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Mud Flaps - Yes Or No


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#1 Revd

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Posted 04 April 2020 - 09:45 PM

My Advantage came with rear mud flaps. Are they worth keeping or should I ditch them?

#2 ClassicBRG

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Posted 05 April 2020 - 10:46 AM

When I was working in a garage, the only people who bought mud flaps were the older people.
That is why I associate mud flaps with senior citizens.
But that is my personal opinion, I think everyone should make their Mini as they like it themselves..

#3 DeadSquare

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Posted 05 April 2020 - 11:08 AM

It depends, Rev'd, if you are a kind Christian minded, or "Mine be the glory" kind of driver driver.  From a competition point of view, ditch them and cover a following car's windscreen with all the filth that you can, but fit spats to the front of your car to reduce spray on your windscreen when charging through puddles.



#4 BudgieCake

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Posted 05 April 2020 - 08:50 PM

My Advantage came with rear mud flaps. Are they worth keeping or should I ditch them?

 

Keep them



#5 Revd

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Posted 05 April 2020 - 09:06 PM

Old people were the previous owners?
As a man of the cloth ✝️ I must love my neighbours and not give them gravel rash.

I’ll keep ‘em for now- they look kinda retro-cool

#6 Ethel

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Posted 06 April 2020 - 08:56 AM

Your personal preference really - It's your Mini, so not much of an ecumenical matter  :P

 

A pathologist would have no difficulty in attributing Rusty mini sills & floors to them sitting low in the firing line of the tyres.

 

There'll be less advantage because you have less Advantage behind rear flaps - watch out for soggy road crud sitting on top of them.



#7 MikeRotherham

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Posted 07 April 2020 - 07:47 AM

When I bought a brand new mini in 1978 I had mudflaps fitted front and back and I certainly was'nt an OAP then.



#8 Cooperman

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Posted 07 April 2020 - 10:41 AM

I always fit mud flaps front and back. The advantage with the front ones is that they reduce the erosion of the paint on the sills from stones/grit thrown up by the wheels.

On the rear they help to keep the rear screen cleaner in the wet.



#9 unburntfuelinthemorning

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Posted 09 April 2020 - 06:29 AM

Although the Mini's aerodynamics aren't exactly considered among it's greatest attributes, the addition of mudflaps is only going to make the situation worse, so it could be argued that for high speed fuel efficiency reasons (e.g. motorway driving) it's better not to have them.



#10 Cooperman

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Posted 12 April 2020 - 06:15 PM

I have wondered how much difference it would make to the fuel consumption if a Sportpack had those very wide arch extensions and huge mirrors removed and the 13" wheels/175/50 tyres replaced by 12" with 145 tyres and a small A-post mirror substituted. What would the reduction in frontal area be. Something like 100 sq.ins. I would guess. That's a lot of drag reduction. If the number plate was raised up and aluminium sheets fitted under the rear sub-frame it could make a big difference overall.



#11 unburntfuelinthemorning

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Posted 13 April 2020 - 07:18 AM

David Vizard says in "How To Modify Your Mini" that a 40 square inch reduction in frontal area by deseaming can give a 3 mph increase in top speed on an out and out racer. 

 

It's funny how a "Sportpack" makes a Mini less sporty in so many ways!



#12 Cooperman

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Posted 13 April 2020 - 04:48 PM

The Sportpack arch extensions present an additional 10" x 3" frontal area per side, so that's 60 sq. ins total. The 175 tyres are around 1" wider than a 145, and around 8" is in the airflow, so that's another 16 sq. ins. The mirrors are 6" x 4" which is 48 sq. ins. in total.

I make that 124 sq. ins, but most owners would want a small bullet shaped or A-post rectangular mirror, so take about 8 sq. ins. from that figure. 

Wow, that is an astonishing 116 sq. ins. additional drag creating frontal area. Since aerodynamic drag increases as the square of the speed, that is one heck of a lot of performance loss for some perceived styling advantage. A triumph of image over engineering, once again. 

I wonder how much the top speed for a given car would be if these 'drag creators' were removed and flat aluminium plates fitted under the rear sub-frame and joined to the lower edge of the rear valence with a centre-exit exhaust pipe.


Edited by Cooperman, 13 April 2020 - 04:49 PM.


#13 dyshipfakta

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Posted 14 April 2020 - 06:49 PM

Huge mud flaps all around and spats on the front a la rally.

More is more with mudflaps in my opinion




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