there may be other factors at play (kerb side of the road tending to be muddier than the centre for starters) but probably the closest anyone is going to come to a meaningful long term comparison

OK, results a week later...



That's a bit better 

That's looking great! Nice job.
Shame to spoil it with mudflaps...lol.

Yeah... I don't like them much either. Don't know what to do, really - I mean, that gap twixt metal and plastic behind where the wee bit of rust was looks like such a dirt/water trap...

I sealed mine with clear silicone. You can hardly see it and it breaks seal if you need to get the inner arch back off.
It has done the job for me.