hehe.. tell me about it .. the only Black vehicle I own is my sons 89 Nissan Hardbody truck with over 500,000 original miles on it.. bought it new!! I also own an 06 Nissan Armada, Two 4Dr Nissan Titans, For my work I have....... 4 Gmc 3/4 ton trucks, 4 1/2 ton chevy trucks............ ALL WHITE...........
I put my mudguards on last weekend and wanted to post the pics I had promised a while back. I still haven't figured out how to embed pics in my text, so you'll have to bear with the attachments. I took fairly close up shots of two angles of a front and a rear wheel well, a pic of the jacking point for a floor jack (as much as I wanted to try my new Prius jack, the OM advised only using it for emergencies, and I sure felt more confident with my old trusty jack), and a couple photos of the rear guard install, which required drilling two holes per side in the METAL. I swore in reading these threads everyone said only plastic drilling was required; maybe it's changed for the 2008's. If I'd been better prepared, I would have treated the bare metal with some primer and paint, but I made do with some clear silicon caulk to hopefully keep the steel from oxidizing. The caulk will come out easy enough if I decide to redo it. I also added an extra screw to each of the rear guards as someone else had suggested. Overall, I think they look really good. With shadows, they were pretty much unnoticeable in the outdoor pics I had intended to post of the car as a whole, so I didn't include those. It took me a lot longer than most people, but it always does. I went to 3 stores to find the 21mm socket for my torque wrench so I could put the tires back on at 76 ftlbs. I do think I heard the "noise" some people have complained about the first time I drove it. At first I thought I had blown a speaker, but I turned off the radio and it was coming from my front passenger wheel well at about 53 mph. I went home, tried to wiggle the guard, it seemed solid, so I ckecked the screws and slightly tightened, and pushed in on the (flimsy) plastic plug fastener to make sure it was seated as best as possible. I'm not sure if any of that helped, but I never heard the noise again. I hope this helps if you're considering this addition. I live on a gravel road so this was a high priority for me.
Look on EBay. Deland Toyota in Florida has mud flaps and EBay takes PayPal Search parts and accessories, Prius, and mud flaps they, are there. About $40-$50
I just installed my mudflaps this weekend. after I purchased them from the PriusChat shop. Thanks Danny for staying on top of my purchase! Thanks also for the great link on the installation. It was a fairly simple job; though I was a bit antsy about drilling into the underside of the body. I got over that quickly though and the job wasn't tough at all. I really like the look and I'm sure I'll love keeping the car cleaner as well.
Well Pearl has had mudflaps on since new because she's Canadian, eh. They don't generate any noise I've heard and they don't appear to affect mileage, as I seem to get similar mileage as others. What they do is rub on curbs if you like to park close to them (to avoid morons opening doors against your car). First time this happened it really scared me ("what in the world did I hit backing in that makes such a loud noise??!"). I've done this quite a few times, and the concrete curbs are chewing up the bottom of the mudflap. In the winter the mudflaps carry a lot of snow/ice. Enough it can actually rub the tire in extreme situations. They will also drag on deep snow (again making loud noises), along with the bottom of the car. Other than that, they perform the function of mudflaps.
Congratulations on your successful installation. Pls note that a 13/16" deep socket will work just as well, should be available at any hardware store, and priced less than a comparable 21 mm socket. For larger socket sizes, I have found that typically metric sizes are priced much higher than comparable SAE sizes.
Did you look at my pictures? With the way the mudguards are molded, I don't see how I could have put them on wrong, and those holes lined right up with the metal that curves into the wheel well about an inch. The front had a nice hole to attach the top of the mudguard once I took out that plactic clip retainer, but I had to make my own holes for the back. I got the mudguards from the prius shop. This is still bugging me, so I think I'm going to pull out the screws and primes and paint those holes I drilled.
Only drilled plastic, I would never drill metal on my new car without worrying about corrosion later on
