You've been out there. You've seen the mudflap litter alongside the trail.

 

I actually haven't (seen the litter). When it rains here, you either ford, or run for your life. Don't remember seeing mudflaps on offroad vehicles here either, this is what gave birth to this thread to begin with.

 

Ha! East coast guy planning my first trip to explore as much as I can from Cedar Breaks to Canyonlands. Setting aside 2+ weeks which I know isn't enough, but it's a start. No mudflaps to rip off.

 

If you are wheeling hard, your mudflaps are wear items. They will get ripped off. But I like the classic flaps. They protect the paint on the road and minor excursions and are quite flexible. If I rip one off, I'll get another.

 

Totally agree! Better off replacing mud flaps versus doing paint work.

 

Just be aware, as I mentioned above with photo, you will lose painted trim along with your flaps. On mine the trim is available painted from JLR (Narvic Black, I think). Don’t know if all trims are available painted.

 

I have the classic flaps, they're pretty flexible and (to my surprise) stayed on after taking quite a beating on the Fins and Things trail in Moab. I could hear them dragging on a lot of obstacles.

My lower plastic trim is unpainted as mine is a Defender "S" and I like it better that way for offroad use.

As @cgardnerma said I will consider them wear items. I don't even particularly like the way they look but I do like the protection they afford for my paint.