First time in my life got into some real mud. Never had to deal with it since I started offroading (only rocks and moon dust). Looks like there was a lot of extra spinning (and I know for sure based on the vehicle feel that there was; it was handling like a boat and I could go straight for quite a while with the wheel turned 45° sideways), and the spray went significantly higher than I saw it on photos I was able to find when I was researching the configuration to buy.

I spec'd the car without mudflaps knowing I will rarely get into situations like this, but now that I have, I'm just lazily wondering - how does the splash pattern differ if you do have mudflaps? How does the pattern for short mudflaps (which I might reluctantly install) differ from the "classic" ones? Anyone's got pictures at a similar angle to compare? How do TuffAnt rock sliders (still on my short list to get installed) change the splash pattern?

The most unpleasant surprise was that the door handles got completely caked in mud. I don't care if I have to wash the doors differently (doesn't matter if 10% or 90% is covered, still have to do it), but if there's something that prevents the door handles getting dirty, that would be a nice thing to have.




Looking forward to seeing the air filter.

 

Mud flaps in my humble opinion are highly recommended in Defenders. They will protect your paint.

 

Absolutely. That passenger door wheel well area will get pitted even with mudflaps, I had to put extra protector on the side as I drive a lot of gravel roads.

 

Tuffant rock sliders mean zero mud kicks up on the side of the car in normal driving. I noticed that as soon as I put them on. Any debris, rocks, mud, etc goes under the rock sliders.

Obviously when offroading, the car gets thrashed and dirty but -- you get my point.

 

This popped in my mind shortly after I posted the message - now I see why the mirror protection was required (part of VPLEP0536), mud on my photo almost mirrors the protective plate placement (though it covers more than that plate does).

As for the others - the plates in front of rear wheels do seem to be in the right place, I noticed paint damage there a while ago, the jury is out about whether it was a trail damage or highway damage, inconclusive.

So far, I haven't seen any damage not on my vehicle and not on others where the plates in front of the front wheels are, I guess they're there for aesthetics. As for rear corners - I guess they're for backing into something, right?

Side note, Defender's low speed collision is the most annoying of what I had to deal with so far. It considers the "intent" and not actual proximity and thus triggers false positives all the time. Not to mention "jumping at shadows" - it keeps blaring the alarm when I back into the garage at certain times of day when there's a sharp contrast between the shade and the rest of the surface, it takes it for an obstacle. Oh well.

 

...but might destroy your body panels. See this thread.

 

I have mudflaps front and rear, 2 layers of PPF on all my lower gloss black panels including front and rear bumper lower sections (also gloss black), and full PPF on the sides of the car, and Tuffant Rock Sliders. That’s a battle proof rock chip prevention strategy for you !

I ordered and then sold those Land Rover plastic pieces you have highlighted. I didnt know if I wanted to apply them OVER my PPF. Which I’d have to have done.

 

(after some introspection) Cars usually don't leave our family alive, so I guess I'm not so much concerned about the paint damage (except when it interferes with paint's ability to stop rust) as about the inconvenience of getting hands dirty Side note, that door handle mechanism seems to disregard the fact that it could get dirty completely. Way too complex for that, too many exposed moving parts that can get damaged. Got a bag of popcorn and waiting for reports to start coming in at some point in the future.

 

I am glad you mentioned that. My pals and I frequently comment on how gnarly it gets inside the door handles ! We’ll get out for a stretch or recovery situation or whatever and then ... hands a mess getting back in.